96 legacy outback automatic, where is the transmission fluid pump? is it accessible through the pan? or do i need to pull out the entire transmission to access it?

i ask because i have a noise coming from transmission somewhere, it almost sounds like a power steering pump does when it goes bad, i am starting to think this may be the problem, it makes a whining bearing sound no matter it being in park reverse neutral or drive,

trans pump is not accessible through the pan. remove the transmission and separate the front diff from the transmission assembly to get to the pump.

 

in general these transmissions are robust making used a very good option. since there's a low demand they're often easy to find cheap. i bought an EJ 4EAT a few years ago from a yard with a 90 day warranty, under 100,000 miles for $150. hardly worth fixing the old one for that price, although that's below average. point is, you might want to look and price it out just to see what you can find.

 

someone on here might even have a known good transmission for you.

 

Gloyale has a great write up on removing the front diff, might want to check that thread out. You'll start getting into work that effects the backlash and that's critical to not screw up or you'll be fixing it again. Not terribly hard and with help from this board you should be good to go, but a fair warning in case you've never dove into trans/diffs before.