jeelanik Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 have a 98 Legacy that I am thinking of buying. I am used to driving Toyota and Honda and am spoilt by the smooth gear shifts (auto). While driving the subaru, I noticed not so smooth upsift only from the 1st to the 2nd shift - a slight jerk pushing forward. This does not occur during down shift. The rest of the shiftsare smooth. I took it to a transmission shop and he said the transmission looks ok. I have noticed though that upon accelaration, if I accelarate more - the slightly hard upshift is not there. This upshift occurs only when I start slow. Also, when I let the car to be idle on start up to 20 minutes, the upshift becomes slightly better. I like this car apart from upshift problem. I have a whiplash problem and just do'nt want it to reccur as I fear it might if this upshift is present. If I get rid of this upshift, all is well. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chip Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 My 98 O/B auto had the exact same problem. It developped about the same time as a shuddering while stopped in D with my foot on the brake. If I accelerate hard, it shifts smoother. I drained as much of the tranny fluid as possible thru the drain plug,(about 5 L), and replaced it with Mobil 1 synthetic. It made a huge difference !! The shifting isn't perfect but it's much improved. I'm sure if I could drain ALL the tranny fluid,(all 10L), the shifting would be near perfect. The car still shudders a bit in D when stopped but I just pop it into neutral until the light turns green. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outback_97 Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 My '97 OB does this too, I think I posted about it, quite a while back though. It was improved a little by draining the tranny fluid and refilling, then repeating this process so most of (but not all of ) the fluid was new. I think I'm just used to it, since it's been doing it for so long. My car now has around 110K miles and the tranny still seems strong. I wouldn't worry about it, although it is more harsh than many other auto transmissions. You can learn to modulate the go pedal to make it smoother, as it sounds like you've already noticed. Next time I change fluid, I may try the synthetic to see if that smooths things out a little bit, thanks Chip. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeelanik Posted January 11, 2005 Author Share Posted January 11, 2005 Thanks for your inputs. Very useful. I was told by a friend that Subaru does not support synthetic. Is this true. Based on Chip's reply - this seems to be a rumour. Question for Chip. Did you change your differential too. Any idea's on the cost for Mobil synthetic/good place(stores?) to buy it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chip Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 Thanks for your inputs. Very useful. I was told by a friend that Subaru does not support synthetic. Is this true. Based on Chip's reply - this seems to be a rumour. Question for Chip. Did you change your differential too. Any idea's on the cost for Mobil synthetic/good place(stores?) to buy it Nope, I didn't change the differential oil. I bought my Mobil 1 here in Canada at a Canadian Tire store...it was around $9 Cdn a Litre. Don't make the same mistake I did however.......the owner's manual says the capacity of the tranny is 10L, so I drained everything I could out,(and noticed only about 4 litres drained out), so I figured it was already low so I added about 8 litres !!!!...Of course, I was now WAY over the full mark on the dipstick. When you drain, you'll only get about 4 or 5 L out so when you refill, be carefull not to put too much in. The best thing to do would be to go to a garage and have them flush it,(I think they use aire pressure or something). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commuter Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 Ditto with my 97 OB auto. I would not call it a 'hard' upshift, but it is firm. I've been running synthetic in my tranny for several years. You are right. If you accelerate with moderate or more throttle, you don't really notice it. I find that if I am accelerating slow, and then hit a point where I have to back off the throttle a little to ease up on the acceleration (eg, city driving), and the tranny decides to shift "right" at that point as I'm easing off the throttle... that's when it feels the harshest. Still, it is nothing that I would call a jerking nature. Just more noticable than other brands (I come from a Honda background too). I have 427,000 km on my car. The transmission feels as good as ever. Nothing more than fluid changes now and again. Commuter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huffer Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 I have the same issue on my 98 GT. At around 2000rpm moving off from a stop the shift from 1st to 2nd is very noticeable - all other gears are fine. I think it has more to do with the type of synchros Subaru used in their boxes...my tranny has done 165,000miles and is ok, just a little rough off 1st gear. Moderate-heavy load helps the tranny shift smoother, if you back off at 2,500rpm you'll get hit with the changeup... As an aside, do any of you suffer from drivetrain & engine vibration at 2 - 3000rpm, under load? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friendly_jacek Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 "the type of synchros Subaru used in their boxes..." Hallo! we are talking AT here. This comment and some above remarks on how not to overfill the tranny makes me believe this is a newbe thread. I hope you folks are aware that Subaru specifies 15000/30000 miles (severe/normal service) ATF change intervals and there must be a reason for it. Synthetic ATF is great but it is not a replacement for regular service. I only had hard shifting from my tranny when TPS failed but then I had both ECU and TCU codes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huffer Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 Well SORRRREEEE buddy! This is my first 4EAT I've ever owned, my other car is 5MT so... Why don't you take the opportunity to educate us on the differences between the 5MT and 4EAT, because I don't know what they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballitch Posted January 14, 2005 Share Posted January 14, 2005 The 4EAT is the electronically controlled 4 speed automatic transmission with a lock-up torque-converter, some people call it electronic overdrive or some crap but they are full of S**T. Futhermore there are no gear synchronizes in automatic transmissions, just little sun and ring gears with lots of valve bodies and fluid, and alot more crap that makes for a poor connection to the ground, but im not bitter...............ok i am bitter. ~Josh~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huffer Posted January 14, 2005 Share Posted January 14, 2005 Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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