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Subaru Legacy/Outback Transmission Problems

580 messages,  Last post on May 14, 2013 at 12:13 PM

You are in the Subaru Legacy & Outback Forum.

What is this discussion about? Subaru Legacy, Subaru Outback, Transmission, Sedan, Wagon


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Messages Page 57 of 59

#556 of 580 First and last Subaru I'll ever own! by jla_fly

Oct 24, 2012 (5:19 pm)

Just like the other owners out there, I have the same annoying transmission issues. I am currently leasing a 2011 3.6r Legacy. Less than 2 weeks after driving it off the lot, I experienced the transmission clunk/harsh shift issue when slowing down and then trying to accelerate again. I am more than upset at myself for not doing more research on this car before I signed the lease. However, I got a great deal on it and the sales staff and the dealership were awesome and very welcoming. I have nothing against their service. The product is just not well designed.
 
So here I am over a year into the lease and I have only 11,000 miles on the car. I don't drive much anymore, my friends hate riding in the car because it's extremely uncomfortable and you almost get whiplash when the transmission does engage again. The fact that any modern automaker could produce such a crap product and overlook this enormous issue is amazing to me.
 
I brought the car into the dealership recently and printed off the service bulletins I found on other forums ahead of time. They dismissed the issue, refused to look at what I had found online, and told me that it's a NORMAL problem. They stated there are no codes in the TCM or ECU and that everything is fine. They did not do the TCM re-flash that others have said were successful and they gave me a free car wash and sent me on my way. The day prior to the appointment with the dealership, I called SOA and filed a formal complaint. The dealership stated that SOA had followed up with them the day of my appointment and that my “file” was now heavily documented regarding the issue.
 
So now I have a little less than 2 years left on a lease for a car that I absolutely hate, a well-documented file, and a car that while nice to sit in treats you like you’re riding a bucking bronco at times. Driving this car is the most unpleasant experience I’ve ever had with a vehicle. For anyone out there wanting to get into any of the Subaru products with this 5 speed automatic transmission I have one recommendation … run! Run far away! For a low to mid-$30,000 car, you can find a much higher quality product elsewhere that won’t leave you wondering if your transmission just fell out of the back end every time you try to accelerate.
 
I only wish there was a way for me to get out of the lease and wash my hands of Subaru.

#557 of 580 Re: First and last Subaru I'll ever own! [jla_fly] by xwesx

Oct 25, 2012 (9:57 am)

Replying to: jla_fly (Oct 24, 2012 5:19 pm)
Wait, I read this:
 
I brought the car into the dealership recently and printed off the service bulletins I found on other forums ahead of time. They dismissed the issue, refused to look at what I had found online, and told me that it's a NORMAL problem. They stated there are no codes in the TCM or ECU and that everything is fine. They did not do the TCM re-flash that others have said were successful and they gave me a free car wash and sent me on my way.
 
Not too long after reading this:
 
I got a great deal on it and the sales staff and the dealership were awesome and very welcoming. I have nothing against their service.
 
While I can certainly understand your frustration with the car's transmission performance, I have to question your evaluation of what constitutes "awesome" with regard to a dealership's service....

#558 of 580 Re: First and last Subaru I'll ever own! [xwesx] by jla_fly

Oct 25, 2012 (10:52 am)

Replying to: xwesx (Oct 25, 2012 9:57 am)
The dealer experience was really good where I purchased the vehicle from regarding the sales process. I should have been more descriptive in that part of my review. The dealership that recently serviced the vehicle (I have since moved to a different state) was nice but didn't solve the problem .
 
Unfortunately, they have a product that lets them down. I got a good deal on the car so the sting of having this transmission issue isn't as bad.
 
Basically, the sales process was great, the product that was sold is not great, and the dealership I went to recently dismissed the issue.

#559 of 580 Re: First and last Subaru I'll ever own! [jla_fly] by xwesx

Oct 25, 2012 (12:15 pm)

Replying to: jla_fly (Oct 25, 2012 10:52 am)
I see. That makes more sense!
 
It's rather unbelievable that the dealership was so willing to dismiss the issue even if you didn't buy (lease) there since it pretty much guarantees that you're not likely to buy something from them in the future!
 
If they haven't even applied the service bulletins on what is a fairly well-documented issue, I have a hard time believing that they can call it "normal" with a straight face. You might try elevating it with Subaru directly and expressing your insistence that the software updates be applied.
 
Often times "hard shifting" is a software mapping issue rather than a design flaw with the hardware. This transmission has been around a while, and the issue is not universal amongst applications.

#560 of 580 Re: First and last Subaru I'll ever own! [jla_fly] by viper215

Oct 31, 2012 (1:25 pm)

Replying to: jla_fly (Oct 24, 2012 5:19 pm)
I had a problem like that leading up to my needing an entirely new transmission now. In the postmortem of the transmission it was found that the gear oil in the front diff was low. You might want to check that. It might not be your solution but apparently most mechs in Jamaica didnt even know it was there to begin with!

#561 of 580 Re: First and last Subaru I'll ever own! [viper215] by jla_fly

Nov 01, 2012 (8:22 pm)

Replying to: viper215 (Oct 31, 2012 1:25 pm)
I have a second appointment with another dealership that SOA set up for me this weekend. I'll run that by them. Thank you. The first appointment resulted in the service department telling me one thing and then SOA another when SOA followed up with them. My service invoice stated that the tech recreated my issue and that the problem was normal and the transmission was engineered to react the way it did. Yet the dealership told SOA they couldn't recreate the issue and that nothing was wrong. The second dealership seemed a little more knowledgeable on the phone and were willing to listen to what I had to say. They also knew about and are reasearching the service bulletin that is out there for this fix. Wish me luck.

#562 of 580 New to Subaru by winter2

Nov 02, 2012 (6:26 am)

Purchased a 2013 OB Premium on 10/27. My first car with a CVT. Interesting indeed. Tried a 2012 and I did not like the "rubber band" sensation when accelerating. The 2013 CVT is a second gen version. Much less of the "rubber band" sensation. Does moan a bit but only with acceleration otherwise very quiet. No experience with the vibration yet that others have complained about. Has about 300 miles on it.

#563 of 580 2001 Subaru Legacy by edc5

Nov 03, 2012 (7:44 am)

I am having a problem adjusting the kickdown cable after it was removed. Going up hill the car lose power and does not change right. On Flat roads runs fine. Is there a way to adjust the kickdown cable? Because before it was removed going up hills were fine.

#564 of 580 Re: Add me to the list of 2011 Outback with Tranny problems [customervalued] by adiwan

Nov 14, 2012 (8:13 pm)

Replying to: customervalued (Sep 07, 2012 6:29 pm)
I have an early 2012 Outback 3.6R LTD and it has the same problems; took the dealership they reprogrammed and it appears to be fixed but I suspect this problem will start again ... the car appears to be running "heavy/sluggish" after 500 miles of driving after the reprogramming and that is what happened after the first 500.

#565 of 580 3.6R transmission problems by gumby19

Dec 06, 2012 (7:29 pm)

I bought a 2012 3.6R Legacy in April and had to take the car in for service after two weeks of driving. Experienced the same trans problems referenced in some of the other posts, jerking into drive after slowing down and rounding a corner. They re programmed the software and problem went away. Now that it is cold and I back out of the driveway and then put it into drive it feels like I'm going to lose the transmission. It makes an extreme clunk. Took it to the dealer and he said I had to warm up the car for 3-4 minutes before backing up. Tried that it and still clunks pretty bad. It doesn't do that all day after the first time but I'm headed back to the dealer. I bought a Subaru becomes of the "reliability reports". Should have looked at this forum first.

Messages Page 57 of 59

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