My 87 ea82 runs great but when you shift it to drive and step on the gas it takes a bit before it shifts into gear and starts to go. Any ideas?

Does it work just fine if you shift into 1st and then 2nd? If so, then pretty classic "governor" issue.

Yeah - could need the governor plunger "dressed" so it slides more freely. Or it could just be the tranny is about to fail .

 

The 3AT's are not renown for their reliability (by the usual Subaru "benchmark" of lasting 500k miles ) but seem to do pretty well if maintained regularly (every 30k or so) with new fluid, etc.

 

GD

has the fluid ever been changed? it's like 25 years old, it's probably due.

 

this trans is completely different but there's a classic delayed engagement issue on newer gen vehicles that responds really well, like almost every time, to the Auto Trans X stuff available at wal-mart, etc. maybe that's a last resort if nothing else gives.

 

in the future clarify whether it's 4EAT or 3AT, not everyone will know.

I honestly do not know if its a 4eat or a 3at I know that its probably ready to go out but I'm trying to make it stretch out just long enough till I can get up to see you Rick... It does work great if I manually shift it from first to second and then to drive....Fluid was changed twice in the last six months just to try and work some fresh fluid into it...

Oh yeah how do I dress the govenor?

It's a 3AT - they didn't make a 4EAT 2WD back in '87. In fact those didn't come out till the Legacy years and only in the EJ platform. 2WD EA's are always the 3AT.

 

How skilled are you with a wrench? We used to have an article around the site here somewhere about the 3AT governor piston repair. Basically the governor is on the passenger side of the transmission under a bowl-shaped cover - you remove the cover and pull the governor out. Then you can remove the spring clips that hold the piston and spring into the valve body. It's a matter of cleaning up the edges of the piston with a small file or sharpening stone so the piston slides smoothly in it's bore.....

 

GD

Thanks again Rick I'll give that a try...