95' legacy l sedan awd 1 gear shifts hard but other 3 dont?

[rblevins4130]

only had it 4 days 197xxx miles got it for 500$ new head gaskets and tbelt and front cv's and new pads on front have recipts that came with the car to show for that and the ebrake dont work and brakes are squishy to respond as in there aren't any in the rear or the ebrake would work right? and the tranny fluid is as red as can be cold or warm 1st shifts at 4600 sometimes 48 at full throttle and even mid throttle and jerks into second but the other three gears are just smooth as butter and i get a lil shutter on deceleration sometimes and the back right squeaks a lil and i have a dinging noise on the front left when driving over 30mph and when stopped at a light it feels like u can feel the boxxer doing its thing just don't feel right though ...i have owned numerous subies in my life but never an aut and i am beginning to wonder why lol any ideas and it needs an oil change as its black as all hell and i got a new filter and plugs yesterday


any help would be greatly appreciated

[rblevins4130]

edit i put the fwd fuse in and it shifts way lower than with the awd on ....if that helps and i looked under the car and the right head area or somewhere near it is leaking is leaking fluid on the badly dented exhaust! i will take pics soon and show u all

[rblevins4130]

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2011/02/25gexqh-1.jpg

[rblevins4130]

no one huh?

[jey]

You might have to clean that up to isolate the leak - it's probably the valve cover gasket but it's hard to tell when it's sprayed all around like that.

The dinging noise could be a heat shield, get under there and see if there is anything rattling around.

[rblevins4130]

i dont care about that stuff all that is a easy fix i am worried about the tranny or whatever is causing 1st gear to shift a 4800 rpms when in awd ?fwd fuse in it dont do that

[02_Legacy]

i dont care about that stuff all that is a easy fix i am worried about the tranny or whatever is causing 1st gear to shift a 4800 rpms when in awd ?fwd fuse in it dont do that
give us more information. Does it still shift a 4800 at WOT? at half throttle? cruizing? does it ever shift before or after that or always at 4800? Is it more inclined to shift late when its cold? Ect.
By your statement above you make it sound like it always shifts at the same RPM no matter what, and I find that hard to believe.

[rblevins4130]

4800 at WOT....half throttle like 3800 and at low throttle hardly any jerk but at highways speeds she is as smooth as butter! sometime 45-4600 with a jerk but mostly 4800 shifts the same cold or hot and basicly only time there is no jerk is at creeping speed past first! but i disconnected the awd with fuse and she shifts fine no jerk lil bump but deff nothing like it dose with awd enabled

[02_Legacy]

Does it feel like it is loosing power just before it shifts? I drove a car once where the bands/clutches wouldn't engauge right and it did sorta the same thing.
The first gear would release to let the second gear take over, but the second gear would not grab so it would almost be like it is in neutral, then all of a sudden second gear would grab with a big jerk. It would be less noticable at lower speeds because the accelerator would not be down as far and it would not rev up as much in between when first gear let go and second gear cought.
Does it sound like that could be the problem?

[rblevins4130]

no imagine this coming from the engine waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa4800rpms later- jerk!normal shifting?lol :smt011