Guest Wagon Wagon Posted July 28, 2003 Share Posted July 28, 2003 Brought my new Soob home today! '87 XT4 4WD turbo... thanks a lot for the deal Paul!! The car seems to run great, quiet as a whisper on the highway. Seems that the trans is in bad shape though. Left CT this morning and the car was running fine. Shifted properly and smoothly and all. I stopped in Philly to see Dennis, and that's when the trouble started. When I went to leave, I had no reverse. Took the car out on the highway and I found out the car had no 3rd gear either. (3 speed auto) Went back to Dennis' house and we found that the front diff had almost no oil in it. We filled it back up and Dennis took it for a spin, and got it to manually shift into 3rd. So... I took it back on the higway, and no such luck. It WOULD NOT shift into 3rd no matter what I did. I crawled on at 55mph for about 60 miles when it suddenly shifted into 3rd. It ran fine in 3rd gear for about 200 miles, even reverse worked when I went to get gas!! Coming over the Appalachians the trouble started again. The AT OIL TEMP light came on, about 2 seconds later I lost 3rd again. Eased off and went easy on it until the light went off, and presto, soon as the light was off 3rd gear came back. About 30 miles later the light came on again and I lost 3rd again. After the light went off, 3rd gear never came back. I crawled at 55mph for the last 70 miles of the trip. Drove the car in town and found that it's slipping terribly in D, I can barely get it to move or accelerate. It runs fine when manually shifting between 1 and 2. Paul says that it has a new modulator and the governor is good, and I trust him on that, even though I haven't had a chance to take a look for myself yet. Dennis thinks the trans is on its deathbed, and I think I'm leaning towards his opinion. What do you guys think about this? I've never worked on a Soob AT yet and have yet to learn about all their quirks. The car itself is VERY nice and fun, I hope to have pics up soon. Can't wait to get it running right again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hondasucks Posted July 28, 2003 Share Posted July 28, 2003 well, teh slipping in Drive first, but going fine in Manual Low, means your one-way clutch is slipping. Having no reverse and no 3rd gear, your high/Reverse clutch is slipping, although that might be programmed into the transmission to kick out of third if the oil temp gets too high. You might try adjusting your bands, and changing your fluid and filter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest moosens Posted July 28, 2003 Share Posted July 28, 2003 Wow,got it out the door just in time! ...just kidding. I know you wanted to do a conversion.Seems like a good time.Those 3spd autos blow. Let me know what you find.I'm sure it'll be resolved soon.Best to swap in a manual in my opinion.I hate automatics and except for the '77 we had they all do something weird or crap out before 150k. Well,at least the car got you home.With the resources you have nearby you shouldn't have too much trouble getting a swap done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wagon Wagon Posted July 28, 2003 Share Posted July 28, 2003 I'm planning to get rid of this trans this weekend. Boneyard trip saturday, swap on sunday. See meet/greet for details. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dennis Posted July 28, 2003 Share Posted July 28, 2003 well add another notch in the reliability category, nothing like losing 2 gears and still getting the car to drive you 300 miles home...but that front diff is fried i had a GL10 turbo sedan with that trans that blew a vacuum modulator up and sprayed trans fluid out of the exhaust as soon as you filled the dipstick tube for about 5 days...still got me within a mile of my house, and after i replaced it i had no probs except some slippage until the car was scrapped. steve - put the car up on blocks and you and your boy can have that trans in and out in a few hours with hand tools, good luck man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mikldom Posted July 28, 2003 Share Posted July 28, 2003 I had a 1991 Loyale 4wd with AT (3 speed push button). Dumass Me.. drained all the tranny fluid, but kept over filling the center differential, instead of refilling the tranny reservoir.. it ran fine with hardly any fluid for about two months..when I realized what I did it was too late.. it would not shift into drive, or have a delay, and would lose 3rd gear, and not go into reverse.. very similar problems. I traded that car in.. I drove it to the stealership and they gave me the value I owed in it, and did not jack up the price on the vehicle we had already negotiated (1997 Suzuki Sidekick)..of course they did not know about the tranny, but that is their loss, not mine. the tranny was toast, no doubt about it sounds like yours is.. I would never buy a suby auto again.. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dennis Posted July 28, 2003 Share Posted July 28, 2003 i dont think theyre necessarily bad transmissions, and subaru has made decent transmissions in past years... the first generation of the 4EAT in the XT6s and some loyales was tough as nails, then came the SVX and early legacies and those units got a bad rap becuase some things werent thought out properly...we'll leave the ECVT out of this conversation the 3AT is annoying to drive because it feels like its missing a gear, as me and steve dicussed yesterday. but those things could take a beating, think about it - you ran it dry of trans fluid for 2 months, thats pretty impressive haha. i remember when i first put the new modulator in, i put the pin in backwards and the car chattered until it got into 3rd gear...this is after i drove the car around blowing ATF thru the intake manifold wondering what all the thick white smoke was behind me... if people really took care of those transmissions - which were made to be serviced (i.e. modulator, governor gear, downshift solenoid, and filter kit) theyd last and last when the miles got racked up - they shifted like ****, but if you took care of it, it never stopped shifting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Struculeus Posted July 28, 2003 Share Posted July 28, 2003 I'm not sure if this helps now, because the damage might already be done. But... I've dealt with tranny's that have burnt (overheated) tranny fluid (it looks brown or worse, and smells awful). The burnt fluid looses it's hydraulic properties and causes slippage and the symptoms you described. Going over the pass and having the AT oil temp light come on leads me to think this might be a possibility. The damage might be done, but you might want to check this out (and change the fluid) before you pull the whole sha-bang. J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hondasucks Posted July 28, 2003 Share Posted July 28, 2003 Like I said, try changing your modulator, and replace teh 4 or so quarts of fluid you'll drain out with some Type F, and replace your filter too. Cheaper than a new tranny, and if it works after that, you'll be glad you did. And if it doesn't work, you can put the filter and modulator in your new tranny (Well, maybe not the filter, if it gets a bunch of crap in it, but the modulator at least) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest moosens Posted July 28, 2003 Share Posted July 28, 2003 Fluid was changed last fall.As was the modulator.Governor was inspected and cleaned up.Ran great after that. My inlaws let the car sit most of the winter from November to about March or later. Good thing the price was low. It'll be ripping up the pavement in no time.Good luck with the swap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dennis Posted July 28, 2003 Share Posted July 28, 2003 yeah the fluid looked crystal clear, and if the mod was going then there would have been some kind of evidence in the exhaust... the diff fluid smelled like tar, what little was left was black and burnt, and steve mentioned that when paul did the governor gear a little while ago, the sprocket on the end of it was apple cored. replacing the gov. gear with a good used one or getting another sprocket (subaru sells a kit if i remember right) might help the problem...but if the sprocket was damaged, that means the internal shaft was running into it - thats never a good thing this ones not salvagable im afraid - save yourself a headache and find a good used unit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wagon Wagon Posted July 28, 2003 Share Posted July 28, 2003 Dennis... Paul said the governor was NOT apple cored... either that or I'm having a memory lapse. :rollin: I think I might try the Type F replacement, should only take a few minutes and cost a few bucks. I really think a trans swap is in my near future.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wagon Wagon Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 Well... I changed the fluid and filter using regular trans fluid, no change at all. The old filter had a hole ripped in it and there were lots of metal shaving stuck to the magnet in the pan. Didn't look healthy at all. I might try the Type F thing tomorrow, if that fails, then it's a tranny swap for me on sunday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest moosens Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 Good luck on the swap. Got any pics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiehardGL-10 Posted February 5, 2006 Share Posted February 5, 2006 i am having the same problem with my GL-10 turbo with auto trans. Can anyone please tell me where i can fine a new govner shaft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TROGDOR! Posted February 5, 2006 Share Posted February 5, 2006 Holy old post, Batman. Wagon Wagon was me in a past life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiehardGL-10 Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 Holy old post, Batman. Wagon Wagon was me in a past life. lol ... Well do you think you can help me find a new or good used Govner? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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