I have put a lot of miles on my 1998 Outback... it at 313,000 as of a few days ago. The weird thing is from time to time the speedometer won't work... and sometimes when that happens the transmission won't shift past 1st gear. Normally hitting the gauge cluster will cause the Speedometer to start working...(sometimes it won't help) normally this will cause the transmission to hunt for its gear (engine revs until it shifts) then it runs fine...

 

This has been going on for about the last 115,000 miles

 

Ideas please?

there's a loose solder joint in the speedometer.  it's very, very common in 1999 models and some 1998/2000 models have it happen as well.

 

you can google the solder repair - it is well documented.   

 

if you're not comfortable soldering - remove the instrument cluster (really easy) and take it, and a printed out pictures/threads of people that have done it before and have a shop do it.  it takes like no time at all, they shoudlnt' charge much of anything.  

 

or sometimes you end up needing to replace the cluster.  

www.car-part.com and buy one with similar mileage - they're cheap and easy to replace.  get a 1996-1997 model maybe and you'll avoid that 99 specific solder joint issue?  if they're interchangeable, which I'd imagine they are. 

If the solder joints are fine then it might be a failing vehicle speed sensor (VSS) which is a sensor plugged into the transmission and controls the speedometer.

Im great at soldering. But sadly this didn't work... i drove it earlier... it wouldn't shift nor would the speedo work... then a few seconds later everything worked great...

 

Then on the highway the transmission shifted great but I had no speedo meter

Could it be that o just beat the life out of it?

So speed sensor then?

Yeah. Try the speed sensor next. They don't fail that often so a good used one from a junkyard can save some $$$

The poor car did have an oil leak... I wonder if oil got in the connection coming off the trans...???

probably not - these things can leak like 3 year old wet paper cup and not affect sensors.  

 

if it's shifting poorly then it's not the instrument cluster - you can completely remove the cluster and the car drives just fine.  

Speed sensor worked