I have a friend that has a 99 forrester that has developed some tranny problems. He said that it will go into drive, but won't move. He can only move the car in reverse. He said a mechanic looked at it and said something about a low pressure clutch going out. Anyone have any info they can give me so I can help him out?

 

Thanks

 

Mike

 

I f need be I may have a tranny out of a 97 outback. Can I put that one in his car?

I have a 99 Leggie OBW that may have had the same problem. Car would engage in reverse just fine, but had a bad delay in engaging into Drive. I fixed it by draining the ATF, (there is a drain plug on the bottom of the tranny pan), and adding almost 5 quarts of synthetic ATF along with a bottle of Trans-X automatic transmisson slip-stop & Leak fix. Slowly top off with ATF, but don't over fill the system.

 

If upon draining the ATF fluid, it appears really dirty black, then first add regular ATF, drive for a bit then change again. As draining, only drains about half the ATF out of the system. Then drain again, add the synthetic ATF and the Trans-X.

 

After adding the Trans-X, I was surprised that the problem was fixed within 10 minutes of driving. That has been 6 months ago and 8K miles. So far so good.

 

Much has been on this forum about this fix, so check the archives here for more info.

 

Hope all this helps...............Larry

99 is a sucky year, some possible issues:

 

the bellhousing bolt pattern changed in 98/99 so the forester will be different. but it's still useable. one will be a 4 hole bellhousing, the other has 8. the 4 line up with 4 of the 8 though if that makes sense. and starter will only have one holding it in place. you'll have to make the other or just go with one.

 

not sure on electronic changes in 99 though....might be some differences there. i'd check the harness/plugs and you might migrate the 99 harness onto the 97 trans if there are any differences.