It is on the driver's side of the CVT, up maybe 6" from the bottom of the CVT. I am not around my Outback this week so I can't get you a picture. I am sure someone will post a picture for you. The plug was very difficult to open the first time. I needed a breaker bar with extra force applied.
The fill plug is essentially in the same spot, but yes, the CVT transmission is different - 2013 introduced a slightly new CVT model.
I forget if this introduced the fixed torque converter that doesn't cause the stalling issues we sometimes see on gen 4.0. And I think it also introduces the artificial "shift points" on the CVT that makes it feel more like a standard automatic? I also think they started factory fill with the new green CVT fluid available in 1 quart bottles whereas the factory fill on gen 4.0 was the blue CVT fluid.
Thank you budha, i think i cracked this plug and it began draining.i lost confidence and closed it wanting to mitigate problems. The fluid that came out looked like differential fluid.
On the 2013 models, both the cvt and front diff fill plugs are on the passenger side just to make things interesting.
The cvt pan looks like the pic, you can easily locate the drain bolt. Go to the passenger side and up the cvt about 6-8 inches and there is a fill plug there.
The sketch he posted is right out of the CVT section of the Service Manual. There is no fewer than four occurrences of this same view in the CVT section of the Service manual. Under each view is the description "Filler plug" or "Filler plug hole". is easy to identify because of the adjacent features of the sensor connector, and being located right in the radius of the insulation. Just like correctly shown in both the sketch and the photo Budha provided.
On the 2013 models, both the cvt and front diff fill plugs are on the passenger side just to make things interesting.
The cvt pan looks like the pic, you can easily locate the drain bolt. Go to the passenger side and up the cvt about 6-8 inches and there is a fill plug there.
Passenger and driver sides can be quite confusing depending on which market the car was destined. To avoid this confusion, vehicle manufacturers and the auto industry use the terms left and right as viewed from the operators seated position.
Having said that, the pic below shows the fill location (with plug removed) on the left side of the trans. Car is a 2014 Impreza.
So, your 2012 does not have any incremental "drops" in RPM as you accelerate - as in what you would feel in a typical AT, as it shifts into higher gears?
Nope. RPM stays constant until it levels off depending on how much throttle I apply. I've driven Toyota and Nissan rental CVTs with shift points and they are much different.
I have 183,000 miles on my 2011 Limited, and the CVT acts very much like a typical AT. It drops into a lower speed (similar to the 6-speed manual shift points achieved by using the paddles) when going up a hill or passing someone. When I let off the throttle after reaching the peak of the hill, or when I have passed the other vehicle, it definitely feels as though it drops into a higher "gear".