2000 Legacy transmission problem - SOA waranty anecdotes

[Joaquin J. Rosario]

Folks:

Just wanted to get a READING of peoples' experience with Subaru of America
dealing with out of warranty service. Currently, I own a 2000 Legacy GT
sedan (Automatic transmission) and my car ran out of warranty 3 weeks ago
(current odometer reads 61,900, 3 years 8 months).

On Sunday my car didn't want to engage: "Drive," 1st, 2nd, or 3rd gear. In
order to get the car to engage I had to gently press the accelerator and the
gear would take hold. In all likelihood the transmission is loosing
pressure and by hitting the accelerator enough pressure is generated and the
gear takes hold . Once the car engages, it drives fine. The problem
manifests itself the most when the car is warm.

Anyway, the car was serviced at 59,500 miles for the 60,000 tune-up at a
Northern Virginia Subaru Dealership (28 days before the transmission issue
popped-up). One of the services that the dealership performed was
auto-transmission fluid replacement.

According to Subaru's Maintenance Schedule:

http://www.subaru.com/owners/care/schedules/schedules.jsp?schedulepage=2000myfed.html

All they needed to do was inspect the fluid. If you read the maintenance
schedule CORRECTLY, you only need to change the transmission fluid under
severe driving condition, Subaru states 7 "severe driving conditions"
examples, of which "Towing a trailer." is the only condition that applies to
transmissions (I do not tow anything in my car so that condition does not
apply). Subaru qualifies all of their notes..so read carefully before
everyone jumps at me. Since, my Mazda Protégé had a "fill for life"
automatic transmission fluid system I didn't question Subaru's maintenance
schedule. Moreover, if Subaru wanted car owners to change their automatic
transmission fluid every 15,000 or 30,000 miles they would/should say it
without any type of ambiguity or reservations.

Anyway, I'm a nervous wreck since I can see this thing going in any
directions. Subaru can say... Sorry out of warranty you're out of luck. Or
they can say, don't worry we'll take care of it. What do you guys think
will be the case? Also, any advice on how to persuade Subaru to come to my
rescue will be greatly appreciated.

Cordially

(e-mail address removed)

 

[Alan]

You are reading the schedule incorrectly. It says to Inspect and then
replace if necessary. The dealer makes that call. It sounds like you get all
of your work done at the dealer. Talk to the dealer,. They will often
intercede with SOA for you, especially if you have been a good customer.

Also, have you checked the transmission fluid level? I suspect they left off
a washer or gasket, and there's been a leak.

 

[Edward Hayes]

Good dealers will take care of your problem and apologies for the problem
ever happening especially sine you just had your car serviced. My Jeep
dealer demonstrated this kind of good-will to me when out of warranty by
~600 miles. I didn't even have the previous work done by them but did all
maintaince myself ank kept receipts for fluids and any parts I used (genuine
Jeep part). Ed Hayes

 

[Joaquin J. Rosario]

The transmission fluid was on the high side, but nothing that stood out as
WOW that's alot.

As for the transmission, it wasn't leaking anything. On Monday they will
have a diagnosis of the problem. My feeling is that the transmission fluid
change stired up some sediments and who knows what else. Maybe it
compromised the seal on some of the transmission parts.

This is the first transmission flush that was performed on the car. When I
took my car for the 30,000 mile tune up I took it to a local mechanic that I
have used since 1992. The mechanic went over the owner's manual with me,
and he concurred that Subaru's approach on the owner's manual was that of a
Fill-for-life. Other wise they would've stated it on the book.

This issue of transmission fluid change is a highly debated issue. I think
that most mechanics are equally divided. Either you do a power flush very
often (15,000) or you just top-it-off, as needed. Subaru should be
assertive on this issue.

With any transmission flush you do one good thing and gamble on another.
The good thing is that you clean the system of all the gunk and microscopic
metal shavings running on the system. And the gamble is that some seals
might be weakened (i.e. those strengthen by the gunk). That is why some
auto manufacturers have taken the approach of fill-for-life. And others are
ambigious on this issue. Auto dealers are selling a service so they side
with the power flush often approach. I'm not an expert on this matter, but
I think that Subaru's approach should be the flush-often approach.