nycoutback

nipper i really appreciate your help. i am making progress now at least. i swear one day i'm going to know what the hell i'm talking about. :-\

Progress! sorta. It is raining here today. Started it and put it into sport mode and the problem was there-just very high revving in second and no third. I took it out of sport mode it was the same (high revving in second and no third). So I got to a stretch of highway, put it back into sport mode and gunned it, it redlined in second but it kicked into third soon after, I would say about 5200 rpm. I then took it out of sport mode and it drove fine after that. So I am thinking that this has to be a sensor of some kind and probably moisture has something to do with it. The tranny (mechanically anway) seems to be doing what it is supposed to be doing, it's just getting the wrong info. Still... no CEL. So I am assuming, no codes. Is that right?

well, my understanding of limp-mode is that it caps the revs and won't let it redline. Is that correct? If so, I agree it's not in limp mode because I am getting very high revs in 2 (maybe not to the limiter because I have been reluctant to try it - but will) I am just not getting shifted into third in automatic (and/or sport mode) and can't force it into 3rd by using the manumatic.

I think this is actually it. What I HAVE NOT done is push it to the rev limiter, which is what I am going to try to do the next time it happens. Hopefully that will get a code to stick. Don't know what else to try.

Could a bad speed sensor cause this? The ATF was drained, filter was replaced, and new ATF was put in. This did not solve the issue. The conditions didn't seem to matter. I say that because one night recently it was raining slightly and it gave us the most trouble on that day. But this problem has happened when the car is cold, when I've been driving it, dry, rain, etc. Even while I was driving it doing 60mph it up and decided 2nd gear was appropriate.

Thanks. I am really not convinced it is related to the sportsmode. I basically do not use it. Again, I mainly used it to try to get the car into third because it wasn't doing so in automatic mode. It is interesting to know that sportshift will only shift gears right about redline, so I am thinking about just punching it on a long enough stretch of road and see if it pushes through. Doubt it, I remember getting the RPMs very high... but I do shy away from redlining.

This problem exists when the car is in regular automatic mode. I tried using sportshift to take it into third but it remains in second. RPMs will redline if I give it enough gas and the car cannot get much over 20mph. Trying to get to 25mph would redline the car.

I can try disconnecting the battery, but since it's been serviced soo much for this problem I would hope they have done that already. They simply cannot proceed without an error code, which I find seriously lame. I work with computers, I know that diagnosing a problem is often difficult in a complex machine, but it seems to me that some of these "technicians" lack a fundamental understanding of the individual systems involved and rely on error codes for everything! Trust me Subaru. The problem is real and had us stuck on a busy highway at night with a baby in the back. Error code or NOT!

If I slow down it appears to go into first. I can use sportshift mode to force it into 1st as well.

My wife and I have been having an issue with our Outback that the delearship says "they can't reproduce. so they can't fit it." From time-to-time the automatic trans won't shift into 3rd gear (both when the car is cold or after I have been driving it for a while). It also will not allow me to get above 2nd gear in sportshift. It will just redline! We've taken it to ALL of the dealerships in the NYC area (ones that are supposed to be superior) and they can't fix it. The problem does not happen all the time, but highway driving obviously becomes impossible when it is happening, so the car has become completely unrealiable. Here is some info on the car: 2005 Outback XT 80k miles (original trans and engine) no accidents automatic/sport shift transmission fluids are good (checked and rechecked) no third-party modifications have been made to the vehicle. Also, I am getting the "Ill.3" display on the odometer, which I know is just the illumination setting, but I do not know why this reading shows up randomly and my wife seems to think one has to do with the other. Perhaps it is an electical problem and she is right about that? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.