Hesitating transmission and timing belt

[Scott Murphy]

The automatic transmission on my 2000 Outback (98,000km) has started
to act up. There is a 2-8 second delay from the time I pull it out of
park and put the gear selector into "R", "D", "3", or "2" before it
engages. Any ideas?

Also, I'm taking it in for its 96,000km scheduled maintenance. The
service guy is telling me I should replace my timing belt(as per the
pre-1999 models), but the owner's manual says it should be good until
168,000km. It's an extra $400, so is it really necessary?

Thanks,
Scott

 

[Edward Hayes]

My 2000 Forester with 2.5L engine requires a timing belt change at 105,000
miles. The only reason I would do it earlier is if the water pump or oil
pump needed changing. As for the transmission I would first check the fluid
level and condition. If all appears ok then I would get the transmission
FLUSHED and not just a pan drain. Ed

 

[Scott Murphy]

The transmission fluid looks good and there is plenty of it. Somebody
suggested that a seal might be the problem. Does that sound legit?

S.

 

[Joaquin J. Rosario]

Scott:

I have a 2000 Legacy GT, and I went through a similar experience. I bet
that if you let your car warm up for 15 minutes and put in Parking, you will
not be able to get it back in Drive, 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. I spotted my problem
at 62,000 miles (3.5 years of ownership).

If your car is under warranty or if you have it under an extended warranty
please take it to your dealer. I don't want to scare you but I just went
through this last month and the end result was that I needed a new
transmission. I went to two mechanics (my Subaru dealer and an independents
mechanic) and they both concurred that I had an internal transmission
problem. The non-Subaru mechanic told me that this symptom is universally
described as a transmission delay. Most of the time the culprit is the
automatic transmission pump. The pump is considered an internal
transmission part that can not be fixed from the outside. Unfortunately
it's more expensive to fix any internal trans. problem than to get a
remanufactured transmission. Subaru will normally provide some assistance
to their customers when a car is out of warranty, the cutoff point is about
68,000 miles (102,000 km). Please talk to you Subaru Regional
Representative and be nice to him/her. In my case Subaru paid more than 2/3
of the cost. Unfortunately my portion of the final bill was $1580 US.

FYI: The reason why you have that delay is because your automatic
transmission pump is beginning to fail. It's taking the transmission longer
than normal to create enough pressure for the plates to come into contact.
With time it will get worse. I'm not sure if a power flush can help you,
but you should ask around.

Joaquin

 

[Nilanjan Brahma]

Hi there,

I think I am having the same trouble on my 1999 30th edition limited
outback wagon. When the car has been in the garage for a while, it just
takes a little longer than normal for the Drive to engage. Long enough
just to make me wonder. (66000 miles as per present). No extended warranty
applied. Your price as mentioned scares me! I will start looking for some
solutions

babu

 

[Scott Murphy]

I got the transmission flush as both you and the service department
suggested, and they told me to drive around and let the conditioner
they added work itself in. It worked fine for the rest of the day,
but now, 2 days later it's hesitating again. It seems to slip into
reverse easily enough, but going from reverse to drive it still
hesitates for a few seconds. I think should probably take it back in
since I only have 200 km left on my warranty. Any other things I
could give them a heads-up on?

Scott

 

[Nilanjan Brahma]

Folks

I replaced my timer belt, as well as the plugs/rotor/cap and cables @ 62000
miles, and the problems as I have mentioned seem to have disappeared. Car
reacts very well again to accelerator and desires.

Babu
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