Jarhett

Alright, so I bought a 96 Outback with 2.5 L engine and 130 k miles on it, to my dismay I quickly discovered a bad headgasket and replaced it. When I put the engine back in, it ran great, then I tried to put it in gear... Nothing. After some effort and time I figured out I didn't prime the Torque converter! (rookie mistake, I know) SO I tore the whole thing back apart again and primed the torque converter, got it seated, put the engine back in, and now it drives! YAY! But here's the rub: any time the engine is turned on, the transmission does not engage until I rev it up to about 3-4000 RPM, then it *grabs* and drives fine until the engine is shut off again. The fluid level reads crazily HIGH until I get the TC to *grab* then it reads at the correct level. From what I've read it COULD be transmission drainback, so where is the anti-drainback valve on these models? Some other information that may not apply: I am leaking a bit of tranny fluid from the torque converter area, not severe, but surely there. In diagnosing my empty TC, I did a full tranny flush with aftermarket fluid. I have found more metal shavings than I would have liked in the process of all this. During the HG job, I had help who almost attempted close the gap between the engine and the bell housing by tightening the bolts, he started to, but I stopped him before he got too far and we got the oil pump tube thing seated so that it all went together peacefully, but I have since been concerned that we damaged the tranny's oil pump that day, and that mistake may come back to bite me I am not sure just yet, but I think I am getting terrible gas milage. I am driving it for now, but don't want to let this go on too long, thanks all!

Hey All, I'm getting pretty desperate here. I just did the infamous HG job on a 96 Outback 2.5l, machined the heads, new bolts, gaskets, de-greased and re-oiled everything, the works. Anyway, I got the motor back in after it being out for several months and now it sounds like a song, but the transmission does not engage. I got the fluid to the right level, checked all wires that I could see going to the trans (made sure there were no bent pins on the harnesses), even pulled the pan off the bottom of the tranny thinking I may have bent it with the jack (I know I did bend the pan just a little) but I can't see any damage, and when I start the car I don't get any dashboard codes or anything, so I think the wires in there are OK. When I try to shift the car into gear, the RPM responds a little bit as if taking on the load, but the car doesn't even try to actually move. When I originally added the ATF after the engine was back in I definitely added too much, but I drained it and got it to the proper cold level with the car running in park (cold since I can't actually warm up the trans). I am on an island and parts cars are scarce so I am kind of limited that way, plus my spare car just went ca-put so I really need to get this guy up again. I have searched the forums for this exact problem but I can't find anything. Please let me know if there is anything that would cause this problem, anything I could have done when mating the tranny and the engine, it worked great before my dumb self tore the whole thing apart. Thanks in advance, -Jarhett

I just did the HG job for an EJ25, and after waiting for the Checker/Oreily on my island (in Hawaii) for several weeks to "get them in next week," I got the part number and got the Felpro head bolts from Amazon.com in 5 days with free shipping for $20 less. Get the Part numbers and check out Google Shopping, you'd be amazed at the places that sell some pretty specific parts.