Rnaquin Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 Brand new to forum and Subaru ownership. Son just purchased his first car. Shortly thereafter AT temp light started blinking while driving. Now the 16 flashes at startup and persistent flashing after a short while. I pulled the codes with the hand shake and I get a 79 and 31, duty C and throttle sensor I believe. There seems to be slight binding in a full turn exercise. The first question I have is elated to the FWD fuse under the hood. If we insert the fuse I believe it will disable the rear wheel drive assuming the solenoid works, but will it have any effect on the flashing AT Temp Light? Will the light stop flashing with fuse in? I have read in thru the torque bind search results and just haven't yet found the answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montana tom Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 Putting in the fuse will make it run in 2wd. It wont fix the problem, so your light will keep flashing . Replace the tail shaft section of the tranny with a known good one, and the light will go out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 Lucky Texan Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 It may be worth trying 3 fluid drain/fills and on the last fill, use Trans-X. Especially if the binding goes away with use of the fuse - may mean the trans-x has a chance to bring the seal back to life? if the fuse doesn't fix the binding, good chance the 'basket' is grooved in the tail of the trans as said above. just an idea 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KZCool Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 I highly recommend the fluid drain/fill. I have a 99 obw with 297k and it was having hard shift, binding, over all clunky trans and after it was so much better! Not really related but if you have high miles I would do it for longevity. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNY_Dave Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 Test with the FWD fuse, likely it will have no effect. The TCU can not sense if the AWD is not releasing, and no physical problem with the AWD can be detected- only the duty C solenoid (or circuit) being shorted or opened (same for the other solenoids). It could be a bad electrical connection or a short to ground in a connector or in the harness, or bad solenoid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted December 20, 2016 Share Posted December 20, 2016 The light is flashing to tell you on the previous cycle there was an electrical fault. FWD may or may not have an affect. Three drain and fills may help but the final outcome wont change. Do fix the throttle sensor. What year is this and how many miles? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rnaquin Posted December 23, 2016 Author Share Posted December 23, 2016 @nipper, sorry for the delay, it's a 2001 4cyl outback with 180,000 miles. We've noticed that the AT Oil temp is very intermittent. As an example it came on 12/16, had the multi-blink flash when the key was turned on for a day and then no multi-blink or light on for several days. I plan to perform the 3x fluid change over the holiday, although I have my doubts it will fix my problem, I never seem to benefit from the easy fixes but still have hope. I've been looking for some guidance online, but haven't really found too much yet on the actual repair. One video but it showed the solenoid after it was dis-assembled. Thanks to everyone so far for the help. Will provide update after the fluid swap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster2 Posted December 23, 2016 Share Posted December 23, 2016 @nipper, sorry for the delay, it's a 2001 4cyl outback with 180,000 miles. We've noticed that the AT Oil temp is very intermittent. As an example it came on 12/16, had the multi-blink flash when the key was turned on for a day and then no multi-blink or light on for several days. I plan to perform the 3x fluid change over the holiday, although I have my doubts it will fix my problem, I never seem to benefit from the easy fixes but still have hope. I've been looking for some guidance online, but haven't really found too much yet on the actual repair. One video but it showed the solenoid after it was dis-assembled. Thanks to everyone so far for the help. Will provide update after the fluid swap. Recommend driving a few miles between the 3 drain and fills. Putting in reverse and backing up some is also recommended. Reason for the 3 drains, is that ATF cannot be drained from the torque converter, so only way to drain what is in there is the 3 drain program. From my experience Subarus are not that picky on ATF brand of product. I have been using Walmart house brand of ATF for over 10 years with no issues. I have a 99 OBW with the tranny that gets slow to forward engage. I use the 3 drain program with Trans-X to fix the problem, and having to do so about every year or so. Probably to do an external AT canister filter change when you change the fluid. Hope the fluid change helps your problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted December 23, 2016 Share Posted December 23, 2016 (edited) You may be one of the lucky few with a dying Duty C that hasnt done damage yet. Try not to drive it an replace the solenoid asap, otherwise youll be into it for a set of clutches too. Edited December 23, 2016 by nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dez049 Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 i have a 2001 h6, i did a complete engine trans swap. now the trans oil heat light is flashing steady all the time and the check engine light is on. it came up with some valve issues so i brought it to a trans shop and they took the parts off my old trans. now VDC light is on and car is still stuck in second gear when i put it in drive. i need help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msmithmmx Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 Why a complete swap? Was there an issue with the old trans? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 You need to tell us what year and model the vehicle is and what year and model the donor engine/trans is. By “swap” do you mean you installed an H6 in an H4 vehicle or different H6? And is the new trans identical to the old - H4, H6, VDC, VTD.....? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3Pin Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 you should start a new thread. You have highjacked Rnaquin's thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.