January 26, 200521 yr began doing something strange a few days ago. Only when coasting down a long hill at 40-50 mph with my foot off of the throttle, the transmission will suddenly downshift back to 3rd gear for no reason. I can tell it's back in 3rd gear not only by feel and by the tachometer, but because if I move the shifter to "3", nothing changes. When I step back on the throttle gently for a moment, the transmission shifts back to 4th gear. No "check engine" lamp coming on; car runs beautifully under all conditions. I recall seeing another thread about a vacuum sensor located up on the right front strut tower that might lead to this problem, but I can't find that thread.....
January 26, 200521 yr It's supposed to do that. It's a downhill engine braking feature. Emily http://www.ccrengines.com
January 27, 200521 yr Author It's supposed to do that. It's a downhill engine braking feature. Emily http://www.ccrengines.com OK, I'll buy that. I know that other manufacturers design that feature into their automatic transmissions. My concern is that the owner's manual doesn't mention the feature at all. Does your Subaru automatic trans do that?
January 27, 200521 yr Mine does. I read about it somewhere, if not in the owner's manual, then it was on endwrench.com. The TCU has a "slope mode", which changes the shift program if it thinks you're going down or up a hill. Trouble is, it's not very smart, and it can be annoying on some hills.
January 28, 200521 yr I have a 99 also and it does the same thing. It also holds the lower gear for awhile if you lift off the gas, the intent here is to allow a certain amount of braking on low speed turns. I have heard the 99 have a more aggessive electronic program than other years somewhere, and that the dealer can reprogram the computer if needed. I sort of like it the way it is.
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