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transmission problems

('06-'08) 
3K views 7 replies 3 participants last post by  dreadieheadie 
#1 ·
I just bought an 06 forester with 153k miles on it. it seems to shift ok when i accelerate, but it has the hard downshift issue thats common in this year. theres certainly shuddering and it slows down REAL quick when i let off the gas -i know subaru has dubbed this as 'normal' :shake: but i guess i just really want to know if this is safe -will my transmission fail soon? i know the car has some miles, but i need to know if ill be replacing a transmission on this thing soon. and if so, does anyone know what this price range can be? planning on flushing it soon and checking tired alignments. also, could this possibly be an electrical issue, such as a misfire from bad wires or plugs? thanks for any advice, i appreciate it greatly.
 
#3 ·
Don't flush it. Jut do a bunch of drain and fills. Its about 8 oz short of a gallon for each. If it hasn't ever been changed..its hard to tell what's up. I try to do a drain and fill every 12K miles or so.
 
#5 ·
You could check 3 things.
1) disconect the battery to reset the ECU, after pluging it back up, run it for a day, and the following day tell us if it is better.... I am sure you know, that the AT learns how you drive and addapts the shifting patterns to better serve your daily drive.

2) Check the dog bone.... hmm... it is a piece of plastic that ties the engine to the firewall.... let see, mine was broke for some reason, and nothing was different, I did not know it was, I only suspected sometihng was wrong because when dowshifting, it just felt weird, well, I found the dogbone broken, and after I replace it with a new one, all things went back to normal, I can say this subaru transmition is one of the best I had, very smouth on every shift....

3) Check the tranmition bridge.... I think it is called like that, well, it is a piece of metal that supports the transmition to the chasis, under the car... this bridge, has a rubber part that contacts the transmition... it is expose to the elements, and tends to fail causing vibrations and noise that are hard to explain... very easy to check, go underneath the car, press the brake and shift, if you hear and knock, then you know what it is, if you see excesive movement then, it is worth checking every nut and bolt underneath....

Of course, it could just be tranmition oil... good luck.
 
#6 ·
so ive had it for about a week now, and ive noticed that its shifting a little rougher. its..'jumpy' like a heavy jolting. im having second thoughts on this vehicle, and im concerned that the transmission may be going. everything else on the car is pristine, its just the shifting thats really rough and my biggest concern. also, ive noticed that while breaking/downshifting, there can be a random surge of RPMs -theyre 'wobbly' when this happens. is it at all possible that this is an electrical problem, such as the alternator? it does have the original and i just hit 154k.
 
#7 ·
One las thing you can do is a "Grounding kit" it is not expensive at all, and in my case was the best mod I did... I would recomend it to anycar...
It goes like this:.... have you seen that the car has a ground wires to the engine from factory, well, these get old, and are wimpy, what your car needs are thick, heavy gauge wires, so what I did is:
1) run a wire from the negative post to the tower
2) Antoher wire to the second tower
3) Wire from negative battery terminal to intake manifold
4) To chasis

People in this forum can explain better and have more experience, do a search as grounding kit and read on, IMHO the best money I expend on my ride.
 
#8 ·
thank you

thank you peruvian for all your input, i appreciate it greatly. as of right now i need to consult with my mechanic who *ahem* knows what hes doing (i dont..) ;) hopefully i can at least figure out the root cause of all these oddball tranny problems. my biggest concern is the slipping and vibration between shifting possibly doing damage to the transmission itself -something i definitely cannot afford to fix :(

i seem to have whatever issues these people are having:

http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f89/2008-auto-transmission-problems-115163/

http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f88/06-transmission-problems-68000/
 
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