The PO said reverse was out. After getting the car and doing a little checking, the trans was almost out of fluid due to a leaking hose at the radiator connection.

 

I replaced the hose and filled the trans. Even before I did this, the car ran great and shifted well in all forward gears.

 

Doing a little more checking, with trans fluid now up to the correct level, the trans is always in forward gear.

 

In Park, the engine starts to stall at about 2500 RPM

In Reverse, the car will not move as the trans is fighting itself

In Neutral, the car goes forward

In Drive the car shifts through all the gears as it should and if I manually shift from gear to gear they all work fine.

 

The PO also said the speedo quit working about a day before this happened.

The Power light is flashing 16 times when I start the car. I have not figured out how to pull the trans codes yet.

 

Any Ideas?

These cars do some weird things without the speed sensor working. So you definitely need to get that working.

 

You can check the trans codes via the info on my site

http://surrealmirage.com/subaru/trans.html

 

More then likely the base piece on the trans broke. It's easy and inexpensive to replace

 

www.main.experiencetherave.com/subaru/images/speedocablebase.jpg

Thanks, I'll check the codes and fix the speedo.

The Codes for the TCU are for the Speed Sensor, 32 and 33 if my memory is correct.

 

Nothing is easy, the speed sensor Josh listed is good, the shaft turn inside the transmission, which indicates the speedometer gears are stripped. I did one of these before, was a pain.

 

Looks like another Auto to Manual Trans swap is in order.

try unplugging the trans completely, it should drive just fine in 3rd gear. i drove mine like that for quite awhile - but mine was an XT6 - that EJ22 might lumber a bit more starting out in 3rd than the XT6? or maybe it's better, should be driveable though.

Unplug at the TCU or the 2 trans connectors in the engine bay? It does drive fine in FWD, its just always in gear, thus no reverse.

 

It would be nice if it was an easy fix, but the PO ran the trans low on fluid due to a leaking hose. I'm thinking there may be internal damage. This is why I was thinking swap.

two trans connector plugs in the engine bay. disconnect and it should default to running in 3rd gear all the time and bypass all electronics. like you're thinking, i'm betting it does the same thing which probably means internal mechanical/hydraulic issues.

 

have you checked to make sure the inhibitor switch and linkages are all good? that's the part the shifter cable is attached to on the trans. it's accessible from the passengers side under the car, you probably already know where it is. it's the assembly that actually "tells" the transmission what gear to go in - make sure it's all moving and working properly. some of them only have plastic tabs/clips to work with that crack easily. haven't seen one actually fail yet, but that's been a surprise to me they hold up as well as they do.

Yep, went into 3rd, still in drive all the time. I'll replace the switch before I pull the trans.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.