johnceggleston

this sounds like torque bind. it will cause a flashing A/T Temp light at start up. it will flash 16 times just after you start the car. do a search and read up on it. this is probably something else, but still elcetronic in the trans. you need to have your trans trouble codes read. this will tell you alot. your problem may be a conector or a bad duty solenoid. it may be in addition to the torque bind (which could be a bad duty 'c' solenoid) or it could be instead of. don't go to a transmission shop, unless oyu know and trust them. either find a way to read the codes yourself, or go to the dealer to have them read. after you find out what the codes are then you can address the problem. be very specific when asking for the codes to be read. you want the codes (numbers) as well as the explanation. there are not many things that have to be done by the dealer, but reading trans codes may be quicker and easier that way. it sound like you are going to have a great car.

year, make, model, miles???? how long have you had the car? is the shift shock new or different than it has been? other history?

you don't even need to do that. if you don't put any thing into the trans cooler part, nothing will leak out. the trans cooler part of the rad is sealed and seperate from the coolant.

someone suggested "NO pb blaster" on the rear mounting studs on the diff. if they unthread from the diff housing (instead of removing the nuts) the diff can come strait down, doesn't have to move forward before it can drop.

it won't do it when you are going strait. the front and rear wheels need to be turning at different speeds to have torque bind. going strait, they turn the same. try going forward in slow tight turns, wheels turned all the way to the right. then try the left. this is the test for binding. it's all determined by the speed difference front and rear.

let's review.... if your car is a 96 2.5L outback the trans part number will be TZ102Z2ABA . you can use any auto trans from a 2.5L auto car, wagon or sedan, 96 - 98 and a few early 99s. this includes leg GTs, leg LSi's and Outbacks. the part number for your matching trans will start with TZ102Z2.....and end with aca or aba or cba or caa..... if you match the beginning of the part number, not only will it work, the final drive will be the EXACT same. you can use any auto trans from a 2.2L 95 - 98 leg whose part number doesn't have the second 2 if you also swap in the matching rear differential. the best choice will be decided by how much does it cost, how much to ship, if any, and how much to install. but having outback, GT and LSi to choose from increases the the supply. i would probably go with the "best mileage for the money".

why not pull the fuses, 2 or 3 a night untill you find the circuit? of course you'll have to have a way to jump the car in the morning until you find the culprit.

there should ba a vin# etched into the block on the passenger side, kinda low very close to the rear edge. but i don't think you'll ever see it with the engine in the car. i had to look twice with the engine on the bench. auto trans have the same thing on drivers side in the center of the case.

i don't reall know if the procedure is the same for cars without the power light, but i think the power light was replaced by the AT TEMP light for trans warning purposes. maybe for code reading as well????

there is a difference between 'locked' and operating your car in first. when 'locked' the front and rear wheels turn exactly the same number of turns. this is ok for snow, ice gravel dirt etc. not so good on pavement. in first gear the A/T transfer clutch still allows for a difference in front and rear speeds, similar to an open diff. it also prevents damage to your trans, transfer chutch, drive train and tires. it was designed this way. this is why nipper says not to use the term 'locked' for having the car in first gear. when operating correctly the transfer clutch doesn't lock any thing, it splits, shares, distributes, sends the power from the engine to the rear wheels. the front wheels are always powerd by the trans just like front wheel drive car with an auto trans. most of you know this, but some new guys may not. now that i've stirred the pot, i'm out of here.

this is your alarm system. if you look around under the dash near the fuse box on the left of the steering wheel, you should find a push button (it may be danglinig on a wire, not mounted) , press it with the key on. or use your remote maybe.

my first clue was the different connectors with different number of pins between the 99 phase 2 and the 95-98 phase 1. for 10 years they had been using the TZ102Z... series trans, in 99 they went with the TZ1A2Z...... 2ND was an ad on ebay for a trans wirring harness, the one that goes into the the trans case, for a 99 outback auto trans. it had more wires and what appeared to be 2 more of the speed sensors like the one in the transfer case. 3RD some one posted a link to a 99 trans diagram of some kind and it showed me something to confirm my thinking. the added sensors could be temp or something else but they looked like the speed sensors to me. but i'm not an engineer nor a subaru expert, so i could be wrong.

do you have torque bind. when my 95 leg sedan with a 96 leg wagon auto trans got torque bind and a flashing AT temp light i put in the fuse and the FWD light came on and the flashing light and TB went away. we drove it like this for a while. then, occasionally, the torque bind and flashing light would come back even with the fuse in. when this happened the FWD light would go out. conclusion, if you put in the fuse and the FWD light comes on the duty c is working, if the FWD light doesnot come on then the duyt c is not working. i haven't studied this problem in depth so my conclusion may be wrong, but the facts are correct. in my car, if the duty c is not working the fwd light will not come on. we finally removed the rear section of drive shaft until we replace the duty c.

the phase 2 trans, 99 and up, has at the very least, 2 more speed sensors. i think they are internal. they are the simple one like the one on the rear extention housing. this by it self adds 2 more wires to the wiring harness / connector. i don't know what other changes they may have made in 99.

the new plates have a large arrow on them indicating where the 'treated' screw goes. i don't know for sure, but i assume the bolt hole for that one goes all the way thru to the oil area and therefore they want it sealed, not just torqued. i assume the other bolt holes are just that, bolt holes with bottoms. if torqued to spec, they work just fine. sealant or tocktite is optional for these, but torque specs change when you 'lube' a bolt. i don't know how locktite would affect this.

if you still have the old trans hanging around, i'd compare the connectors on the trnas wiring to see if thay are the same. of course the connectors are the same but do they have the same pins. some one a long long time ago talked about swapping a trans and having to rework the wiring at the connector, because of the change from one gen to the next. i don't really remember. but i think he had major driving issues, not just a flashing light. a 95 to 96 swap should work, the 96 to 95 did for me. i'll bet it's something specific to that trans like a bad solenoid, not a generic swap conflict.

or: http://www.car-part.com also, i assume you look in the for sale section here. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=76738&highlight=tail+light

my memory of the related thread is that the problem was a bad seal... o-ring maybe. the thread was very specific. would a fluid "designed" to enhance, improve, renew seals be a possible additive? or are they just bunk?

maybe the pin you use for the 4wd locked switch is involved. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=50264 i just read through andyjos details and it sounds like pin 11 with a 13 ohm resistor might do it. this is just a wild a$$ guess on my part, i don't really know much about electronics.

the 99s with this problem were the first of the phase 2 trans (different connector from phase 1 ), i think. so you'll want to go '00 and later, but stay close to your year. i'm not familiar wit hwhich ones will work and which ones won't and i doubt man,y if any, salvage yards will guess.

the interchange software @ http://www.car-part.com says there was a FWD trans in either 97 or 98 for one year, but i've never heard anyone talk about one. so chances are good that you have obd1 vs. 2, but will this cause a real problem? you really do need to read the code..... did you try it with the AWD TCU? with the fuse in? maybe the pin you use for the 4wd locked switch is involved. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=50264

since you used a FWD trans i would have thought any necessary 'pin' work would have been covered unless the harness in the car that the trans connects to is different. but then i don't really know how it works. i can't believe they manually adjust the pins for each trans install. do you have the donor car connector to look at? did you remove the FWD socket & wiring? have you tried putting in a fuse?

nipper, i was really expecting a little more from you like..... until it fails. on a more serious note, how do you know it's the front diff bearings??

gary, i think your idea of the pin maybe on track. the recent thread about how does the TCU / ECU know if it's a manual or auto trans was ther same idea. maybe there is a wiring harness difference. i would think this would be cheaper than a TCU difference... maybe. keep us posted.

it would be a lot cheaper and a lot easier to change back, if you just removed the rear section of drive shaft and all but the spindles in the hubs of the rear axles. then you wouldn't be pushing ALL of the rear wheel stuff, just the transfer clutch stuff. this might boost your mpg a little for a lot less money. removing the front section of drive shaft would be even better, but you need something on the end of the trans to keep the fluid from flowing out. opening the transfer clutch and removing half of the clutch would help too, but then you'd have some real labor invested. more expensive and maybe more effective would be to replace the trans / front and the rear differentials. this would make the car a 4.11 to 1 instead of a 4.44 to 1. (i'm guessing that the final drive of the forester is the same as the outback.) swapping in a 4.11 final drive would give you about 8 to 10 % improvement on economy, i think.