Hello everybody!

I have the oportunity to buy a late eighties Subaru 4 door locally. It is grey, turbo, auto with push button 4wd, moon roof and power windows! Plus, no rust! And, living in Minnesota, thats a big deal! At any rate, the 3 speed transmission will not shift into 3rd. I suspect it is a bad module, but I was going to get everyones consensus. Worst case senario(sp?), would that motor mount up to a) my 85 Brat's 4spd manual, or another late eighties 5 spd manual. Thanks in advance for everyones help! Kurt

Hey Kurt, I have a spare govoner shaft if you need it let me know. Tim

Tim, excuse me for the noob question, but what are the govenor shafts for? Is it common that they go bad? Thanks, Kurt

On the passenger side (North American models) of the transmission, near the engine, there is a big circular cover. Inside is the governor. It helps control shifting. It is a spring-loaded valve on a spinning shaft, driven by a gear in the transmission.

 

There are three failure modes for the governor.

1. The gear on the governor shaft becomes worn-out and slips. On non-turbo models, the gear is nylon and can become worn. Turbo models have steel gears.

 

2. The gear in the transmission becomes worn-out and slips. This gear seems to last longer than the governor shaft gear, but it can still wear out. If it wears out, it's probably easier to get a replacement transmission from a junkyard. Again, non-turbo models have a nylon gear, turbos have a steel gear.

 

3. The valve gets jammed on some varnish, dirt or debris and it starts to stick. This is what happened to my turbo wagon. It resulted in the car being 'stuck' in gear. It would never kick down to first gear unless I manually put the car into '1'. If I started in '1' and shifted to 'D', it would stay in first for a bit and then violently jam into 2nd or 3rd. There's a write-up on the USRM about cleaning up the governor.

Also, these autos are very picky about the quality & quantity of fluid in them. First thing I would do is change it and see what happens. Made a world of difference in my turbo 3AT.