Matt_75

+1

You might want to consider doing the idle re-learn procedure. 1) Turn off the lights, A/C, stereo or any system in the car that draws extra current on top of the engine. 2) Disconnect the battery for 30 mins. 3) Reconnect the battery. 4) Before you start the car for the first time, turn the key to the ON position but do NOT turn the engine over. Wait 10-15 seconds so the electronic throttle body or IACV has time to go to the factory programmed home position. 5) After waiting, start the car and let it idle without any load, lights, A/C etc. 6) Every 20 seconds or so the idle will be adjusted up and down as the ECU tries to adjust it towards a stoichiometric fuel/air mix. 7) Leave the engine running for a full 10 mins but DO NOT TOUCH THE ACCELERATOR during this time or turn on anything that will cause extra electrical current draw. 8)Turn off the engine, and leave the key in the OFF position for at least 20 sec. 9) As per step (4) turn the key back to the ON position for 10-15 sec without actually starting the engine. 10) Start the engine and leave to idle for a further 5 minutes without touching the accelerator and without turning on other systems in the car. 11) Turn off the engine again and wait at least 20 sec before restarting. 12) Take the car for a test drive as the ECU should now be fully retrained.

I do 40 miles and change round trip 5 days a weeks to and from work at Pearl Harbor. I drive from the east to central portion of the island where Pearl is located. Plus some extra driving for other stuff. It all adds up.

I plan on running the filter for 30K which is recommended from the manufacturer. I don't have a problem with that since I believe these only have clutch packs for forward and reverse transition, which the car shouldn't even be moving for that transition. So almost no clutch material should be present. It might be a year and a half before you can see what's in that filter, but I'll surely open it and let you see the contents. I know there is the pickup filter down at the pan and an internal cartridge filter as well, but I have more of a peace of mind running this external filter that can at least be changed. Thank you and absolutely agree with what you've said above. My theory is that Subaru engineering and marketing made a "drug deal" so to say. The engineers basically said that the car's will make it at least past the 100k (if not more) with "lifetime fluid" to get them out of warranty before there's any possibility of CVT failure given that the vehicle is driven under "reasonable conditions". At the same time marketing agreed to let there be fill and drain plugs for the front and rear diffs along with the transmission for those people that know better than to believe in the "lifetime fluid" BS and want to actually maintain the car if they plan to keep them for an extended period of time, say 15 to 20 years, which is my plan for both my wife's 2017 Forester and my 2016 Legacy. Riddle me this, if they were truly "lifetime fluids", why would they even put drain and fill plugs on any of the normally serviceable parts to begin with i.e. front, rear diff and the transmission? Why not have those units sealed so the end user can't have a realistic capability of servicing them if they're truly "lifetime fluids"? Again, just my opinion and theory on the matter.

2016 Legacy bought June of 2016 with 20 miles. Just turned 66K last week.

Dropped in a Magnefine transmission filter, Improved Racing Flow Series Motorsport (FSM) thermostat that begins to open at 165F and a Hayden 678 Transmission cooler. Temps for my CVT were running at 205F for normal operation in 80F ambient temperature. I did four drain and fills of the CVT fluid with OEM fluid IAW the factory service manual. Two a few thousand miles ago and two after I installed, first, the cooler and then the thermostat. Temps are now right a 175F for when fully warmed up and may go up to 178F on a hill for 3 or 4 miles. I did the same thing to my wife's 2017 2.5 limited Forester. Her's wasn't running quite as hot but now both TR580's trans run at identical temperature's. I live in a hot climate as it is, so even the coldest days, typically 65F a few days a year, my trans is sitting at 80F or higher in my garage. I bypassed the warmer for the CVT. To put it simply, it's customized for my climate. And I don't need the, you don't tow or operate the CVT in severe service situation, fluids are lifetime speech. I know what Subaru and their manuals say.

On top of that, if it's out long enough, you'll need to do an idle re-learn procedure as well. I had my first battery go bad under warranty after a year and a half and it was replaced with an interstate. A few months ago I tested the replacement battery after the vehicle started cranking slower. The CCA's with my battery tester showed it was going bad after two years installed, but wasn't dead yet. The SOH was only 68% if I remember right. I did a preemptive strike and replaced it with a Duralast Platinum 25-AGM.

Thanks. Yes gathermewool. ^^^^ What he said.

Added an AL Priority "Multipurpose parking system" to my baby.

Thanks again for your insight. Thanks for the reassurance that I didn't damage anything. I opened the overflow plug and drained the excess fluid until it became a steady stream, then put the plug back. Done IAW the FSM which I did find and download. Thanks for the offer to get FSM to me.

Great. Thanks for the response. I found the "check" overflow plug for the diff next to the diff drain plug. I plan on opening and letting the fluid drain tomorrow. I drove it earlier about 8 miles. Do you think I did any damage to the front diff?

Sorry to bump this thread. I have a 2016 legacy with ~29k on it. I decided to change my front/rear diff. I read through all these pages and had no problems doing the drain/fill on both the front/rear. My concern is I filled both front/rear fluids until they began to overflow from the fill plug. And yes, I used the fill plug on the passenger side above/next to the drive axle. The front diff ended up taking 2.5 quarts of fluid before it started dripping out of the fill plug. And yes, it was drained from the T70 torx drain plug in front of the CVT pan. My question is, should I drain it and put 1.5 quarts in even if it doesn't start dripping from the fill plug or should I just leave it since I did what the OP did and let it drip from the fill plug? Any insight or help would be much appreciated.