Okay, maybe I am a moron.

1999 Subaru Legacy Wagon. I looked in the manual as I am trying to find the dipstick to check the ATX fluid and frankly, I just cannot find it. I see the brake fluid, oil and steering fluid. But no dipstick for the ATX fluid. Can anyone confirm or deny I am a moron? It's gotta be somewhere. Am I missing something? Maybe something was "replaced" and it's just not as easy to find? I am fairly competent with this kind of stuff, so it's a bit embarrassing. Help if you can, thanks!

Please update your info with a meaningful city/state.

 

The ATF dipstick is hidden by some hoses. It's right infront of the brake booster. There are a couple of hoses in the way. It may be easier to see from the front of the car - look for it - its yellow.

 

Beware that sometimes they are stuck into the tube.

Thanks for the response. So is that back closer to the driver side area corner? I will check again when I get home and my wife has the car there, but I looked for a while before and couldn't find it.

 

(updating my city/state info now)

Yea - a foot or so infront of the brake booster and down 6 inches or so (from memory) under a few hoses. It's a bright yellow loop - same color as the oil dipstick top. You may literally have to push some small hoses aside to see it - you have to push them aside to reinstall the dipstick or to make way for a funnel to add ATF. But that's where it is.

Thanks so much.

Don't feel bad, I too have a 99 Leggy wagon. The first time I searched for it, I couldn't find it. Like said earlier, it is buried under some hoses on the driver's side right at the firewall. Weed through those hoses to find the yellow handled stick. It helps to use a flashlight to find it, then use the same flashlight to find the tube to reinstall the dip stick. It only takes a pint of ATF to fill from the low mark to the full mark.

To avoid confusion, there are two yellow dipsticks on the ATX. The one on the left (driver's side in the US) is transmission fluid. The one on the right is for the front diff oil. that should also be checked from time to time. The hoses you need to move for the transmission fluid (on the left) go to the brake booster (one) and the heater coil (two of those), and perhaps the AC line (that will be a big one that is covered wth foam rubber insulation). Oh, I can also confirm that you are not a moron! The dipstick for the ATX is fairly hidden, and you had the very good sense to ask others that have dealt with this.

I don't seem to have a front diff dip stick on my 97 OBS. It looks like there is a metal plug of some sort where it is suppose to be. I wanted to change the gear oil but don't have any way to fill it or check the level. And yes, that ATF fluid stick is a bugger to find for the first time!

Never seen a plug for the front diff.

 

 

Try again. Lean over the passenger side fender, see the transmission bellhousing, follow it backwards as it gets skinnier. It might just be a metal loop or the bright plastic as the other dipsticks. I forget since I've been working on my VW lately I may be getting confused abotu it being metal. It's a very short dipstick that you get to front the top passenger side.

 

I've never seen a plug. There could be one on yours but I've never seen one.

I don't seem to have a front diff dip stick on my 97 OBS. It looks like there is a metal plug of some sort where it is suppose to be. I wanted to change the gear oil but don't have any way to fill it or check the level. And yes, that ATF fluid stick is a bugger to find for the first time!

 

You prolly had a plastic loop model, and the plastic loop busted off leaving just the flat top. Try pulling up on the *plug*