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2002 Forester won't rev past about 3500 after car wash

('01-'02) 
1K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  Kevin Song 
#1 ·
Ok, I bought a 2002 Forester about a year ago, 108k miles on it, burns oil like crazy, but that's a separate issue.

About two months ago, I took it through a car wash and did the undercarriage wash to get winter salt off of it. I left the car wash, got on the highway, and immediately noticed that I couldn't accelerate well. Pushing pedal down would just cause the car to lose power. I was hours from home, so ended up limping back, and on the way I discovered that if I drove it on flat road without pushing pedal down too much, it was OK up to about 60mph. However, when going up a hill, it would inevitably shift down a gear, which would cause the RPMs to jump, which would cause a loss of power, jerkiness, etc.

Anyway, made it home, and did a bit more in terms of diagnostics. No CEL, no codes, and the problem happens with the car in neutral or park. So probably not the transmission, which was what I thought it was at first.

So then I took it to a garage where I've had a decent experience before. They finally call me and say I need a new transmission. I explained that: 1) this happened suddenly after car wash, and 2) this happens with car in park or neutral when revved, so transmission makes no sense. They shrugged and said tech said it needs new transmission. I told them they need a new tech and took the car back :)

So now I'm not sure what to do. I live in NYC and I don't really have the tools or space to do anything complicated with the car. I can take it back to the guy I bought it from (small dealer / mechanic) and have him look at it, but it's a couple hours away. Would love to do anything simple that I can to diagnose or try and fix. I'm on the verge of just donating the car, and if this is likely to be something expensive, I will.

However, from my googling, I'm thinking this is something electrical or with a sensor, but the fact that no codes are being thrown is confusing to me.

Does anyone have ANY ideas?
 
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#2 ·
I, too, think it's very likely the transmission.
If it's automatic, engine is bolt connected to the transmission's torque converter, so if there is any problem, it might show up no matter whether it's P or N. Torque converter still spins.

But if it happened after the car wash... I'd check connectors first. Something could have shorted but not actually light up the code.

Either way, I'd get the second opinion before you do anything.
I, too, have some transmission problem, but the shop says I have to replace the transmission, when I know only thing I need is transfer duty solenoid replacement...
 
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