5eat oddities

So im having some issues with my 5eat on my 08. Im wondering if its a speed sensor issue but i have no idea as my speedo does work normal without issues. When using the manual shif from 5th down to 4th it does not rev match like with other gears, it also does not lock up the converter in 5th gear for highway cruising. My tuner saw a code for a speed sensor but i didnt ask about it and i donot have access to a scanner that would read these sort of codes currently. any insight on what to check would be great

I think the first step would be to take care of any wheel speed sensor codes. If he can tell you the code number, it can narrow down which wheel has the problem. Do you have any aftermarket wheel bearings installed, especially in the front wheels?

 

 

*My mind immediately thought of wheel speed sensors, thinking that if one of those were bad it could cause transmission issues. After reading whitexc's post, I completely forgot that there are also speed sensors in the transmission as shown below.

Edited May 19, 2019 by apexi

Thinking it is the common turbine speed sensor we all have go bad on our 5EAT's. According to others, the sensor is available and a somewhat easy replacement after dropping the pan and valve body. My 2009 does all the same things as yours. 59k on the clock and multiple drain and fills with HP fluid have netted the same results. I have done the TCM reset a few times through FreeSSM and it makes things good for a while before it reverts back there a slide/bang from 2-3 and does the same lack of lock up in 5th.

 

So....what next....?

 

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I get the 2/3 bang once in a great while, but 99+% of the time it works fine, so I leave it alone. I've changed fluid and it's the same. I wasn't aware of the turbine speed sensor, but this is great information. Thanks to apexi for the post.

This is good info, thanks apexi. Since you appear to be the shop manual guru, is there anything about replacement of Turbine Speed Sensor 2? From past posts this is the one we need to go after. If it isn't overly expensive I may go for it the next time I am ready for a fluid change. Thanks again.

 

Hopefully this gets the OP headed in the right direction.

I will definitely poke the tuner again to see if he can pop the code for me. Ive had the 2-3 bang shift since ive owned the car and has never gotten worse. starting to get a 4-5 though when cold. Thanks!

Download FreeSSM and get yourself a USB vag com cable. A simple reset by performing a "clear memory 2" will let you know if it is sensor or mechanical. My car shifts great for a long time after a reset, hence my thinking it is a sensor getting lazy over time.

 

Search vag com cable on eBay and the first one that comes up is the one I bought, works great.

 

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ClimberD has some really good pictures in the link below, and you can see what I think is turbine speed sensor 2 in them.

https://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/install-transgo-5eat-hd2-shift-kit-detailed-walkthrough-179771.html

 

Unfortunately after looking at the link below, it looks like you need to remove the whole valve body (?) since I think the sensor is on the top side, and not the bottom as seen in post #6 below. Post #8 has pictures of turbine speed sensor #2, I think. Tired and don't feel like reading through the whole post right now.

https://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/installed-ipt-vb-got-cel-p0700-p0710-98446.html

 

Also... The first picture I posted up above is a little confusing, from the 2008 fsm. I thought it was weird that they had the accelerator pedal position sensor on the right side of the car, but I think everything else is accurate? Anyway, I've also included pictures from the 2005 fsm, which accurately shows the accelerator pedal position sensor on the left side, as well as a few images about p1710 which is for turbine speed sensor 2.

 

I didn't see anything about turbine speed sensor 2. Maybe because it looks like it's part of the valve body, or whatever you call it, and in the fsm subaru says "NOTE: The control valve body is replaced as an assembly

only, because it is a non-disassembly part." I also didn't see the sensor @ parts.subaru.com, but I could have missed it.

ClimberD has some really good pictures in the link below, and you can see what I think is turbine speed sensor 2 in them.

https://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/install-transgo-5eat-hd2-shift-kit-detailed-walkthrough-179771.html

 

Unfortunately after looking at the link below, it looks like you need to remove the whole valve body (?) since I think the sensor is on the top side, and not the bottom as seen in post #6 below. Post #8 has pictures of turbine speed sensor #2, I think. Tired and don't feel like reading through the whole post right now.

https://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/installed-ipt-vb-got-cel-p0700-p0710-98446.html

 

Also... The first picture I posted up above is a little confusing, from the 2008 fsm. I thought it was weird that they had the accelerator pedal position sensor on the right side of the car, but I think everything else is accurate? Anyway, I've also included pictures from the 2005 fsm, which accurately shows the accelerator pedal position sensor on the left side, as well as a few images about p1710 which is for turbine speed sensor 2.

 

I didn't see anything about turbine speed sensor 2. Maybe because it looks like it's part of the valve body, or whatever you call it, and in the fsm subaru says "NOTE: The control valve body is replaced as an assembly

only, because it is a non-disassembly part." I also didn't see the sensor @ parts.subaru.com, but I could have missed it.

 

You are DEFINITELY the master at finding this kind of stuff.

Ah so its actually internal to the trans. Ill need to look into doing this safely as i have never researched how to disassemble the trans yet. I was told a while back that the 'valve body' was bad by the dealer when i had 5th not shift into gear so i wonder if this is it

Hi everyone.

I recently went through this frustration with my granddaughter's 2008 Legacy GT. I paid over $200 to get a sensor overnight out of Canada.

 

As a result of that experience I decided to make the sensor available here in the US at reasonable price. You can get it with or without the filter. See links below. Thank you.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/133239156024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/133200929693

Update:

 

I've gotten tons of great feedback on these parts. Thank you to anyone that has purchased to help me keep this going.

 

Please note that the Ebay item number for the sensor with filter has changed to 133417836227.

 

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/133417836227

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/133200929693

 

Thanks again!

 

Jerry

Hi all, I would like to help by adding on to the topic and hopefully it helps someone out there. 

My car 2008 Subaru Legacy SI Cruise imported from Japan recently to New Zealand. The car drove well for a few months but then one day after pulling away I felt a hesitation and BANG, 1st of many jerks and head scratching. At the time I would say it was bearable as the jerking/banging would happen about once a day. My work is 15kms away and daily after driving for exactly 9 minutes I would feel a slight hesitation and then the ATF temp, ABS and VDC would light up and then there would be no gear changes unless I restarted the vehicle. The 9 minutes changed after about a month and became random.  Code came up P1710. Got a quote for a sensor in New Zealand for $240 but bought one on Ebay $80 including freight and it only took a week to arrive. 3 Wires, what could go wrong lol.

Dropped sump and valve body. The new sensor had Red, Green and Blue wires, the valve body was Red, Black and Purple. The crowd in NZ said it didnt matter how the wires were connected as long as Red was Red hmmm. I decided to solder them as they exited the unit so Red-Red, Black-Green and Blue-Purple. Put everything together and now it was Bang, Bang, Bang all the time. Would get to 65kph and on with the 3 lights, the banging was worse than before and really bad as it would happen in every gear change until 65 then get stuck in 4th. Trying to pull away at the lights in 4th was testy.

Decided to drop the sump again and swap the 2 wires so Blue to Black, Green to Purple, this fixed the problem. The bad news is that after driving too long in BANGING MODE it had caused some damage as after dropping the sump the 2nd time I found 2 metal pieces which looks like the bottom of a gear tooth and the new oil was pretty shagged as it would be with all the slipping. Driving the car now is awesome but there is a slight hesitation changing from 3rd to 4th which I am not sure if it's always been. Will use car for a month then change the oil and update the post.

Hope this post helps someone.

 

Signed up to add my recent experience in case it helps anyone. I have an 08 GT Limited 5EAT with about 115k miles.

A bit more than a year ago, after I pulled out of the driveway and shifted into drive, the car made a completely unexpected and violent series of upshifts. It felt like someone had dumped the clutch or I had driven over a brutal pothole. I was worried about permanent transmission damage. This started a process of intermittent issues that always disappeared when the car was anywhere near a mechanic. I took it to six (!) different places -- including two Subaru dealerships, two transmission specialists, and an auto electrician. One Subaru dealership said the transmission fluid was varnished and overfilled; the last part was strange because I hadn't serviced it since 60k miles and the car tends to leak fluid, not gain it. The other dealership kept the car for two weeks and said they experienced the problem once. But they didn't know what caused it and (nonsensically) wanted to replace the mass airflow sensor. A couple of places picked up some random error codes, but the car's electrical has always been buggy and the shifting issue never seemed to coincide with warning lights. 

Cut to a few weeks ago, when the problem was becoming much more frequent. On a short drive (the only kind I trusted the car to make), I smelled an unfamiliar burning. My dash turned full Christmas-tree mode and I noticed a new light: AT oil temp. I limped the short distance home and had the car towed to a transmission shop confident that the transmission problem would finally be sorted. The first word I got from the shop was that my radiator was cracked and coolant was "just pouring out." Fine. Not what I cared about, but cars need radiators, so I told them to fix it. After that fix, the mechanic once again said he didn't notice a problem. He kept the car two weeks, driving back and forth trying to figure it out to no avail. When I took it back I fully expected the eventual relapse. But (knock on wood) it's driving as engineered again. 

What gives? I can't say for sure and I may live to regret posting this as if it's solved. But I found a youtube video that's super intriguing. The video discusses a linkage between a bad radiator and harsh shifting. It specifically discusses upscale Volvos from 1993 to 2000, which obviously isn't a match. But everything else is a perfect description of my experience. In short:

• In some cars, the radiator cools the engine and the transmission. The Legacy is one of those cars.
• Sometimes, radiators will fail and leak internally before any external signs of damage appear
• Because the coolant and the transmission fluid circulate at different pressures, a failing radiator can force fluid into the wrong system
• The problem usually develops gradually
• The signs that a radiator is forcing coolant into the transmission are harsh shifts and transmission fluid that is overfilled and discolored

The problem itself is very hard to detect until the radiator starts failing externally, and the main symptoms manifest misleadingly in a separate system. But when I saw how many similarities the video had with my own car, I took it back to the transmission shop and had them flush the AT oil. Hopefully, after 14 months of purgatory, the car can settle back into normal life again. 

I'd have loved to have this information a while ago, so I thought I'd offer it up in case anyone finds it useful.