johnceggleston

there was a post recently that suggested a bad TCU MIGHT, repeat MIGHT be the cause of binding in similar situations, but there is no confirmation of this suggestion. i also have an intermitten duty c problem. it seems to work ok at start up, but fails after some time or after the car / trans / TCU warms up. my son drives the car most so my experience is limited. i have a TCU to swap in but i haven't gotten there yet. maybe this weekend. in case you don't know, the AT OIL TEMP light will flash 16 times at start up (95 and later, OBDII). this means that the duty c failed during the last operation of the car. if you turn the key off and then back on, maybe a couple of times, this will clear the error code, if the duty c is working correctly. this may help you to see when it's failing and when it's working.

you may have to change tte exhaust y pipe. my 96 2.2L was a single port exhaust. the 95 is supposed to be dual port like the 2.5L outbacks. i'm not familiar with the 97-99 2.2L engines.

on a recent parts search for a duty c valve assembly, the on line price was 68.89$, the MSRP price was 94.12$, thats a 36% markup (or a 25% discount). the local dealer price was 112.94, that's 60% over the on line price and 20% over the MSRP. dealers love selling parts, maybe there's more profit than selling cars.

first you have to figure out what cause the 'growing family syndrome'. congrats on the 3RD!!! but it sounds like mini van time. what are the ages, how long before one upgrades to a regular seat.?

in theory a hit from the side is potentially less damaging to the trans than head on. a friend of mine bought a badly wrecked 99 outback, t-boned from the passenger side, pushed the door in halfway across the passenger seat. the trans worked fine. engine too. the only problem i see is, your warranty may be gone before you actually install the trans. so you could wait, does he have any others. also there is someone else on the board looking for one i think, i can't remember the year. from an insurance / warranty point of view, the 300$ is pure profit for them. even if they replace the trans and pay to have it installed they break even. one bad trans gone, one good trans gone, nothing out of pocket. the spend your money on labor. if you buy the labor warranty, you're spending 300$ as garrantee against about the same labor cost. i doubt they will reimburse the total labor charge, just the r&r for the trans. not engine parts labour or duty c/ extention housing labor. so i don't think i'd buy the labor part of the deal. for 300$ you could get the trans pulled and replaced. the shop will have pity on you by then. you might ask the board members how many have bought used trans and had them installed only to find it's bad. the response wouldn't be very scientific. but remember, the seller doesn't want any headaches. if he doesn't think it's good he nuts to sell it as good. and finally, these things are pretty hardy. mine came out of a wreck, right front corner, runs great, except the duty c........it's intermittent. that started acting up about 6 months later and i'm hoping for a TCU problem rather than a straight duty c problem. but probably not.

i doubt you are going to do any better. labor will run 300 - 500$ depending on who does it. so you're back on the road for less than 1000, not bad. ask what they know about the trans. how was the car it came out of, did they test drive it? how long have they had it, what's the warranty? what if it's bad? do many of the m turn up bad? they probably don't know enough to look for binding. but... you can install the trans as is, with new fluid. or swap on your rear extention housing since you know it's good (i'm guessing 1.5 hr labor , maybe more). or if money is no object, go to the dealer and buy a new duty c valve asembly, 115$ (cheaper online), and put in the better looking rear extention housing on your new trans. but again, everything cost money. ask the shop to look for oil leaks on the rear of the engine, specificly the "oil seperator plate", if it's plastic. the new ones are metal and cost less than 30 - 40$. rear main seal, they don't usually leak, but this is your one chance to replace without pulling the engine. when i did mine @ 165K, i did replace the oil seperator plate and the rear main seal. i didn't use a new duty c and i wish i had. my total cost for r&r the trans, seperator plate, rear seal, oil pan gasket and fluid was 515$ w/labor (75$/hr, maybe 60$ parts) . options recap: duty c solenoid.......(31942AA090 VALVE AY TRANSFER CLUTCH $68 + s&h, on line @ https://www.subarugenuineparts.com/oe_parts_cat.html) plus gasket rear main seal oil seperator plate (baffle?) oil pan gasket exhaust gaskets (maybe required) some of this may be decided easily if you have no more money or if you are selling the car soon. another thing to consider is to buy the used trans and wait for your trans to get worse. waiting 2-3 months to do the swap will spread out you cost somewhat, and may make buying extra parts easier. but if driving the car the way it is makes you crazy, then swap it now.

www.car-part.com near you? 1996 Transmission Subaru Legacy 2.5, AT PUK146 $550 B & R Auto Wrecking, Portland USA-OR(Portland) E-mail 1-800-578-6787 1996 Transmission Subaru Legacy 4W, A.T, 2.5 116,000 A6J4690 $550 Hillsboro Auto Wrecking USA-OR(Hillsboro) E-mail 1-800-547-5415 not so near: 1996 Transmission Subaru Legacy frm 6/95, AWD, 2.5L - 88,000 A17342 $350 Roy Y Auto Wrecking, Inc. USA-WA(Spanaway) E-mail 1-800-422-5621

i think the 96 LSi had a 2.5L engine , in which case you don't need the rear diff. but check the model number. it may be a TZ102Z2ABA, 2 for 2.5L. i think all 96 2.5L engines with A/T had that trans. as far as swaping out the trans and the rear diff, not only do you have the added part costs , you have the added labor costs for the added parts.

that's a hellofa good price for a rebuild, but my guees would be that the price goes up after you have the car towed in. ask about the worst case senario so you know going in what the high side will be. but if they can do it for that price, jump on it. good used installed id going to start at 800$ and go up.

i wouldn't spend a lot of time on this before you swasp the trans, you're going to get 2 new senders/speed sensors when you do. if the problem continues, then check the receiver/speedo contacts. you can get used instrument cluster, if needed, and if you search, you can probably find one within 5k miles of yours. but that's only if you need it. pulling the instrument cluster with the speedo in it is pretty easy, a coupl,e of screwws in the top of the trim piece and several connectors. any lead on a trans yet?

obviously rebuilding is not going to be cheap, but replacing with a good used can be cheaper if you just look around. at least look while waiting for your appointment. the shop you are going to may be abled to quote a price for used intalled. you could save maybe as much as 1000$. they get the trans from a reputable parts supplier and install it. they service it, change the fluid, check it out and usually givre you a 90 day waranty. ask.

i'm leaning towards a bad TCU but that's just because i want mine (95 leg w/ 96 AT) to be that simple. i have an intermitten AT TEMP light. mine seems to drive fine when cold, but fails (starts binding) when it warms up. and of course the confusing part is the light comes on at start up and blinks 16 times the NEXT time you start the car. you can check this by turning the car on and off 2 - 3 times. if the the fault is gone the light will not come on the 2nd time you start. putting in the FWD fuse will tell you if the duty c is working correctly, but regardless of that, if you get binding something is wrong. DUH! when i put my fuse in, it runs FWD untill it warms up then binding. so either my duty c fails after it gets hot or some thing else does, wires, connection or TCU. try driving in FWD and see if the binding comes back. (assuming the fuse puts it in FWD.) the TCU swap would be a great test. this is the first i've heard about TCU problems.

that's a 97 or 98 legacy 2.2L automatic transmission. the final drive is the same as all 95 - 98 2.2L legacys (not 2.5L) with auto trans (except 96 outback 2.2L, that ones the same as the 96 2.5L outback) . i think the final drive is 4.11. i think all 96 - 99 25.L cars have a 4.44. i don't know the gear ratios of each gear. is this what you wanted to know? read this: transmission compatibility

pics

if you stand on the drivers side of the car with the hood up there is an aluminum ID tag mounted on the strut tower. it has engine and trans model numbers, as well as some other stuff. then if you look beyond that to the starter motor below, (follow one of the big black wires from the positive, red, battery post) you'll see the trans number on a white label attached to the bell housing just where the starter is attached. this very close to the rear wall of the engine compartment. when talking to salvage yards, give them year, make and model of the car, don't cloud the issue with the trans model number. use that only as confirmation once you have decided which one you want. they can't search by trans model number on the software, they have to go look at the trans for a model number. also their software doesn't know that a 97 ...Z2CBA will fit a 96 ...Z2ABA. if my camera battery charges up before bedtime, i'll add some pics.

i think in 99, when they went to the phase 2 trans, the impreza and the legacy 2.2 were the same. but i'm not positive. but these years are too late for your match. i'd stick to the legacy / outback models. 2.5L car is preferred, 96 - 98 (some early 99). if you get a trans out of a 2.2L car, you will need the rear differential, (unless it just happens to be a 96 2.2L outback with the trans # TZ102Z2ABA.) these trans should fit: TZ102Z2ABA = 96 outback (2.2L) TZ102Z2ABA = 96 outback (2.5L)..... same trans. TZ102Z2CBA = 97 outback...................may need TCU TZ102Z2CAA = 97 legacy LSi...............may need TCU TZ102Z2CCA = 97 legacy GT...............may need TCU TZ102Z2DBA = 98 outback (early 99).....may need TCU TZ102Z2DCA = 98 legacy GT...............may need TCU TZ102ZABAA + 96 legacy (all 2.2L cars except outback)........will need rear diff, maybe TCU TZ102ZACAA + 97 legacy (2.2L)...........will need rear diff, maybe TCU TZ102ZACAA + 98 legacy (2.2L)...........will need rear diff, maybe TCU the 95 legacy 2.2L trans may work, but there were some other changes that took place that year so unless it was free, i'd stick with 96 - 98. TZ102ZAAAA + 95 legacy (2.2L)...........will need rear diff, probably TCU i would suggest you search for year and model. find the best deal you can on a 96 outback trans. then look for a 96 GT trans and compare the cost. then look for a 96 LSi trans, then a 97 outback trans, then a 97 GT, then 98... etc. (i think you are going to find more outbacks out there than GT and LSi combined.) there are lots of things to consider price, shipping cost, mileage. some yards sell them all for cheap 300$ while some charge 1200$ for one with 200k miles. but there are lots of them out there. i'd look for a 96 - 98 outback with 100k or less, close to home. since yours is still running (?), you have some time to shop and wait. and finally, before you buy, ask for the model number off of the trans you are buying to double check.

here in va if you can find a place to pump your gas you pay a huge price for it. 10 - 20 cents per gallon. what's the price difference between washinton and oregon? or idaho?

there was a recent thread about this, very informative with pictures, partly written by a shop owner who rebuils / replacxes heads and gaskets, and it had a 5 star rating. i'm sure there are questions that were not asked, but i now know more about heads, gaskets and open decks than i knew to ask. it is not as simple as ... "the head gasket was poorly designed and they fixed it". http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=70759&highlight=head+gasket

if it's a crack, run by almost any independant exhaust shop and they can weld up a fix for you. as long as it's not in the cat itself.

i can't tell from the picture, but is the cam sproket busted (the top cam sproket is the intake , the lower one is the exhaust) or is the timing belt cover busted. if the cams are intact and the belt is in tact, you may be ok. if the cam sproket is busted, what ever was goin to be damaged probably already is. but you might get lucky.

closest to the driver.

i think he said he's driven 3k miles since the oil change.

no torque bind for you!! the only thing they didn't do was the transfer clutch plates. but if they weren't bad, no need to replace. you're good to go. :burnout::burnout: AWD

yes and no!! the timing belt is due at 105k miles, so if you disassemble to do the head gaskets at 75k miles you probably don't want to reassemble with old parts just to go back in in 30k miles. on the other hand, they are going to charge you twice for the labor for the t-belt. and actually the work they did wasn't needed and didn't fix the problem. (usually you do the water paump at the same timne as the t-belt, since water pump or t-belt failure will cause head/valve damage. and rarely do water pumps last 200k miles. mine went at 98k.) so if you use the same place to do the head gaskets, make them discount the price. act as though you paid for a repair and they didn't do it right. ask what made them think it was pump and belt. why didn't they look for the real cause. however any subaru mechanic worht his salt would have known or guessed head gaskets. you might consider it a lesson learned and look for another shop. one other thing, given the fact that they apparently don't know what in the world they are doing, check to see if you have warm air coming out of your heater when the temp guage rises. there could now be an air bubble in the coolling system causing it to overheat. search 'burp' an read how to get the air out. why are you now convinced it's a bad gasket?

ignition coil subaru part # 22433aa400 ..................... fits: Impreza, 2.2L 1995 – 1998; Legacy 2.2L 1995 – 1998; Legacy 2.5L 1995 - 1998 hope this helps. i have a new one if you need it, but i here they are pretty hardy items. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69773