97 Legacy L 4eat shifting issues

I recently purchased a 1997 Legacy L 2.2. It started it's life as a manual transmission and is now a 4eat. It now has the CEL light and I haven't had time to pull the codes. It shifts hard between 1st and 2nd then when it hits 3rd the rpms drop to about 2k then climbs quickly to about 3500. All higher gears shift fine. I am keeping my foot steady and not abusing the car. I read in some other threads this happens when the fluids are cold (which I do notice an improvement after it warms, but still not correct). Just looking for some direction. The guy said when he looked at the code it was "Lockout solenoid or something". I looked it up and can't remember the code maybe P00743. Thanks in advance.

I have the same kind of problem with the shifts. Also going down a hill when the car upshifts everyso often it slows (sometimes a jolt, but definitely noticeable). How old is the transmission in your legacy?

He told me it was out of a 1998, but no way to confirm that.

I have the same kind of problem with the shifts. Also going down a hill when the car upshifts everyso often it slows (sometimes a jolt, but definitely noticeable). How old is the transmission in your legacy?

 

Exactly. 227k miles on my car. 1-2 is a jolt (though the harder you are accelerating the smoother it is). Sometimes you get those kind of half-shifts that take like 2-3 seconds to fully shift (It kind stays in an intermediate shift-zone and then kinda finishes shifting - sounds like the 2k RPM issue he was describing - I was a bit confused.)

 

And yeah, coasting down hills can sometimes result in rather violent slowdowns as it THUNKS into a higher gear.

 

Works fine tho for the most part. Just adds to the character of the car, lol.

So is this a common issue? I just got the car with 200k. I really like it and will be driving it for work (100-200 miles daily). Just wondering if the trans is gonna give out half way through the winter.

Well, the 1-2 shifts being abrupt has been going on a few years now. It's just the high mileage. It not by any means an indication that your tranny is about to blow up. Just do what I do. If you're accelerating normally in traffic, it's usually not at all violent. If you're kinda creeping through traffic and it keeps slamming 1-2 all the time, just let off the gas when it's about to shift (I know the car well enough to know when that's going to happen).

Thank you for the reassurance. I really like this car, very solid and economical. I can't wait to test it out in the snow. And I am sure this won't be my last Subaru.

This car is a tank in the snow. Unstoppable.

Well, the 1-2 shifts being abrupt has been going on a few years now. It's just the high mileage. It not by any means an indication that your tranny is about to blow up. Just do what I do. If you're accelerating normally in traffic, it's usually not at all violent. If you're kinda creeping through traffic and it keeps slamming 1-2 all the time, just let off the gas when it's about to shift (I know the car well enough to know when that's going to happen).

 

I hate having to creep through traffic. I always grip the steering wheel tight and grit my teeth just as it's about to shift, cuz that's the worst out of all the little irks with the transmission. What do you think in the transmission is causing all of the jolts?

I have this problem as well. A jerk/jolt from first to second. That is unless you gently, and very slowly I might add, accelerate. It also wont jerk if you accelerate harder.

 

I bought my car with 165k and it has 181k now. Transmission hasn't gotten worse. So no worries about it blowing up in your face.

 

It is rather obnoxious and embarrassing though. I wish someone had a solution for this.

I would guess a rebuild might be helpful? Or would reprogramming the chip help at all with any shift irks like described?

No, it's not something the car did new, so I don't think reprogramming will no much, unless you can reprogram the car to completely let off the gas for a second or two while it shifts, which is stupid. I don't know much about the intricate internal workings of the tranny, but I had always assumed it was the synchros for the 1-2 change that were just shot? I honestly don't know.

Well at least it's not the computer; I wouldn't know, I got mine at 140k and haven't looked back haha. But it's been shifting like that ever since I got it. Have you had your legacy for all of those 227k?

I got the same problem with mine, but yeah I guess you can say its our car's character haha, my solution that I'm going to try out is simply replace the tranny fluid and see what happens. I will be replacing it with the subaru genuine stuff from the stealership

^ not to rain on your parade but I have tried that already.

 

Wishful thinking I guess.

Alright thanks for the heads up! haha that Stealership prices are no joke too

Not to say it isn't good to flush it anyway. But any hopes of it repairing the tranny seem to be slim. At least in my case.

 

But I will agree with Stealership pricing being ridiculous.

Not to say it isn't good to flush it anyway. But any hopes of it repairing the tranny seem to be slim. At least in my case.

 

But I will agree with Stealership pricing being ridiculous.

 

I just turned over 190,999 pulling into the driveway but still wanted to do it none the less. Hmmm I might they something else other than the stealership's deals hahaa maybe they might have some on sale on black friday haha

I have THE EXACT SAME issue with my transmission... Did anyone ever find out what is causing this??

 

I know when I had me SVX a few years ago, alot of the members were talking about "Getting their brake band adjusted to improve shifting"... I never really understood what they meant because I swapped my SVX to a manual when my Auto trans started acting up... Now I have to be honest, I have thought about swapping my legacy, but not anytime soon. I actually LIKE driving it around as an Auto. Whenever I drive an auto something in my brain immediately just says "Drive slow, it's not fun to drive fast", so I drive slow (and get about 26mpg on the combined cycle that I drive )...

 

So although overall I dislike the 4EAT (VERY similar trans to the 4EAT that was in my SVX), I like the fact that my car is an Auto. But these shifts from 1 - 2 are VIOLENT!!! When you accelerate hard, the shifts are alot smoother... 2 - 3 and 3 - 4 are completely smooth and "normal"...

 

Any luck finding out what's wrong? If so, what sort of $$$ are we looking at to repair the issue?? Thanks guys!!

ALL of these 4EAT's when they get older develop this "issue". As far as I know to have it completely fixed is to have the transmission rebuilt.

ALL of these 4EAT's when they get older develop this "issue". As far as I know to have it completely fixed is to have the transmission rebuilt.

 

DAMNIT!! :spin:... So it is a common occurrence, and yet the only way to fix it is to rebuild it?? I'm gonna make it my next project to find out WTF is going on with it and HOW to fix it without doing a rebuild... Think I'll start over at my old home the SVX World Network

Yeah, I get hard shifts from 1-2 that are better if you give it more gas. Shifts from 2-3 are really soft though...almost like it might be slippin for a half second.

I've been told it's a solenoid that handles the transition from 1st to 2nd. But i'm not sure how valid that is...

i had this (i think) exact same problem and it turned out to be three solinods that were in the valve body you might want to take it to a tranny guy and have them check the connections and make sure it doesnt have any blown ones. For me when this happened shortly after getting my 99 legacy gt it cost me like 700 bucks total or so mainly because for me it was several at once oddly

 

Edit: Also unlike above mentioned mines also a 4EAT and didnt require a rebuild though we considered it at one point we found the solinod solution though pricey still was still cheaper generally speaking [shrugs]

 

granted i'm no car expert just relaying what i had happen and the solution we had to do hope it helps

i heard one story where the ''hard'' 1- 2 shift began after a ''trans flush'' and swapping the valve body corrected it.

 

in theory, if a solenoid was bad it would give you a flashing AT Temp light. but maybe if it just isn't as good as it once was, ... maybe.

 

my plan is to swap out the valve body, eventually. but that's only because i have a spare trans sitting around. (2 actually.) but i have a few other things in line in front of it at the moment.