2010 rolling backwards

Hi,

I am a proud 2015 Legacy 3.6r owner and recently bought my son a 2010

Legacy 2.5 premium automatic with 97000 miles.

 

Something strange happened to my son yesterday.

He was stopped at a stop sign and when he went to drive he stepped on the

accelerator and nothing happened. The engine did not rev nor did the car move forward. Instead the car started to roll backwards. He also told me that the anti skid indicator on the middle of his instrument panel lit up. He said he was in drive and only could get the car to move after putting it into park, turning the car off, then restarting the car. It drove home fine after that.

 

I took the car out and could not duplicate the trouble.

 

Has this happened to any of you before? Any ideas that I can relay to the dealer?

 

I appreciate any info you can relay to me.

 

Thanks,

Peter

Edited November 24, 2019 by pgd44for3
Typo

That's weird! First place I'd look is the electronic throttle control - it's a drive by wire car, so if the switch is messed up at the pedal or at the throttle body so that it doesn't respond to input, I suppose it could do that... maybe turning it off/on again recovered it from whatever was making it glitch?

get the codes checked in all systems. abs/stability, trans, and engine. the dealer might only checkengine codes which may not indicate what the other modules say. might do that to educate yourself before you go to dealer. I don't know the dealer so I want to throw that out there

get under the car and see if anything is leaking out

Thank you for the responses.

 

No leaks, I am thinking CVT as the transmission is now squeaking, maybe once a minute while driving at 35-45 mph. I am calling the dealer today, it should be covered by my regular warranty and if not the Subaru warranty.

 

Will keep all of you posted.

 

Thank you !!!

Peter

The torque converter was a known weak spot in the 2010s, something about needle bearings that would fail and cause stalling when stopping. Obviously not your issue, but if they replace just your CVT under the Subaru 10/100 warranty I would go so far as to pay out of pocket for a new torque converter while they are in there to ensure you’ve got a solid powertrain for the future.

 

https://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/many-miles-your-cvti-issuesi-215157.html?t=215157

I agree with NVAKeith this type of strange reaction from the car sounds similar to the other incidents where people had trouble with their CVT and eventually ended up getting it replaced under warranty.

Thank you for the responses.

 

No leaks, I am thinking CVT as the transmission is now squeaking, maybe once a minute while driving at 35-45 mph. I am calling the dealer today, it should be covered by my regular warranty and if not the Subaru warranty.

 

Will keep all of you posted.

 

Thank you !!!

Peter

 

Definently use the Subaru warranty if you need to. I uploaded it if you need a copy to download.

CVT Warranty Extension.pdf

+1 for warranty

Thank you everyone !!

 

I have discussed this with the dealer and will keep you posted.

I am looking to have it all replaced. I have a 90 day warranty on the car as well as (hopefully) the Subaru warranty.

 

Fingers are crossed, should know something in a day or so.

 

Thank you again,

Peter

I didn't think it was a transmission issue based on the description - you indicated that the engine didn't even rev when you stepped on the accelerator, so it wasn't like the transmission was slipping - the engine wasn't seeing fuel when you stepped on the gas... will be interesting to see what eventually fixes the problem!

Dealer contacted Subaru of America, they are not covering transmission even though car has under 100k in mileage. Car was manufactured Sept 18,2009.

 

I understand that point of it, but not happy.

 

Dealer ordered new torque converter form local area Subaru dealer and will replace free of charge. I am hoping this is the issue. Dealer spoke with 2 Subaru technicians and was told that was the problem with the squeaking sound while driving.

 

Fingers are crossed . Will keep you posted.

 

Thanks,

Peter

Hopefully the transmission is fine, great news on the TC. They should go by the original delivery date to the first owner, not the manufactured date. DrD123 has a good point, the rolling backwards thing could be the throttle by wire system.

Dealer contacted Subaru of America, they are not covering transmission even though car has under 100k in mileage. Car was manufactured Sept 18,2009.

 

I understand that point of it, but not happy.

 

Dealer ordered new torque converter form local area Subaru dealer and will replace free of charge. I am hoping this is the issue. Dealer spoke with 2 Subaru technicians and was told that was the problem with the squeaking sound while driving.

 

Fingers are crossed . Will keep you posted.

 

Thanks,

Peter

 

 

what is the In Service Date on your invoice? it is 10 years 100K from date of first sale, not manufacture...

 

 

for my car the In Service date is October 23 2013. So the warranty will expire on October 22, 2013 for the CVT.

My dealer told me the date was September 19, 2019 that the warranty ran out on the car. He contacted Subaru and attempted to get them to replace the transmission. My dealer wanted them to replace it because if it is still a problem he will be liable for the repairs.

 

We are the third owners of this car, maybe that had something to do with the denial.

 

Will post more as I get it.

 

Thanks

Peter

^Only reason Subaru would deny is if car has been salvaged... but since your dealer said the in service date was Sept 2009, SOA is not obligated to repair car. I am not surprised given my interaction with the over a car that is still under warranty

 

 

 

when you hear things like the dealer diagnosed it and found nothing wrong, we cannot go against the dealer, etc....

Update.

 

The dealer called me yesterday. They had to order a seal for the torque converter. I am not sure what that seal is but he said it was flattened out so it is being replaced. So far he is replacing the torque converter and the seal that he had to order. We will be trying the car after we get it back and if there is still an issue it will be going back to the dealer. We have a 90 day warranty on it so he said he will “make it right”.

 

I am disappointed in Subaru for not covering the warranty, especially with the car having 97000 miles but I guess you have to cut the warranty off somewhere.

 

Will keep you posted.

 

Thanks,

Peter

Edited November 17, 2019 by pgd44for3
Typo

Another update ...

 

New torque converter and car still doing the same thing. Dealer has offered to replace the transmission, refund our money or we can exchange it for another car on his lot. The dealer has been nothing but nice during this process and soon we will decide what to do next.

 

I have found a youtube video of what the car is doing. It does it every minute or so while driving 35-50mph. The car seems to skip when it does it.

 

 

Will update again soon,

Thanks for listening,

Peter

Another update ...

 

New torque converter and car still doing the same thing. Dealer has offered to replace the transmission, refund our money or we can exchange it for another car on his lot. The dealer has been nothing but nice during this process and soon we will decide what to do next.

 

I have found a youtube video of what the car is doing. It does it every minute or so while driving 35-50mph. The car seems to skip when it does it.

 

 

Will update again soon,

Thanks for listening,

Peter

 

Hmmm what choices do you have in the lot? If you don't like the choices then I would personally take the free replacement of the tranny since that will come with a warranty. If you're gonna replace the current car for one in the dealer's lot, make sure it has less than 100k miles (so you still have the CVT Warranty Extension), and also check the history and such. You never know, you might be able to score on a better car...

I’d take the new trans and enjoy 100k mikes of not worrying about that weakness. Any other used CVT Subaru you pick is a gamble that could give you a similar problem down the road.