Goes into Park but won't hold

Sold my 97 Legacy Outback today. There were trans oddities and they were made known to the buyer. He test drove the car last week and said he wanted it. Today he gets home and said the automatic shifter will go into the Park position but doesn't hold. Hm...what can that be? He later called back and said that on another drive it did go into park and hold. Called back later and said while driving, everything was fine then all of the sudden it revved very high, car would not go (like in neutral). Pulled off the road; re-started the car and then the trans (or whatever) was really acting up.

 

The car has been sitting for months in my rear yard, it is flat. Last several times I drove it the park position was working / holding.

 

Solenoid, linkage adjustment, parking pawl problem?

 

I kind of know this guy from seeing him at my local parts store where he works. He was having issues with his truck and I thought at $1,000 for the car, I would come in to save the day. Now this? Errr! I told him the car had been sitting around hardly driven. I hate leaving cars sit around that haven't been driven in a while and then sell them. Seals that aren't lubricated tend to dry out, connections get wet and corroded, etc.

 

I guess this is better than a car you just bought that dies on you. I would like to find a fix for the guy but I am not a trans guy.

 

Interior is leather, in great shape, no dings, heated seats work, all windows works, etc. So worse case scenario? Worse case scenario is that the trans has craped out, he has to buy a used trans for a few hundred and installs it. He said he has a subbie guy that he knows. I would hate the worst case scenario for the guy.

 

Normally if this were not someone I know, after the second call I'd probably say that you were told about the issue, you said you have a subbie guy, you know about cars, what do you want me to do?

 

But I will try my best to help to find the problem. This is the same car I bought in 2013 with a bit of piston slap. It had good power so I went with it but on the second day the CEL came on, 4th piston mis-fire. Over the next two months I tried everything to fix the CEL but never could. I was due for State inspection. So I had to pay for another engine , pay to have it installed (put a 2.2 in it) and to me that is always the risk I assume of buying a privately sold used car. If I want a warranty I'll go to the dealer and pay the higher cost.

My first step would be to look in the Factory Service Manual in the trans diags section and see if something matches up to symptoms.

 

My first dirty step would be to get some trans fluid out of the drain and check it over for water, metal, burning, etc, and if it doesn't look like someone put it in there last week, I'd drain and fill.

 

It could be a sensor confusing the trans computer, it could be a solenoid not firing because of wiring, it could be a solenoid sticking because of contamination.

 

Questions: Do you live somewhere that rodents might be likely to have gotten up in there and chewed wires? Does engine/trans temperature, driving style, or terrain have any effect on the problems?

I don't have a factory manual.

 

I was talking to the guy the day he drive it and the day I told him there were tans problems. We checked the trans fluid and to me it looked too clear, not the usual pink / red. Because I was accustomed to a trans dipstick that has a plastic end, I attributed the light color to the metal dip stick.

 

Rodents? Funny you should mentioned that one. The car was parked on the grass on our side lot. Last summer we had two rarely used cars parked there. One was a saturn and a groundhog got into the engine bay and chewed the ignition harness. I looked in the subbie and didn't see any signs of chewing in the bay but maybe down under the car?

 

If the guy didn't know about cars, if he didn't say he had a subbie guy to discuss the trans issue with...I probably wouldn't have sold the car to him. I've bought cars in the past with known issues and without a full diagnosis, I bought them because I was guessing I knew the problem. I accepted the risk.

 

In my area of the world the 97 Subbie Outback limited is selling for more than $1,000 so he has a lot of room to spend money to fix this issue. This one is exactly like mine.

 

https://www.carsforsale.com/vehicle/details/39174503

 

 

 

My first step would be to look in the Factory Service Manual in the trans diags section and see if something matches up to symptoms.

 

My first dirty step would be to get some trans fluid out of the drain and check it over for water, metal, burning, etc, and if it doesn't look like someone put it in there last week, I'd drain and fill.

 

It could be a sensor confusing the trans computer, it could be a solenoid not firing because of wiring, it could be a solenoid sticking because of contamination.

 

Questions: Do you live somewhere that rodents might be likely to have gotten up in there and chewed wires? Does engine/trans temperature, driving style, or terrain have any effect on the problems?

It's pretty easy and cheap to drain that trans and refill. He should probably put a new filter in while he is at it. That will also allow a deeper look at the insides and the wires.

Yeah I know. I'm not sure why the calls to me before he tried to do one thing and try to fix it.

 

 

It's pretty easy and cheap to drain that trans and refill. He should probably put a new filter in while he is at it. That will also allow a deeper look at the insides and the wires.

I don't have a factory manual.

 

 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B6P6dybMMzg9T3RWUXgtZ21va1U