grimaceNMike
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Posts posted by grimaceNMike
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Here is some info that was provided to me by some nice people.
Hope it helps you too.
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On 1/2/2021 at 9:48 AM, Stelcom66 said:
"So sorry to hear! I'd love to find that era Legacy wagon with the 2.2L. I had a '92 sedan version of that, same color. The wheel covers were silver though - I assume these were painted. That gold color goes well IMO.
Around here if there is one to be found with the 2.2L, which is very rare - the rust is usually significant. I don't see any sign of it on your car. Whether you have it or not it's still yours."
Thanks a bunch Stelcom! Yeah, I painted the wheels back in 2014 because they were scuffed up and terrible looking from parking too close to curbs. I thought they turned out pretty good too. I did about 5 coats of paint on top of a primer to fill in all the scratches that couldn't be buffed out with sandpaper. The car had absolutely no rust, the engine started up and ran like a champ, even with 289,450 miles on it. God I miss it.
I also added a leather interior from a 2001 Outback, I had power seats and heat
Insurance gave me $2200 for the car. It is gone forever now. :/
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el_freddo, yeah part of me hopes it was a Subaru enthusiast that stole it and they are using it for strictly off-road use on their property out in the middle of nowhere. Hopefully they are being gentle with it, in all my years of ownership I never once did WOT in that car.
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Final follow-up on Grimace:
As some of you may have read, I replaced my original (285k mile) transmission that endured years or torque bind abuse with a junkyard-pulled transmission that I grabbed out of an old sedan. When I installed the "new" transmission back in July of 2019, I had issues with getting the car to move in "D" or "3", it would just rev like in neutral. When I put the car in "1" or "2" the car would set off at a slow speed but then slip out of gear and free rev if given more than 1/4 throttle. Being in school at the time, I parked the car and planned to replace the transmission again when a better one showed up at a junkyard. Fast forward to June of 2020, I finished school and free time so I decided to perform a fluid change on the transmission again, just in case that might help, before returning it under warranty. After doing the fluid change the transmission would go into "D" and I would feel a slight lurch, like the car wanted to move. When I pressed the accelerator though, the car just revved up in RPM's. And as the RPM's wound down the car would start to creep forward, but not with any torque, almost like a clutch slipping really badly.
After playing around with different combinations, I found that if I had the shift lever in position "2" with the "Manual" button pressed on the shift lever the car would start in 2nd gear with no problem. Once I was going over 18 MPH I could shift the car into "D" and the rest of the drive would be fine. It would shift between 2nd, 3rd, and 4th with no issues once it got past 18-20 MPH. If I put it in "1" it would work fine too, but that gear has so little speed in it that I would just start in "2" to avoid having to shift so many times. After about a month of driving the car like this I replaced the 6-year-old battery and suddenly I could start the car in "D" like the engineers had designed. But intermittently the car would not like starting in "D" at a red light and I would have to shift it down to "2" to get up to speed again. I don't know if that's due to the battery being disconnected and resetting the trans computer, or what. Another idea I had was that I forgot to top off the torque convertor before I shoved it into the housing, and maybe I was low on fluid for a while.
And as a final, and sad ending to this story, I will add the newest development... Apparently I got the car up and driving so well that someone else wanted it. That's right, Grimace was stolen from me.
After almost 10 years of ownership, and many fun adventures, my car has been taken from me.
Its been about 3 weeks since then, so insurance wrote it off as a total loss a couple days ago. Even if he is recovered, grimace is gone from my life. :/
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22 minutes ago, idosubaru said:
Back to what he said in his first post - If it's not wrecked, not rusted to pieces, and the engine seemed good enough for someone to take it, and add to that the fluid looked like garbage....I wouldn't want that transmission. But if it's your only option to replace an already bad transmission and you've got all the time in the world, then I guess you go for it.
Idosubaru, thank you for the advice.
There is a large dent in the rear quarter panel where it looks like it was lightly t-boned. But the damage doesn't look extensive enough to total the car. There is also a rusted-out hole about 6 inches in diameter near the rear door frame. I am torn if the car was hit, parked, and then donated years later, or if the trans went and the owner pulled the engine and then donated the car?? Dang it I wish people wrote car history in magic marker under the hood before donating it! -
15 hours ago, lmdew said:
Seat of the pants. Just drive it. Try tight slow circles in both directions, checking for torque bind. Make sure it shifts through the gears as it should. No AT Temp light flashing.
Just to be clear, this is what the donor car looks like. It doesn't have an engine, or wheels.
How do I test THAT transmission before I put it in?
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37 minutes ago, lmdew said:
Cleaner the better. It's a bunch of work to change the trans. I'd rather replace 2 engines than an Auto trans. Heavy as can be.
That does not mean with a good fluid flush once it's running it may be fine.
Once you confirm it's working, drain the fluid.
- How do I confirm its working?? I contacted 5-6 transmission shops and nobody that I can find tests transmissions when they are out of the car.
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11 hours ago, Rampage said:
About those stickers on the tranny. The first 6 digits must match your original transmission. The 7th letter A means 2.2 non-turbo.
- Thanks!! I found a similar explanation for the 2nd gen. Good to see this info.
So, do people all agree that I should avoid getting that transmission with the nasty fluid in it??
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3 hours ago, heartless said:
you should be asking the Junk Yard to find you another tranny before that warranty you paid for runs out. That is what the warranty is for.. should have been done long ago.
This junkyard makes you do your own work, they will not pull parts for you. I asked them about replacing the dead transmission, and they said that I need to bring it in. Which means removing it from the car, which is not something I want to do unless I can find a replacement one first. I did not have time to put into this until this week, which is why I am addressing it now.
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14 hours ago, idosubaru said:
1. that ATF looks horrendous. maybe it's a deceptive photo but your description doesn't seem to suggest that.
- It does look terrible, yes. But I am wondering if I flush it 2 or 3 times if there might be some life left in the transmission.2. you've driven the first transmission 1 year now, never came back with questions/comments, and didn't mention having any issues - how is it driving? why replace it?
- I have not driven the car at all for about a year now. The car has been sitting in the street waiting for me to graduate until now.
After I replaced the transmission last summer the transmission would not go into gear when I put it in "D" or "3". If I put it in "1" or "2" it would go into drive and shift between 1st and 2nd gear. Reverse works as well. I figured not going into "D" is why the donor car was in the junkyard and haven't done much to try and troubleshoot it. I did try and switch out the selenoid that I could reach on the bottom of the transmission after reading it might control the shifting, but it didn't change anything. So I wrote the whole project off and thought I would just donate the car. Now that I have a bunch of spare time I thought I would try again.9 hours ago, lmdew said:Junk yard hints. Look for cars that have been hit hard - in areas you don't care about. At least you know it was on the road.
- Yes, this is a very good strategy. This is what I wanted to do originally when I planned this. Unfortunately when I bought the transmission (during a 50% off sale) there was only one option in the area for the weeks leading up to that day.
A follow up question for this would be does anyone know where I can find a transmission compatibility guide? Like does the sedan transmission fit in the wagon?? Does the 1992 or 1994 fit in the 93? I see so many varying numbers on the transmissions for those years.
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Okay, so the warranty is about to run out on the junk transmission I got last year, I went to the yard today because a donor car finally showed up. But it does not look promising. I dropped the oil pan on the transmission and it smelled pretty terrible, not burnt, but almost putrid. It looked black to my eyes, but in the photos I do see some red. It looks slightly better than the current transmission that I have.
What are the chances of this thing working?? I hate to install another dead transmission, but I dont have many other options.
Also, what would a transmission in "good condition" from 1993 look like?245K miles on odometer
Thanks!
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I will be pulling the junkyard transmission out sometime this summer and bring it to the junkyard for an exchange. For now the car drives and moves on its own so I can move it around to avoid getting towed here the city. Grandma donated her car for me to use in the meantime, so the "emergency" is over and I can replace the trans with a better option when it arrives.
The reason I bought that transmission originally was because on Memorial day at the junkyard they charge half price for everything, so i saved about $70. A couple years ago there would always be 3-6 1st gen legacy's at each junkyard, I was spoiled with options! As soon as I was looking for a specific car (wrecked in the rear, 93-94, low miles) I couldn't find anything! This was the only 94 Legacy in any junkyard within 150 miles of me on Memorial Day, so I bought it as a placeholder of sorts. I thought it was junk, but after the Subaru technician said "normal wear and tear" I opted to throw it in and see. I'll be collecting an assortment of solenoids if anyone needs one in the future!Thanks for the input everyone! Ill be posting more soon.
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What kind of junk?? Like lots-of-work junk that I can drive for the summer, or unfix-able junk?
If I cannot fix this issue, everyone in my life is insisting I donate the car to a yard, and I really don't want to buy another car.
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Also, where the heck does this go?!? it fell out before i could see where it was seated.
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I took apart my old transmission to cannibalize the solenoids from it., but I am having trouble Identifying each one. I have labeled each solenoid with yellow arrows 1-5. If anyone knows which is which and what the resistance through the good solenoids should be I would be very grateful. I plan to replace all of the solenoids inside the oil pan with my old solenoids because I did not have issues with shifting with my old transmission, just binding. But if I could avoid opening the valve body area to access the rear 4 solenoids I would be happy as a guy who doesn't have to get transmission fluid all over his face, twice.
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Hey thanks for all the advice everyone! I appreciate all the efforts you put into finding me a replacement transmissions and helpful tips. The past 3 days have been pretty crazy, I struggled with the torque converter to flex-plate bolts for a few hours after I rounded one. But once I got the old trans out it was fairly easy to put in the replacement one. I bought a used transmission from a Pick-N-Pull on memorial day for $75, I opted for the 13 month warranty since it had 207k miles on it. I cleaned up the outside as best I could and then removed the oil pan to check for shards of metal and the state of the trans fluid (see photos). I took the oil pan to the local Subaru dealership and asked an experienced technician his opinion on the amount of metal, he said it looked reasonable for transmissions with 200k on them. So I decided to go forward with the swap. I finished putting the car back together this morning, filled up the transmission and differential fluid, and started it up. I am getting the "POWER" light blinking 16 times and the car wont move in "D" or "3", but it drives fine in 1st and Reverse. When I have it in "2" it shifts from 1st to 2nd and drives okay as long as I am easy on the throttle. If i give it more than half throttle in "2" the trans shifts to a neutral state and then catches again in 2nd gear. The "manual" button does not change anything except keep it out of 1st as it should. After doing a bit of research I believe it is either my "high clutch" is toast, or the solenoid controlling it is, or one of the other couple solenoids that control shifting is toast. Or it could be the clutch packs themselves, but I think that I would hear something, or see darker brown fluid in the pan.
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I wish I had a follow up answer, but I do not. I have not experienced anything like that since, but I have not pushed it hard like that since then either. A few months before this I had an issue with my MAF sensor, while trying to diagnose the issue I ended up cleaning the IACV and replacing the EGR valve.
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Hello fellow Subaru enthusiasts!
I have been experiencing automatic transmission problems for many years and the time has finally come that I can avoid fixing it any longer. Since I acquired the car in 2011 there has been a intermittent problem with the duty-C selenoid, the transmission has been binding up around corners for a long time, but the car was given to me for free so I never took the time to replace the duty-C. I do not drive the car very far so I have gotten away with this for some time now. When I do drive the car over 15 miles, the transmission heats up and starts to whine under load. After about 30 minutes of driving the scratching/grinding noise between gears is awful, its so loud I feel bad driving it. I have done 3 transmission flushes over the last 6 years, the first flush was because my transmission cooler line broke while driving 60 mph uphill and dumped all my fluid. While refilling the transmission fluid I accidentally over filled it, and drove it like that for at least 2 years.
This summer I start a new job that is about 110 miles away and I know my car won't make it, not even once. I need to replace the transmission, one with less miles that does not have quite the abuse on it. I plan to remove a transmission from a matching year legacy when one appears in the junkyard and swap that. Once I find a replacement transmission I plan to bring it to a shop and have them test it before I go through the trouble of swapping it out, but I am wondering if anyone has done a project like this before? If so, were there any unexpected issues that came up? What gaskets should I purchase before so I can change them all before I install it? Is there an item number for a kit with all the gaskets? Even better, does anyone have a link to a similar situation that someone has already posted?
Thanks for the help everyone!
1993 Legacy L, 4-EAT
287,452 miles-Mike
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6 hours ago, Colec533 said:
The FWD fuse will only work for 30 min to an hour and then the green power light will apear and it will go out and switch back to AWD it runs great in Fwd. if the fwd fuse stayed on all the time that would be perfect for me
Maybe toggle it on and off again every 30 min with a cabin switch? I have had duty C issue for at least 7 years, car drives like a tank. I don't take it on the freeways anymore and I pray for rainy days every time I drive.
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Yes, I agree. The heated/power seats and LED lighting are hooked up to their own fused relays, which I took power from an auxiliary wire that came from the "height control" module that is unused in the "L" model. I never looked into the schematic too closely, but I don't think the ignition switch and the height control share the same circuits??
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Make sure you open your passenger window at least halfway first, one of the screws in the "triangle shaped" bracket are hidden under where the window blocks if the window is up all the way. Once you take the door panel off you wont be able to control your windows, so do it before you disconnect everything.
**TIP FOR OTHERS** LOL, do not try to open the mirror itself, it is factory sealed and the only way to "open" it is to break a couple of plastic tabs which can not be replaced without buying a new mirror. I had to use JB weld to get mine back to good working order again.
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I have lots of aftermarket wires and lights, the heated power seats might be the culprit but it only happens occasionally, like every year or two so its hard to say.
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Did you replace the radiator? Did it help?
-Mike
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I had overheating issues much like the ones you are experiencing in my 93 ej22. I replaced the water pump, thermostat, radiator hoses and eventually my radiator. Once i replaced my radiator my loss of coolant reduced greatly and I did not have any more overheating issues for many months.The problem was my radiator and also my replacement radiator. The replacement one I put in must have had a small crack in it because occasionally when I came back to my car after it being parked for a few hours i noticed a very small puddle under the drivers side bumper eventually the level of coolant would drop so low that i would have air bubbles in my system and the temp gauge would spike then drop again. I bit the bullet and replaced my radiator again hoping that was truly the issue, its been over a year since then and I have lost no coolant at all nor have i had any overheating issues.
-Mike
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Starter motor hesitates
in 1990 to Present Legacy, Impreza, Outback, Forester, Baja, WRX&WrxSTI, SVX
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Does it click when you turn the key? Mine used to click, but not spin, I would whack it with a rubber mallet and it would work fine. I replaced the starter and didn't have the issue anymore.