Hi,my name is Jason and live in Asheville NC, I'm an Organic Chemist and car hobbiest. I've owned many a subaru from my 84GL wagon to my 2000Outback Limited, and I think they are great cars. I also restore 1st generation Toyota Celicas(1971-77), so I've got a fair amount of mechanical know how.

I'm posting for two reasons; to say hello and to ask about a problem I'm having with my 2000 Outback's auto transmission(wife's choice on the A/T:-\ ).

The problem I'm having seems to come and go. I'll drive around for a while, stop and turn off the car, do something, get back in the car to go somewhere, and the transmission will not go into forward gears(it goes into reverse w/o problem). I've checked the fluid and it seem to be foamy, so I had it flushed, and it worked fine for about a month. Now it is doing it again. I can put it in gear and rev the engine to about 4k and then it will slowly engage and I can drive(this happened to me @ HomeDepot yesterday). Has anyone had this problem and/or have info on what might be happening? Thank you.

 

Jason

Welcome to the forum Jason. Lots of good help around here and friendly advice. We even kick the tires a little around here.

 

Your transmission problem sounds like it may be a sticky valve. There is a product on the market called Trans-X. You might try adding that to the fluid and see if that helps stop this problem.

Thanks for the welcome Glen and the info on tans-x, I'll check it out. I've noticed, after doing a search about transmission problems, that I have a common problem that should be addressed by Subaru. Every time I say something about my transission to the guys @ my subaru dealership/service shop, I always get that; "it must be a unique situation" or " I've never heard of anyone having problems with those transmissions". I think they know about the problems, but have not been told to do anything about it. I like my OB and hope it has a simpl/cheap fix.

 

-Jason

Your welcome for the help. After doing some checking there is another product I would try first. It is made by Gunk and called M15/12. It comes in a small plastic bottle. The Tans-X may be a little too aggressive on the seals.

 

Definately check out what Subaru says about this problem.

find a shop that has a tranny flush machine, i made a post about this a few weeks ago. fully flushing the tranny is the first and cheapest place to start.[

 

QUOTE=Labguy1970]Hi,my name is Jason and live in Asheville NC, I'm an Organic Chemist and car hobbiest. I've owned many a subaru from my 84GL wagon to my 2000Outback Limited, and I think they are great cars. I also restore 1st generation Toyota Celicas(1971-77), so I've got a fair amount of mechanical know how.

I'm posting for two reasons; to say hello and to ask about a problem I'm having with my 2000 Outback's auto transmission(wife's choice on the A/T:-\ ).

The problem I'm having seems to come and go. I'll drive around for a while, stop and turn off the car, do something, get back in the car to go somewhere, and the transmission will not go into forward gears(it goes into reverse w/o problem). I've checked the fluid and it seem to be foamy, so I had it flushed, and it worked fine for about a month. Now it is doing it again. I can put it in gear and rev the engine to about 4k and then it will slowly engage and I can drive(this happened to me @ HomeDepot yesterday). Has anyone had this problem and/or have info on what might be happening? Thank you.

 

Jason