[Chicagoed]

Hi,
I am brand new to this forum, and hope that someone can shed a little light on a problem I am having. My car is a 2000 Outback Limited Sedan, auto trans. After I shift from park or nuetral to drive, the car initially wont move. Its as if the trans never shifts to drive. After giving it a little gas, it's ok. The car never slips once it is going, and doesnt give any indication of a shifting problem once it is under way. Just thought someone may have had an experience like this and a possible solution. The car has 31000 miles on it, and I have had very little problem with it.

Thanks,

Ed

 

[Kevin]

It may be one thing I've seen in many automatic cars. I habit many people have is when they put their car in reverse and back out, they throw the car into drive before coming to a complete stop. That puts incredible stress on the tranny and can lead to premature failure. My father has this habit, he had a brand new 1998 Dodge Intrepid and his tranny went out at 27K miles because he did this ALL the time. This may not be your particular problem, if you bought the car used someone may have done this before you. But if you do have this habit, there is an 80% chance that is why you have your problem. Other than that I can't think of anything else, the Subaru 4-spd Auto is pretty heavy duty. Although it isn't the best in the world, I've seen many people with problems with this tranny. Check with your Subaru tech for the best answers. Cheers, Kevin

 

[Chicagoed]

Car was purchased with 500 miles on it. We are pretty normal when it comes to shifting gears on the car. This problem occurs if you are sitting with the car in Nuetral or Park.....then foot on the brake, shift to drive. Car wont go. After a tapping the excellerator a bit, it will move and from that point act normally. Was hoping someone would have had similar issue, so that when I bring it in to Subaru, I will have some kind of an idea what might be wrong.

Thanks for your response.

Ed

 

[1 Lucky Texan]

A few questions;

ANY recent service(just prior to noticing the problem)?

Any tranny service issues?

Have you checked the fluid level/color/smell?

Any recent use of a 'donut' spare or new/different tires?

Is the idle rpm normal?

Carl
1 Lucky Texan

 

[Chicagoed]

Thanks for the reply.....

No service issues on the car since purchased. Fluid level OK. Never used spare, and idle seems normal as usual. This car has only had oil changes since new.

Ed

 

[1 Lucky Texan]

OK - if you were to find a parking lot and perform tight circles and tight figure eights (or perhaps you've noticed when driving?) would the car feel like it's binding or jerking? If so, try using the FWD fuse in the box under the hood and retest at the parking lot. NOTE - this is a longshot as ,really, your symptoms do not seem like clutch pack/awd problems - just something you can try on your own.

Another longshot might be to reset the ECU. Disconnect the neg. battery cable, step on the brake pedal, wait about 30 minutes, reconn. , start and test drive car.

good luck

Carl
1 Lucky Texan

 

[Teasdam]

brake pedal?

I've reset the computer on other vehicles before, but I just left the neg terminal off for a while then reconnected it. Works on my Chevy truck. Subaru's need a puch on the brake pedal or something?

 

[bheinz57]

I think stepping on the brake pedal gets rid of any unleashed power in the system, like any capacitors. I have heard 95% of people say to do that with resets for Subaru's Brian

 

[clearpoint]

Transmission won't go

I am having the same problem with my Outback but I have 104K miles on it. The care runs fine but takes a while to get into drive after being parked. I came across this bit of info that makes sense.
It said that the torque converter was draining down when left idle for a while. The solution is to replace the cooler line and a new check valve must be installed.


I have not tried it yet but it makes sense to me. Anyone have an opinion on this?

 

[Glad33]

had similar problem, car slow to engage from R to D
also pulled off side of road put in P then about 2 min later put in D put foot down, rev to about 4000 before engaging harshly and jumping forward
suby dealer thought maybe fault with Speed Sensor on Tranny No fault found surgested oil change first, also cahnge oil type to the new suby oil CASTROL "TRANSMAX J"
car has done 193K(120K) and only in the last 3000kms that Ive noticed problem

 

[Chicagoed]

That actually sounds like whats goin on with my car. It only has 32000 miles on it, and I cant believe anything is worn out, but since it is still covered under the drive train warranty, I have made an appointment to have it looked at. Thanks for the information.

Ed

 

[Glad33]

chicagoed
can you advise what your service agent thought it might be

 

[indyzmike]

I am having the same problem with my 2000 with 63,000 miles. I had the fluid changed and the computer program updated but no help. I took mine to the dealer and they said $3,300 to replace the tranny. The car still moves so I want to get a second opinion from another dealer. Their trans guy will be back from vacation next week.
The first dealer told me that this is a somewhat common problem, but not real common.

 

[Chicagoed]

Here is the latest on my problem:
Brought it into a dealer for service. After I explained the problem, he said it probably needs a transmission !! He drove the car about 20 feet ( it failed the same way it has, thankfully). He got out, and said he would order a trans. Since the car only has 32000 miles on it, it was still covered by the powertrain warranty. He said that Subaru doesnt allow the techs to repair the trans at the dealer. I found this odd, but went along with it. There was delivery problems with the trans, and Subaru said they would pop for a rental car. Very cool. The 2001 Waranty supplies a rental, but not the 2000. The dealer called today, to say the trans came in, and car woudl probably be ready Monday. I will try to determine from them what exactly went wrong with the transmission. The service writer said he has seen the problem 3 times in the last 6 months. Outbacks and Forresters. Hmmm.......... I will update.

Ed

 

[CPToversteer]

mineral-based ATF congeals in cold weather like mineral-based engine oil does. has anyone tried synth ATF to see if that helps??

 

[indyzmike]

I ended up getting a second opinion from another dealer and it was the same result. I needed a new trans. I shopped around and found that AAMCO transmissions would rebuild my trans, not exchange, and had a 1 year warranty. The price was $2,500. One day the car would not go forward at all but went reverse fine. I had it flatbedded to AAMCO and three days later it was done. The mechanic said it was a bad seal on the first gear piston that would not build enough pressure to engage first gear. That was 12,000 miles ago and it has been fine.

 

[johnclarke58]

I have the same problem with my 1999 Outback with 82000kms. It takes 2 to 4 seconds to get into D when shifting from reverse. The delay is more severe when the car is cold.

The dealer checked and found the psi to be down to 15psi, should be over 30psi, but they have no idea why.......

If you find a solution to this probem please let me know......

I have the dealer looking into it with Subaru, but mine is out of warranty and I have little or no hope they will come up with a solution that does not involve me replacing the transmission at a cost of more than $3000 cdn........

 

[johnclarke58]

I received this from a Subaru dealer, regarding this problem with my 1999 Outback auto transmission delay shift R to D

"We use a Mopar product that you should be able to get from any Chrysler dealership. It is called Limited slip additive and its part number is 04318060AB. First I would add one bottle of it to your transmission fluid and see if that helps. Give it a day or two to work. If it doesn't help, add another bottle. If it helps, but then gets worse again after a month or so, then add two bottles.
Most of the time this fixes the problems. "

 

[rsingh182]

My experience with this issue

Since I have benefited from this thread, thought i would post my experience.

Last weekend my 2000 outback started exhibiting the foll. behavior. When in P, when moved to D, the engine would REV and finally engage after a few seconds. Took it to the dealer on Monday and he immediately recommended a new transmission. Not satisfied, i asked him to do a Transmission Flush Service.

I then drove the car after the service. Immediately after the service, i noticed that i did not need to rev, although there was still a couple of seconds delay and the car would jerk and engage.

Decided to take it to a local transmission shop. The next morning when i drove the car, it was working perfectly. The shop was unable to create the issue and I have been driving the car since then without issues (fingers crossed)....

 

[FastSly]

Welcome to the board rsingh182!

Thanks for sharing that experience. It is sad how we can't even trust our dealers anymore...