wow ,got the car running today, everything seemed normal, started out in 1st gear, auto trans shifted to 2nd at about 7 mph. then bam... stupid car locked up, definitely not brakes.. checked it again, same thing. when ever the auto trans shifts into second gear, the trans Locke's up. if anyone has any ideas, please let me know..thanks in advance...Ivan oh by the way i still have the rear shaft removed, and the 4x4 seems to engage, i hear a slight thump when i turn the button on and off

You need a transmission. What is happening is for some reason two gears (2nd and who knows) are both engaged at the same time. You cant do that..... the transmission locks up, and usually with a bang if the car is moving. I think all the playing with the car got them to release, thats why it was fine today.

 

nipper

 

PS - do you have reverse?

can you start off from 2nd?

Can you manually shift the car?

i think nipper,your exactly right, I'm thinking it may be in the valve body. I'm waiting for a atsg transmission manual, it has all the necessary hydraulic flow charts that may assist me. or not , in either case ill have to pull it. I'm going to pull the trans pan and see if i can find any thing obvious. i was just wondering if this was a common problem . i have never owned a 4x4 loyal automatic before. thanks allot for the help. i will try to start up in reverse today, the gas is old and it doesn't want to run, will flush and refill the tank . new plugs and cap/rotor. etc

i think nipper,your exactly right, I'm thinking it may be in the valve body. I'm waiting for a atsg transmission manual, it has all the necessary hydraulic flow charts that may assist me. or not , in either case ill have to pull it. I'm going to pull the trans pan and see if i can find any thing obvious. i was just wondering if this was a common problem . i have never owned a 4x4 loyal automatic before. thanks allot for the help. i will try to start up in reverse today, the gas is old and it doesn't want to run, will flush and refill the tank . new plugs and cap/rotor. etc

 

This is the first I heard of it in a subaru. Sometimes it happens in a manual (and easy to rectify). My sisters BMW had it happen 3 times in her new car (that was drive and reverse). In cars that are not computer controlled its extreemly rare, and i thought impossible. You may have a hard part failure that is causing this.

 

nipper

i think so. its coming apart today. yippie, trans fluid down the neck in hot humid weather