First a brief history...

 

2000 Legacy Wagon AT

 

I bought the car 5 months ago, and the guy selling it said the transmission wouldn't go into drive sometimes (this included all forward gears D, 1-2and3...reverse works fine). He also said sometimes it works flawlessly. The transmission felt as if it was slipping, and after tapping the gas a couple times, it would slide into drive. There was no *SLAMMING* into gear, no nasty sounds....always nice and smooth once it did. Once the car was IN drive, it never had a problem shifting from any of the gears....until it was taken out of drive, then you had to repeat the process. Since I got the car for dirt cheap, I figured I would swap in a new tranny if necessary, but I had other plans.

 

I get the car home, drain the transmission fluid, change the spin on filter, refill with new fluid and a little lucas no-slip. The problem was gone. It shifted great for about 3 months. On very rare occasion it would take 3-4 seconds to finally go into gear, but this was a far cry better than the shifting to drive and NOTHING happening until you tapped the gas. Everything was good in the world.

 

Here I am now, and the problem is back. It will work great for 3-5 days in a row with no issues. Then 1 day it will act up all day. Then back to fine.

 

I'm not a transmission guru by any means, but it almost seems like there is a valve sticking or something? Maybe an electronic sensor going bad? I hate to get a new transmission, because honestly when I didn't have any problems with it for months, and even when I did have problems, it shifted so smooth once it was finally in drive.

 

Is there a strainer filter somewhere in the tranny? I'm lost... :-\

Drain & refill the fluid again. If that helps the way it did the first time, have the trans. flushed.

had the same problem with my 99 forester. plus there are many others reported here. drained my atf. refilled took like 4 qts plus a pint. drove it 2 weeks 200 miles repeated process plus changed spin on tranny filter with original subaru filter. refilled with atf took like 6 qts. no problems in last 9000 miles. the first drain/refil seem to fix the problem. but you a lot of atf remains after one drain.

larry