2011 3.6R 5AT Possible Trans issue and other minor issues (common?)

New to the forums. Any help to the following issues would be much appreciated.

 

I recently received my mom's old car since she decided she wanted a new 2018 3.6R. The issue I'm having is that when i slow down lets say from 40 to 15 mph (braking) and then start to coast for a couple seconds (traffic starts moving again) and try to roll back on the throttle it jerks like it can't decide whether it wants to stay in 3rd or shift to 2nd and ends up jerking into 2nd. I asked my mom about it if she has experienced something similar and she said that its been like that since the first week she had the car. It just strikes me as odd. Seems to shift fine any other time.

 

A couple other things that strike me about the car is the super sensitive gas pedal and the way the brake pedal does not have a progressive feel as the pedal goes further down almost like it has the same resistance throughout the pedal travel. Stopping power is good however.

 

Are these common quirks with this car or are there ways to improve these items?

 

Btw the car has about 95k miles on it and is up to date on all maintenance through the stealership.

New to the forums. Any help to the following issues would be much appreciated.

 

I recently received my mom's old car since she decided she wanted a new 2018 3.6R. The issue I'm having is that when i slow down lets say from 40 to 15 mph (braking) and then start to coast for a couple seconds (traffic starts moving again) and try to roll back on the throttle it jerks like it can't decide whether it wants to stay in 3rd or shift to 2nd and ends up jerking into 2nd. I asked my mom about it if she has experienced something similar and she said that its been like that since the first week she had the car. It just strikes me as odd. Seems to shift fine any other time.

 

A couple other things that strike me about the car is the super sensitive gas pedal and the way the brake pedal does not have a progressive feel as the pedal goes further down almost like it has the same resistance throughout the pedal travel. Stopping power is good however.

 

Are these common quirks with this car or are there ways to improve these items?

 

Btw the car has about 95k miles on it and is up to date on all maintenance through the stealership.

 

There is a TSB for the harsh downshift (Service Bulletin # 11-104-11?)

Yea. Once I got that TSB done, it resolved my issue with harsh down shift.

I've always had the TSB so I can't comment on it. It might need a TCU flash.

 

As for the gas pedal. I wouldn't really call it sensitive. It's quite numb compared to mine, prior tuning. Stock though it does tend to confuse what gear it wants to be in when giving half throttle or so.

 

You might be talking about the brake pedal squish? There's a master cylinder brace that I got for mine from someone on the Facebook 5th Gen Group, Luis. There's also the Goodridge Stainless Steel Brake lines. Can't comment on the lines yet. The MCB is nice, though.

My 14' does not do that at all. Like the others said, check and see if it has received any up dates to the TCU. Throttle body is drive by wire so if you used to a cable throttle body or carburetor then the pedal will feel much more friction free.

 

I don't understand what you mean on the brakes? If you ceramic compound brakes they may feel vague when cold and you you push and they heat up they begin to bite.

On the brakes....if your pads are low, there is more fluid in the calipers which leads to more brake travel and a numb feeling but without any issue stopping the car. My guess is you could use a new set of pads all the way around and a brake fluid flush.

get tsb done if applicable, also I have found that with my 2003 legacy, the Valvoline synthetic fluid works better than Subaru OEM particularly when unit is operating cold. drain and fill every 30K like clock work.

I've always had the TSB so I can't comment on it. It might need a TCU flash.

 

As for the gas pedal. I wouldn't really call it sensitive. It's quite numb compared to mine, prior tuning. Stock though it does tend to confuse what gear it wants to be in when giving half throttle or so.

 

You might be talking about the brake pedal squish? There's a master cylinder brace that I got for mine from someone on the Facebook 5th Gen Group, Luis. There's also the Goodridge Stainless Steel Brake lines. Can't comment on the lines yet. The MCB is nice, though.

 

Thanks for all recommendations regarding the TSB. I am trying to get vehicle maintenance records, but if not, I will probably go in for a TCU flash.

 

To clarify about the gas pedal; what I meant to say is that the pedal seems touchy when starting from a stop. I am getting better at modulating that, but otherwise I don't think its sensitive at all.

 

Also to clarify about the brakes. To me there seems to be no difference in resistance throughout the brake pedal as it travels. The amount of stopping power does increase as the pedal goes lower. It just makes it hard for me to gauge how much I really need to brake. I will check the fluid level, lines, pads and such, but just need to find the time too. I will also look more into the MCB.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions.

register the VIN with my Subaru and any Dealer service going forward will show up there.