dave valiant Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 Ever since I got my Brat out of the gumbo at Midwest meet 2 my tranny has been acting really strange.While getting it unstuck I had the trans temp light come on.I stopped the car and shut the engine off and opoened the hood to let the cool air and rain help cool it off. The symptoms are from a stop with the trans in drive sometimes it will start in first and not shift to second unless I drop it into second and back to drive.other times I will have to manually shift through all 3 gears because it will not start out in first it will start in second.Sometimes it wont start out in first even if I have put the shifter into first gear at a dead stop.I have heard people speak of pulling and sanding the governor smooth,could this be a possible fix for me?The tranny fluid level is right on but the color and odor is a little burnt.I changed the tranny fluid a couple of months before the midwest meet and it was fine beforew I left and when I got across South Dakota.If it is going out I have a dr 4 speed and 3.9 rear I can swap into it from my parts wagon.Please help,Dave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 The governor thing is pretty simple - and could account for your shifting problems - I would at least try it. Those auto's are pretty crappy tho, and it could fail at any time on you. I would make plans to swap it out sooner rather than later, as you are just seeing the beginings of the iminent demise of your tranny. Would suck to chew up the governor gear, or lose all your forward gears and get stranded somewhere with it. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myxalplyx Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 The governor thing is pretty simple - and could account for your shifting problems - I would at least try it. Those auto's are pretty crappy tho, and it could fail at any time on you. I would make plans to swap it out sooner rather than later, as you are just seeing the beginings of the iminent demise of your tranny. Would suck to chew up the governor gear, or lose all your forward gears and get stranded somewhere with it. GD I think I asked this before but I can't remember the response. I understand this governor part to be a huge problem. Is it heat related? I'm asking because I'm --><-- close to getting an EA82T Auto and I have been very excited about it. My first 'mods' (if this is what you want to call it) would've been synthetic tranny fluid, tranny cooler, shop to modify the valve body for faster shifting and a possible Protorque torque converter. Are you telling me that this piece can not help but fail despite you keeping the tranny cool? If this is the case than this would be a HUGE disappointment and would hamper me getting this car. May as well get the XT6 fixed. The tranny MUST be able to be reliable and handle the extra power I intend to throw at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 EA81 and EA82 automatics are renown the world over for being pretty crappy. I wouldn't count on it handling "extra" power. Almost without exception the ones I've encountered have either been dead, or shifted strangely. The problem is heat, and bad maintenance. Unlike the rest of the Subaru parts, these need a lot of attention. Changeing the fluid every 15k, and adding a cooler would be adviseable, but that would have virtually no effect on the govenor gear, as that runs off the front diff, and thus runs in gear oil, not hydraulic fluid. When the diff drive gear gets sloppy, it will eat a governor gear every couple hundred miles! The governor also is a precision part, and in order to shift smoothly, the edges have to be "dressed" with a file as they tend to develop burrs and flat spots. I also had an EA81T wagon that chewed up it's forward drive gears. Still worked in reverse tho. hehe. I personally would stay away from ANY automatics of that vintage. Maybe if you found one with really, really low miles, and started doing extremely regular maintenance. But with the modifications you are talking about, I don't understand why you want an auto anyway. The torque converter is extremely inneficient, and will chew up a good amount of your HP. The EA series auto's that I've driven could barely get out of their own way with a running start.... GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myxalplyx Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 I don't understand why you want an auto anyway. The torque converter is extremely inneficient, and will chew up a good amount of your HP. The EA series auto's that I've driven could barely get out of their own way with a running start.... GD My best experiences have been with rebuilt automatics trannies as I never have to worry about them breaking again once I start playing with the engine. At any rate, thanks for your input. The car I was going to look at has approx 60k on it I believe. Man....this is a sad day. Maybe I should just get back to my XT6 and figure out what's with my engine. If I start screwing with the engine, I don't want to have to look back at the tranny once it has been tended too. Arrrgghh! Better to learn this now than after I get the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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