97 Legacy Outback Idle Air Control and Transmission Issues

[djewell]

I recently purchased my second Subaru, and it has some puzzling problems.  When I start it up, it revs up to 1,500 - 2,000 rpm for 30 seconds and then drops down to 1,200.  The AT Temp light flashes 16 times, and the Check Engine light is on.  When I shift the transmission into gear and try to drive, it acts like the engine is under a very heavy load.  At first, I thought the exhaust was clogged, but after checking, I don't think it is.  As the car accelerates, it shifts very hard, and when I take my foot off the gas, the car slows down as if it had a stuck brake cylinder (but it doesn't).  Finally, when I stop and shift to neutral or park, the engine still acts like it is under load.  When I shut the engine off, the drivetrain relaxes, and the car rolls backwards a little bit.  When I pull the code from the ECU, it tells me there is a problem with the idle air control valve.  I took it off and cleaned it.  I also tested the resistance on the pins, and they are around 9 ohms like they should be.

 

Could my idle air control valve still be bad?

 

What about this transmission problem?  At first, I thought it might be the Duty C solenoid or transfer clutch, but I cannot read an error code from the transmission.  I am using an ELM327 code reader.

[Fairtax4me]

TCU codes have to be retrieved manually via the secret handshake method and counting blinking of the AT Temp light.

The flashing AT Temp light means there are codes stored in the TCU.

 

Search here or google for the procedure. I think it may be in the USRM.

[1 Lucky Texan]

can you turn tight circles on dry pavement without jerkiness/bucking or giving the car a lot of gas? Are all the tires the same brand/model/size?

 

you may need to have a mechanic take a look at the vehicle. Seems like more than one problem.