Just got my 06 spec.B and it is almost perfect. ALMOST...

Picked up my 2006 spec.B with 80k a few weeks ago. The car is unmolested. I had Mach V in Sterling, VA flush all the fluids, remove the turbo banjo bolt, and do a post purchase inspection. They said the car was in great condition.

 

There are a couple of things that bother me that they didn't catch:

 

The air conditioner (and its vents).

I didn't notice this during the test drive because I had the air conditioning on to test out the coldness. It's ice cold. When the climate control is completely off, the vents SOMETIMES vent out hot air. Usually after I just start the car. I THINK it has something to do with the last setting it was on before I turned it off. When it does occur, it's very noticeable and only bearable by opening the windows or turning the AC on. And this might be related: When the AC is on, it's ice cold, but like clockwork, will phase in and out of room temperature air. Almost like every 20 seconds, it spews out luke warm air for 5 seconds, then returns to ice cold. Normal?

 

Fifth Gear

Shifting is very tight and flawless except for 5th gear. When I shift "normally," I get a slight bite or "crunch" when I shift into 5th. If I shift slowly, gently pushing into the stick and letting the gear catch, it catches just fine, but this method takes an extra 2 seconds.

 

What do you guys think? Have either of these behaviors been seen before?

Have you changed the gearbox fluid yet? That is a cheap easy way to improve shifting feel while eliminating one possible cause of notchy shifting in these cars. Second that gearbox has some age on it synchro's wear out fluid variations can help but ultimately they will need to be replaced. I wouldn't force the 4th to 5th change in the meantime.

 

There are lots of A/C threads about the nature and logic of the climate control on these forums so I'm sure you can find something to entertain you

 

Welcome and enjoy!

You need to replace the tranny fluid with 3 qt's Redline lightweight shockproof and .8qt Motul 300.

 

That should help the synchro.

 

Try running the A/C at 66F not 65F. That will sometimes help it to not over compinsate for getting to cold.

 

It's normal for the vents to blow hot air after the car has been in the sun for a while. Think about it.

I blow hot air when I've been out in the sun for awhile.

I blow hot air on Wednesdays. (Tuesdays are usually Mexican night at my house)

I just replaced my trans and diff fluid with all Motul gear 300. Shifts like butter now. I wouldn't mix it with red line. Its way too expensive to be mixing in my opinion

No, that info is the (forum) approved cocktail for synchro issues.

 

You'll also notice that when you open the throttle the A/C shut's off until you lift off the gas. That's normal.

When I mentioned that I had all the fluids flushed, that included the gearbox fluid. Thing is, it was only 100% motul. MIGHT have to give this cocktail a go.

 

As for the A/C issue: thanks, Max Capacity. That makes some sense. The answer of the A/C blowing out hot air after being out in the sun a long time is slightly condescending. I'm not an idiot. The vents blow out hot air as if the heater was on medium blast, but the climate control is completely turned off.

 

Thanks for all the serious responses! Glad to be a part of the Subaru team.

Yes, when the a/c is off it still uses the temp setting for the vent. Just like all other cars, you need it set at the max cool temp when "off" to get unmolested vent air. Trick is with auto-climate you have to turn it back on to change it rather than just twist a dial. Or to turn the air flow off completely by selecting recirc.

When I mentioned that I had all the fluids flushed, that included the gearbox fluid. Thing is, it was only 100% motul. MIGHT have to give this cocktail a go.

 

As for the A/C issue: thanks, Max Capacity. That makes some sense. The answer of the A/C blowing out hot air after being out in the sun a long time is slightly condescending. I'm not an idiot. The vents blow out hot air as if the heater was on medium blast, but the climate control is completely turned off.

 

Thanks for all the serious responses! Glad to be a part of the Subaru team.

 

Got ya... Well try the cocktail and if that doesn't help than you may have to dig a little deeper into the trans then... Good luck!

When I mentioned that I had all the fluids flushed, that included the gearbox fluid. Thing is, it was only 100% motul. MIGHT have to give this cocktail a go.

 

As for the A/C issue: thanks, Max Capacity. That makes some sense. The answer of the A/C blowing out hot air after being out in the sun a long time is slightly condescending. I'm not an idiot. The vents blow out hot air as if the heater was on medium blast, but the climate control is completely turned off.

 

Thanks for all the serious responses! Glad to be a part of the Subaru team.

 

 

With only 17 post on here, I had no idea how much back ground you have. Believe me I wasn't tring to be condencending.

 

I learned early on the the Auto setting was useless for the way I like my heating and cooling. This time of year both temps are set at 65. I haven't had my wagon blow warm air this summer so far. But it has in the past when the temp and dew point are at that point. The fix on here was to set it at 66F. That seemed to work for those days.

 

I remember telling the service manager when I took the car for the ECU recall what I thought of the Auto setting, his reply was, "yea we hear that alot".

 

My 09 has never had that issue but I don't drive it that much.

Hey Max, thanks for the info. I had a friend of mine ride around in my car, and he explained that the vents blowing out air (whether it being hot from being in the sun or cool during the evening) without the climate control being on was normal. I'd never experienced this in any of the vehicles I've owned, but my mind is at ease now.

 

Thanks to everyone for the help.

Picked up my 2006 spec.B with 80k a few weeks ago. The car is unmolested. I had Mach V in Sterling, VA flush all the fluids, remove the turbo banjo bolt, and do a post purchase inspection. They said the car was in great condition.

 

There are a couple of things that bother me that they didn't catch:

 

The air conditioner (and its vents).

I didn't notice this during the test drive because I had the air conditioning on to test out the coldness. It's ice cold. When the climate control is completely off, the vents SOMETIMES vent out hot air. Usually after I just start the car. I THINK it has something to do with the last setting it was on before I turned it off. When it does occur, it's very noticeable and only bearable by opening the windows or turning the AC on. And this might be related: When the AC is on, it's ice cold, but like clockwork, will phase in and out of room temperature air. Almost like every 20 seconds, it spews out luke warm air for 5 seconds, then returns to ice cold. Normal?

 

Fifth Gear

Shifting is very tight and flawless except for 5th gear. When I shift "normally," I get a slight bite or "crunch" when I shift into 5th. If I shift slowly, gently pushing into the stick and letting the gear catch, it catches just fine, but this method takes an extra 2 seconds.

 

What do you guys think? Have either of these behaviors been seen before?

 

i have the same issue with my 06 Spec B. i fixed the 5th gear issue with a very simple and quick fix. drained the tranny fluid and replaced with Extra S from Fredbeansparts.com, and did the rear diff while i was at it. SHIFTS BEAUTIFULLY! but with the warm air issue with the vents, i have the same issue, havent figured out a fix on that one yet os sorry i couldnt help. but ive had my car since january and the amount of warm air coming through the vents has become significantly less since then. but none the less is still there. hope i helped in any way but wish i couldve helped more

I want to do this on my 5mt as well, how much extra s do I need from Fredbeans? I heave read about the barrels buckets quarts etc but need to know what I actually need. Sorry to thread jack and thanks for the help.

3.8 qts for the tranny,

.8qt for the rear diff.

 

You need to jack up the back of the car to get all the tranny fluid out.

 

When you reinstall the rear diff plugs only snug them up, they are like NPT you don't need to bury the threads.

I bought 5 quarts/liters of motul gear 300 and have a tiny bit left so thats how much you should buy

Will the motul gear 300 be good for my 05 LGT automatic tranny? I did not seem to find a good replacement for the stealership oil.

Will the motul gear 300 be good for my 05 LGT automatic tranny? I did not seem to find a good replacement for the stealership oil.

 

No.

 

Any Dex3 will do. Recommend Valvoline full synth.

Is that what you have running in your tranny? and for how long? sorry for being skeptical.

Wanted to write back with results. I had my shop do another transmission flush during my oil change, and provided them with 3 quarts of redline shockproof and 1 quart of motul. they gave me back half a quart of redline. they said there was still a some fluid left after the drain (it was previously all motul). so 2.5 quarts of redline shockproof, 1 quart of new motul, and about half a quart of 3 month old motul: the cocktail did the trick. i am a very happy camper. no more crunch shifting into 5th gear.

 

for those in the NoVA/MD area, Mach V in sterling is great. highly recommended.