Our 2012 CVT went out this past March. Inside 10 years but over 100k miles so it did not get the extended warranty replacement. I offered to cut my losses and trade in the busted rig for a new one off the lot and the dealership refused. As those who have been through this before know they also refuse to install a new CVT and only offer re-manufactured.
Our first re-man literally made it 4 miles and broke down on the way home, AAA towed the car straight back and we waited another week for a second. I figured they forgot to fill it with oil but we were told the oil pump "failed."
Now were are 5 months into the new one. The initial symptoms of varying RPMs while driving with cruise control are gone, shutter when shifting from park to reverse still present. Here are my questions:
1) does anyone know if they put improved components into the re-mans to solve the issues and gain longevity?
2) for those who have been through this how many trouble free miles have you made it? Since the first re-man didn't make the trip home I've lost all confidence in this car. Maybe some of you can restore that...
This was my first subaru and will be my last (until they replace the CVT).
Sorry to hear of you problems and that you have lost confidence in your outback. Some members on this forum have traveled over 250,000 miles with a CVT and never even changed the “lifetime transmission fluid”. On the other hand there are also several members who have the current 2020 model and had the CVT replaced in under 10,000 miles.
If you could get the data I think you would find there are probably 80 to 85% of Subaru owners who have little or no problems with their CVT and the othe 15 to 20% are not so lucky. I also think you would find that other manufacturers have a much higher failure rate.
The valve body is the source of issue and Subaru made changes to the valve body to correct it. I do not know if any other changes made to the CVT mechanical train.
I'd be asking what upgrades is the rebuilder including in the remanufactured units too. Since the 2012 TR690 CVT is basically the same as the CVT used in the 2020 and 2021 models they could in theory have all the fixes from the last 10 years. Its reasonable to assume that the valve body updates and the thrust bearing redesign are included, beyond that there might not be much more. Does the replacement CVT drive the same as the original CVT did before it was having problems? I would assume so and that would indicate that the programming is the same.
Did they replace the torque converter with the CVT? I had my CVT replaced in my 2014 at 41K miles and the replacement has been flawless. car has 75K on it now.
Reason for replacement: Gorilla Tech at subaru over tightened the front differential fill bolt and cracked the housing...
Our 2012 CVT went out this past March. Inside 10 years but over 100k miles so it did not get the extended warranty replacement. I offered to cut my losses and trade in the busted rig for a new one off the lot and the dealership refused. As those who have been through this before know they also refuse to install a new CVT and only offer re-manufactured.
Our first re-man literally made it 4 miles and broke down on the way home, AAA towed the car straight back and we waited another week for a second. I figured they forgot to fill it with oil but we were told the oil pump "failed."
Now were are 5 months into the new one. The initial symptoms of varying RPMs while driving with cruise control are gone, shutter when shifting from park to reverse still present. Here are my questions:
1) does anyone know if they put improved components into the re-mans to solve the issues and gain longevity?
2) for those who have been through this how many trouble free miles have you made it? Since the first re-man didn't make the trip home I've lost all confidence in this car. Maybe some of you can restore that...
This was my first subaru and will be my last (until they replace the CVT).
For the first question I am not entirely sure. But for question number 2, my legacy’s valve body died at 95,000 miles. Apparently I heard that they are improving this each year because of the numerous complaints they hear.
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