CNY_Dave

I'm working from home 3 feet from the car, chipping away at both.

Glad he's OK. Sounds like the car decided to take him out, but was just too well-built!

Oh hellyeah, I am going to check the snot out of it as far as possible before attempting to fix or replace anything. Yeah, no flashing AT light, but a clear-as-day code 93 from the gerblinky-blinky AT temp light when put into diagnostic mode. I even snagged a video of it so I could be sure. This was a junkyard trans, it wouldn't be that hard for the yard guys to have hit the sensor or pinched a lead. I did have to straighten the ATF dipstick tube by a fair amount.

Trans connector, pins 19 and 20 on the bottom left.

Hopefully the removers at the junkyard pinched a wire or such, if the old sensor comes out with metal bits on it or is mangled, indicating an internal problem, I'm going to be quite depressed. But, it's the rear VSS, so at least it would (tend to) be a tailhousing-accessible problem.

You're like 6 miles away so you should just drop by tomorrow afternoon (I'll be working from home and working on the car). S on Salt, L on Stevens, tan house brown roof with the silly big garage behind it, used to be Gilbert's machine shop.

Have you seen a common type of failure? Broken wire vs shorted by chafing vs just a bad sensor?

Thanks. A day spent combing teh internets (nasioc, etc, man, those nasioc guys love to rebuild harnesses!) gave the same advice. I'm going to spend some time on it tomorrow, maybe I'll just spot a broken or pinched wire and it'll be an easy fix. (It's never an easy fix, is it?)

I was looking at the connector trying to figure out how to back the pins out, but didn't see anything obvious. What's the trick?

I would say if this is a year and engine where subaru says to use it, use one bottle. Ivan has just seen too many engines and radiators and heater cores gunked up with magic spooge, so he riles against its use. My H6 head gaskets were seeping externally a little, so I used one bottle, and they certainly seep less, so I am not against using it, but if one doesn't help, I don't think 2 will.

Gen 2 4EATs apparently have only one replaceable sensor part, the entire trans wiring harness including 3 sensors and all the connectors that go inside the pan. I need to replace my rear vehicle speed sensor, wondering if anyone has ever done the splice job and just replaced one sensor.

No core. That was a key part of the decision towards not fixing, but replacing. They have a 90 day parts warranty, I almost want to price out the full harness instead of swapping my sensor. The harness includes the 2 speed sensors, the turbine speed sensor, and all the wires and connectors that go inside the pan. I bet it's expensive! If there is little to no chance I did whatever made the sensor not work, I might try and wrangle some scratch from the yard, after telling them what the whole thing costs.

Looking at my old trans, it's 2 wires plus a shield, easiest place to splice will be all the way at the top, assuming I can finagle enough room to cut (always room for that!) and solder. I'm hoping there is space to access the sensor without dropping the exhaust.

Just looked in the service manual- you have to replace the entire harness, drop the driveshaft, drop the pan, pull all the connectors from inside the pan, drop the full exhaust to replace the VSS? Can't imagine what that costs, since there are other sensors on the same harness. I assume people just cut and splice the wire when they have a spare VSS from another trans, as I do. It's not some messed-up impossible-to-splice wire, is it?

At light not flashing but pulled a code 93, rear vss, great news if that fixes it!

If it's more drone than whine, likely a wheel bearing. Does it change with the amount of throttle? That would make it a driveshaft or pinion bearing.

96,000 mile used trans, from a 2004 LL Bean H6. Got it bolted in, trans is filled to the mark on the stick, on the jackstands the rear wheels do spin in all gears. Took it for a test run, by chance it was snowing. 1, 2, 3, D, the rear wheels do not drive until I get the revs up to about 3000 with the fronts spinning, then the AWD kicks in, and there is a bit of a groaning while it operates. Revs drop below 2500 or so and then it's just the fronts again. This wouldn't seem to be a grooved clutch basket, or any other post-torque-bind symptom, based on what I have read for the past few years. Any thoughts? Is the duty-c external? In the pan? in the rear case?

Heh, I had to stop work sunday to travel for work, the other one isn't even fully bolted in yet.

I wanted to hold the converter in all the way to after bolt-up.

Just a pick of the horrid-freight 800lbs trans jack, and 4 of the 5 holes in the side of this '04 H6 4EAT are not in my '03 4EAT. The circled hole is the only one of the 5 on the '04 front housing that is on my '03.

What a seated H6 converter looks like, and a little widget I made to hold it in place. Also where I installed a bar to hold the engine at the proper angle.

Trans is 'in', 4 bellhousing bolts and 2 in the4 cross member holding it in place until I get back from Atlanta wednesday. I can't believe how easy the trans jack made this- well, that part of it. After I got the connector out between the block and the trans, it was easy-peasy.

I think my diff fluid leak was just the thick lucas oil with the even thicker additive getting slung upwards off the pinion and against the dipstick, forcing it out a little bit.

Got in almost 2 hours this morning, then went to the model plane club's annual lunch, got back to work about 4:30. Had to modify the transmission jack and do some judicious tilting, but it's out. I had to put 2 pieces of 12x2 under each jackstand and lower the rear to the ground. The trans jack (with the extension ears I added so the pan would not hit) is about 9" high fully lowered, but it was worth every cent getting it out, and will doubly be so going in. One of the bottom bellhousing studs stayed in the block, the other threaded out, I wonder of putting it in is easier with both in or both out? I bolted a 1/8th metal bar between the radiator support and a mount on the intake, motor stayed nice and stable. I was hoping to get this thing all wrapped up by sunday afternoon, that's sure not gonna happen! It looks like the diff oil was pushed up the dipstick, no idea why that happened, it wasn't filled with trans fluid or such.

AH-HA HA HA HAHA! Jokes on me, not sure I can get the car high enough to get the trans out. I always thought those jackstands and my jack went pretty high. I'm going to have to put boards under the jack, and under the jackstands, and probably lower the rear off it's jack stands a bit to get the nose higher. If I've led a virtuous life, I might not even have to take the trans off the jack and put the new one on the trans jack under the car. (in other words, I'll have to)