My Legacy gets a new lease on life!

[MCarp22]

I hadn't really discussed this much, but lately I was actually thinking about getting rid of my legacy. We pretty frequently go on 1000 mile round trips in the car to visit family.

The last 3-4 times over the holidays here, I'd been kinda worred about it. When I'd arrive at my destination, the car would barely move when you first applied throttle from a stop. It was almost like it had to spool up before it could move. Normally, the car would drive just fine around town, it was only after long trips at 70mph that it would happen.

Now, I've done a bunch of preventative maintainence on the car. One of the things that I did when I got the car last November was to switch the 4EAT over to synthetic (mobil 1). I figured since I'd be autocrossing it, that I'd want the trans to have the best fluid in there that I could get. I think that ended up causing my problem.

This past week I finally got around to changing the ATF back over to conventional (boring old castrol). It seems to have solved my problem and then some. We took a bit of a trip for 3 hours or so on the interstate yesterday. Not only was the car just fine after getting off the interstate, it didn't seem like it was struggling to go up hills. Before it would lose speed and crank up to 4500rpm in 3rd gear anytime there was a steep grade. Yesterday it would climb up hills with no problem. Sometimes it didn't even bother to unlock the torque converter. I was really impressed.

I guess the bottom line is that the 4EAT can be picky about trans fluid, even when it meets the proper spec and everything.

[Wiscon_Mark]

weird...I would think synthetic would hold up to extended warm temperatures (of long trip) better than regular...

[Huffer]

I guess the bottom line is that the 4EAT can be picky about trans fluid, even when it meets the proper spec and everything.

Yep.

One thing you might want to explore, is an external transmission cooler, sized for the application. Not too many BTUs.

Stock level ATF is good - and adding Lubegard ATF Protectant is even better.

[Perdue]

IIRC, synthetic oil is a good deal different than dino oil. Supposedly if you put synthetic, of the same weight and viscosity, in a higher mileage motor that has run on dino forever, you'll have problems (leaks, burning oil, and so on). Synthetic oil manufacturers deny this, but I'd be weary.

[d1giPhux]

IIRC, synthetic oil is a good deal different than dino oil. Supposedly if you put synthetic, of the same weight and viscosity, in a higher mileage motor that has run on dino forever, you'll have problems (leaks, burning oil, and so on). Synthetic oil manufacturers deny this, but I'd be weary.

When i had a honda, people use to say the same thing. It seemed true in some cases, when people would switch from dino to synthetic. I remember while being a member on honda forums, people would always ask 'well have you been using synthetic the whole life of the engine'.. before people would start using it. Thanks, but i'll stick to dino...

by the way, welcome back to life! :lol:

[Wiscon_Mark]

IIRC, synthetic oil is a good deal different than dino oil. Supposedly if you put synthetic, of the same weight and viscosity, in a higher mileage motor that has run on dino forever, you'll have problems (leaks, burning oil, and so on). Synthetic oil manufacturers deny this, but I'd be weary.

Did you even read? We're talking about ATF, not engine oil ;)

but yes, it's true that synthetic will "cause" leaks and such on higher mileage engines. It's because the dino leaves gunk under the seals, and then the detergents in synthetic wash that away, and the seals don't have that gunk to keep the seal good. Not really that the synthetic oil is bad, it's just fixing a problem and causing another...

[MCarp22]

I'll have to give that lubeguard stuff a try. I was going to drain / fill it again since it holds 8 quarts and you can only drain about 4.

I switched the front diff to mobil 1 and it does drip ever so slightly. Enough I guess that it gets some on the exhaust manifold, as you can smell it occasionally when you park the car. :|

[MCarp22]

More good news! I just filled the car up this morning and recorded 29.6mpg. That's 1mpg better than this car has ever gotten. I probably spent about 50 miles driving at low speeds due to city traffic and my commute to work and back.

I also recently replaced my sorry looking foglights with nice, clear, new ones from Japan. Same exact parts as far as I can tell, but about a million times more light output thanks to the lenses being in good shape. I'm tempted to get a set of projector headlights to match; as my headlights are in *really* sorry condition.