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93 2wd 4EAT Legacy skips gears...weird.


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I did a few searches and came up empty handed.

 

Our 1993 Legacy Auto transmission shifted fine all day and this evening on the way home, the car would go from 1st to 3rd. It skips 2nd and won't go into 4th. I manually shifted it and the same thing. You put it into 1st...stays in 1st. Put it into 2nd and it stubbornly stays in 1st with the rpms reaching close to redline. Put it in 3rd and it skips 2nd and goes straight to 3rd. Put it in "D" and even though it had just a few miles ago shifted into overdrive/4th, now it won't. If you let off the gas completely when it's in 3rd, the RPM's drop way down to about 1100 rpms. All this happened after driving, running errands all day, on a hot transmission.

 

I've checked the fluid level and it is good and not burnt. No CEL or other warning lights came on.

 

The transmission has been serviced regularly (at 12000 mile intervals) since its overhaul 60000+ miles ago. The total vehicle mileage is 175000.

 

Where should I go from here to solve this mystery?

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How does the car behave in reverse? The fact that the car wont force a upshift into 2nd gear at redline in 1st is disturbing. im thinking you may hve a couple of issues, one bieng the govenor, one being the valve body. When it shifts from 1 to 3, does it run 1st gear out or will it do it at part throttle. What happens when you downshift from d to d2

 

 

nipper

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I was hoping that this is an electronic answer. The Haynes says that if it shifts from 1st to 3rd, the band clearance may be too big and to adjust the bands.

 

The car runs out 1st and then shifts into 3rd. The RPMs go way up and the speed has to reach about 30mph for it to drop into 3rd. The car will go into reverse and back up.

 

I'll go try the d down to d2 this morning after breakfast and let you know.

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is is quit possible a band adjustment, which i think is external. But on the other hand, if the band is worn down enough to need an adjustment, more hideous things may be on the horizon. i dont remeber anyone gettiong a band adjustment in the life of a tranny, but i could be wrong.

 

How is reverse working

 

Maybe somone else will chime in

 

 

nipper

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Just drove it. No changes...even while cold. Reverse works well.

 

I found the band adjustment screw and locknut. That thing is hard to reach...lefthand side on top of transmission, right under the firewall. Any tricks besides shrinking my hands to reaching this?

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Just drove it. No changes...even while cold. Reverse works well.

 

I found the band adjustment screw and locknut. That thing is hard to reach...lefthand side on top of transmission, right under the firewall. Any tricks besides shrinking my hands to reaching this?

 

have a 7yo in the house? they can be handy for that kind of thing....

 

1/4 inch drive set with a universal joint or two?

 

nipper

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Thank you for all your help. This board is awesome. I tried adjusting the bands according to the haynes manual and nothing changed. I have given up and now I am trying to source a used transmission for it. If I do that, we will be buying a lower mileage used car or minivan for my wife and selling the 93. My wife loves that 93 so much that she's actually quite bummed. She said that she's never been really attached to a car like this before. Funny how an car can get into our emotions...I can relate to her, I've had an attachment like that to a couple of my previous cars.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Update:

We are really happy that our shop found a low mileage used transmission. It's amazing how nice this car drives now. It drives like it's new. The transmission is silky smooth. It gets about 2 mpg better. So maybe the old tranny was "dragging" or wearing a clutch that finally broke apart?

 

Being a bit nuts, I have changed the fluid 3 different times since it was installed to get most of the old fluid out...the shop I had used had also serviced it before handing it over to us. Now the plan is to change the fluid every 10000 miles. Everything aft of the flywheel is newer (newer starter, differential, etc).

 

Anyway, the shop removed the old transmission pan for giggles. According to them there were many large chunks of metal laying around up in the screen area. Guys, thanks again for all your help!

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