4EAT help

[sansMYSTi]

My wife's Outback is giving us grief. The tranny (auto) seems to have difficulty engaging drive - you put it in drive, and it just doesn't seem to catch the gear. Blip the throttle and nothing. Give it more throttle and she lurches with a clunk when it engages. It has no problem with park or reverse, just drive. When drive does engage, the tranny works just fine - upshifts and downshift with no problems.

It is a pain in the ass when trying to start the car up a hill (like my driveway) and the car just rolls back in drive rather than catching gear - I told her to keep the e-brake on an blip the throttle until it engages to keep from rolling into our boat which is parked in the driveway behind her.

When I checked the tranny fluid, it was a little low (clean and clear), but topping it up with Dextron III didn't seem to help. The car is due for maintenance in the next month or two, but if it gets worse I will need to take it in sooner. I hope the tranny is not on its way out.

Any suggestions what the problem may be?

[Huffer]

Sounds like an engagement issue - when you shift it into D does the dash light up accordingly?

It could well be bad fluid or something more mechanical.

When you do have it serviced, replace as much of the old fluid as you can, and throw in a bottle of Lubegard ATF protectant. It's gold on these ATs. Trust me on this.

[sansMYSTi]

I don't drive the car much, but I do think the dash lights up "D" accordingly. I have to look back though maintenance records to see when/if the car had tranny fluid replaced since we have had it. The fluid was clear and clean, so I do not think it was too old, and I do trust the place I get my servicing done so the fluid must be right. I might get the tranny flushed and get them to put some lubeguard ATF in it as you suggested.

[Svenerachi]

i experience this every now and then, still intermitent..

I went and got my fluid flushed and replaced and even paid the extra money for their supreme flush, something about you can't just empty the fluid form the tranny, so you have to just run fluid through it until all of the old fluid is out...

anyway i degress..

It did nothing to help, seems worse in winter time, i live in florida, so it works in my favor (christmas eve last year was 78F)

i've had a tranny tech look at it and just said that it was transmission wear and that he suggested a rebuild. yeah.... :roll:

anybody know what this is all about?

[Perdue]

A tranny flush when you're already having problems will only cause the problem to worsen. Usually when an automatic transmission is worn out, the only way to save it is a rebuild.

[jeremod]

I've heard most places don't even want to rebuild automatic transmissions any more because it's usually cheaper to swap a new/slightly used one in anyway. Plus you usually get some sort of warranty on a swap where you won't get anything on a rebuild.

[backpack09]

Well, AAMCO will rebuild anything, along with cottman and a few of the other chains.

But it is almost always cheaper to pull one from the junk yard, and have it installed.

Just make sure you get some type of warrentee on the tranny, it won't pay for the labor if the new trans is junk, but you will get your $$ back or another trans.

[sansMYSTi]

I am not liking all this talk about rebuild replace - not looking good. I have to call my used car warranty company to clarify what the tranny insurance covers. First I have to talk to my well trusted Subie master tech though.