Terpodion Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 This is a long story but I'll try to be concise. This car has been passed around. The latest recipient is my daughter's loser boyfriend. Some time ago he sold it back to me so he could pay the rent. I let him keep driving it because I wanted him to be able to get to work to support my daughter and grand-daughter. I know, this sounds pretty greasy but there is only so much I can do. Kids. This past Monday, he (the boyfriend) calls me in the late evening, pissed off (at me) because he hit a pothole, had a flat and can't change it because the lug wrench won't fit the lugs. At the time I was still in the throws of Covid-19 so couldn't leave the house, much less go change a tire on a 20F degree night. He leaves it at a dumpy gas station and my daughter picks him up. Fast forward. Tuesday afternoon. The car has been towed away because he never came and got it. He can't get it back because the tow company wants money and of course he's broke. He says he'll pick it up Friday when he gets paid. Late Friday afternoon. I call the tow company and he still has not picked the car up. I go to the tow company and pay them. I have a key as well as the title. When I start the car, the CEL is on (no surprise) the BRAKE light is on and the AC OIL TEMP light is flashing. The car is stone cold - hasn't run since Monday. I drove it onto the street where I prepared to change the tire. I'd brought an air tank with me with about 100 psi in it and luckily, the tire inflated and held. It had probably been low when he took off Monday, he didn't notice and may have broken the bead when he hit a pothole. He'd claimed that the tire was ruined after hitting a big pothole. I checked the oil and the dipstick came out dry. I anticipated this and brought a quart of oil with me. It was still not reading on the dipstick after I dumped it in. I'm surprised the engine didn't seize as soon as I started it. I checked the brakes and they seemed to work. No grinding, firm pedal. I carefully followed my wife home, taking the back roads. Once up to around 45 mph I felt like the rpms were too high - over 3k. The transmission (automatic) will not go into 4th gear. The AC OIL TEMP light kept flashing. In any case, I made it home. It was late and I was losing light but discovered that adding brake fluid turned off the BRAKE light. Where did the fluid go? I checked for a puddle. None. I should also mention that there is a pretty sizable exhaust leak. It's between the cylinder heads and the exhaust header. It was minor when I first gave the car to him. I told him that he needed to fix it or else it could burn an exhaust valve which would ten break off and get sucked into the combustion chamber. I know how to fix this leak. I dealt with it on the '80s era Subarus. I had five of them. One of them, an '84 with all the options (except AC) I still regret selling. In any case, my daughters "fiancée" (she'll never marry him) is not getting this car back - particularly if he's going to drive around in it with my grand-daughter. At this point, it's not road worthy and is bordering on being a death trap. Before I gave it to him I'd done quite a bit of work on it; new radiator and hoses, new ball joints and tie rods, new tires. He totally neglected it. I'm glad I could save the tire. But I'd like to save the rest of it for use as a "snow car" and weekend adventure car to drive on the sand roads in our local Pine Barrens. The brake leak, exhaust leak and oil leak are easily within my ability to repair but the AC OIL TEMP light perplexes me. Whey would it come on when the car is cold? A wiring / sensor issue? Will 4th gear come back if I fix it? A brief Google search turns up only issues when the transmission is actually overheating. Did he roast the transmission? I was not able to get the transmission dipstick out. It's dark and cold and I'm pretty tired at this point. I still have not gotten back to full strength after Covid. Any help is greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 Lucky Texan Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 check trans fluid level - that fluid is checked while idling. check trans pan for dents. try to discover how the car was towed. If it wasn't on a flatbed, the tow may have damaged the trans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 normally, car needs to be fully warmed up - both engine and tranny - before checking the fluid to get an accurate reading - and yes, it is checked with the car running and parked on flat ground. From the sounds of things, it has been seriously neglected... so i am going to guess the fluid is low. If you are loath to actually drive it, you can run it and just shift thru the gears without actually moving... to get the dipstick loose, give it a slight twist.. they do like to seize in because they are not pulled as often as the engine oil dipstick. also.. 4th gear will not kick in until the internals reach a certain temp.. if it is very cold outside it can take a bit to get things warmed up enough. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terpodion Posted February 19, 2022 Author Share Posted February 19, 2022 Update: The car was flat-bedded. It was not towed with the wheels on the pavement. I drove it some more today and it does not shift at all. It seems to be stuck in 2nd gear. Pulling the shifter down into 2 and 1 has no effect. I managed to get the transmission dipstick out - it was almost as if it was welded in place - after some trouble and it might be a tad low. It's certainly not empty and the fluid did not smell strongly. I suspect that the car / transmission is in some sort of limp home mode. I'm going to have the codes read. I really need to buy a good scanner but I just dropped several hundred dollars on a tow company. Also; the tire is still holding air nicely and after I cleaned all the crap out of the back, I found the original Subaru lug wrench. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted February 20, 2022 Share Posted February 20, 2022 17 hours ago, Terpodion said: I drove it some more today and it does not shift at all. It seems to be stuck in 2nd gear. Pulling the shifter down into 2 and 1 has no effect. yeah.. get fluid level back up to where it should be, and hopefully that will help getting codes read is an important thing to do.. chain auto parts stores can read them for you, usually for free, but yeah, having your own code reader is an excellent idea..and basic ones really are not all that expensive anymore.. alternatively, there are dongles and apps for smart phones that are pretty inexpensive as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terpodion Posted February 22, 2022 Author Share Posted February 22, 2022 Update: I had the codes read. PO753 and 748. Both are shift solenoid codes. According to the stuff I'm seeing on various sites it could be caused by low fluid (nope, the level is fine), dirty fluid (it looks and smells pretty clean), a faulty valve or a problem with the electrical connections. I'm not sure where the valve is located - inside or outside - or if there is wiring outside the transmission. I'm hoping that the latter is true and something has come loose. I wouldn't put it past the dumb-rump roast to have run over something jagged, damaged a wiring harness and ignored it. It's raining now, otherwise I'd jack it up and crawl around underneath it and do a thorough inspection. I'd also like to know why the brake fluid was low. Brake fluid doesn't just evaporate. There has to be a leak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88SubGL Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 As regards the brake fluid, you may need to check your brake wear. The fluid level goes down as the brakes wear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terpodion Posted February 23, 2022 Author Share Posted February 23, 2022 1 hour ago, 88SubGL said: As regards the brake fluid, you may need to check your brake wear. The fluid level goes down as the brakes wear. I wouldn't think that pad wear would cause it to go down that much. I added quite a bit of fluid. But you never know. I wouldn't be surprised if the car had been driven around with the e-brake on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 19 year old car, east coast... yeah, you probably have a very small leak somewhere, and it will very suddenly become a major one... when you do get under it, check very carefully for wet looking spots - my first thought is the junction block in front of the right rear wheel - my 02 Forester (same platform) failed at that spot. it is a relatively simple fix if you have the skills.. just cut out the block (it really is not needed) and splice in new line. The shop that fixed mine had to go inside the cabin, under the rear seat to get back to solid line to make the junction - outside was just too rotten. (i was just too busy at the time to deal with it myself) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 Lucky Texan Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 and sometimes the leak is above the fuel tank and fluid could pool there, then blow or drip down almost anywhere around it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtdash Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 If covered, ignore: Check for a dent in the underside of the trans pan. When I 1st started working on Subes, I jacked it up on the pan (newb!), dented it and it broke a wire inside. I drained the ATF (slow process), removed the gazillion bolts, pried off the pan (carefully>evenly not to bend it too much), fixed the broken wire, reinstalled pan (can't recall if I used a gasket or just RTV'd) and was good to go. This was on an older version of your 4EAT, but may be similiar internally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terpodion Posted February 23, 2022 Author Share Posted February 23, 2022 3 hours ago, wtdash said: If covered, ignore: Check for a dent in the underside of the trans pan. When I 1st started working on Subes, I jacked it up on the pan (newb!), dented it and it broke a wire inside. I drained the ATF (slow process), removed the gazillion bolts, pried off the pan (carefully>evenly not to bend it too much), fixed the broken wire, reinstalled pan (can't recall if I used a gasket or just RTV'd) and was good to go. This was on an older version of your 4EAT, but may be similiar internally. A dent in the transmission pan? You mean like this!? Notice the yellow / orange paint that rubbed off whatever he ran over. Curbstones are often painted that color around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmdew Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 Yes that will do it. There's like an 1/8" between the bottom of the pan and the pickup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terpodion Posted March 1, 2022 Author Share Posted March 1, 2022 I dropped the pan. There are no broken wires. I can not even see any with pinched insulation that might gave been grounding out. It is still pretty oily in there. I'm going to let it drip overnight and give it a more thorough inspection tomorrow. I'm still trying to figure out which one is the shift solenoid. The infor I get by doing a web search is almost useless, Most of the Subaru transmission pictures I find don't look anything like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terpodion Posted March 1, 2022 Author Share Posted March 1, 2022 (edited) Here's a shot of the inside of the pan. . Edited March 1, 2022 by Terpodion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 that long crease will definitely impede the flow of fluid in the bottom.. clearances are pretty slim in that area. might almost be worth sourcing a different pan, as bad as that one is - car-part.com is a great resource 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terpodion Posted March 2, 2022 Author Share Posted March 2, 2022 2 hours ago, heartless said: that long crease will definitely impede the flow of fluid in the bottom.. clearances are pretty slim in that area. might almost be worth sourcing a different pan, as bad as that one is - car-part.com is a great resource There is no way I'm reusing that pan. A web search tells me that I can get a new one for under $50. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terpodion Posted March 2, 2022 Author Share Posted March 2, 2022 I tested the "A" shift solenoid - the one with the green wire. It's an open circuit. I took out the bolt that appears to hold it in. I can spin it and it drops perhaps an eighth of an inch but it won't come out. I do not want to force it for fear of causing more damage. I'd rather not take out the valve body. I can not find any videos or instructions to remove the shift solenoids and most of the how-to videos on replacing the other solenoids have the valve body removed. Anybody know how to get the shift solenoid out? Does the valve body have to come out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmdew Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 selfserve Junk yards are always a good place to practice removals! The oring may just be hard. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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