2000 RS 2.5 Impreza Transmission problems?

My wife's 2000 RS 2.5 Impreza has an automatic transmission and lately has been taking longer to engage into drive when moving the gear selector from park/neutral to drive. I called the dealership to make an appointment, but their initial response was that up to 5 seconds was normal?!? However, it never took this long before which suggests that something may be wrong. It appears to take about 3 seconds before it engages, but use to be almost instantaneous. I don't drive the car much so her perception was that it's been like that for a while, but I noticed it immediately after driving it earlier this week. The car was just in for it's 60K check up back in March and it may have started after that service inspection. However, they didn't change the transmission fluid at that interval. In fact, the transmission fluid hasn't been changed since 30K. Could it be as simple as changing the fluid or is it more complicated than that? Just looking for some insight on what it could be and whether or not I may be able to resolve it prior to running the car down to the dealer next week.

Any helps is appreciated.

Thanks,

-Jerry

Reply to
Jerry
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Hi, First thing to do is to check the fluid condition and level. I think 2000 Imprezas had some tranny issues. My daughter's 2000 Impreza developed problem after logging only 6000 Kms. Tranny became very sluggish and almost won't drive the car any more. When taken to dealer, we're told it came from factory with very low fluid level causing internal damage(?). They replaced it with brand new assembly shippied in in a wooden crate. mechanic told us no sense fixing the broken one since car was on warranty. Nice dealership we have. Tony

Reply to
Tony Hwang

transmission

Interesting, but at least the dealership took care of the problem the right way from the start. In all honesty, the car has been great with almost no problems to date. Unfortunately, I had to deal with transmission problems in the past with another vehicle and rather not go down that path again. It can be a very expensive fix to say the least. I will post again on the dealer's findings once the inspection is complete. Hopefully, it will be a simple fix.

Thanks,

-Jerry

Reply to
Jerry

appointment,

I forgot to mention, but the fluid level is fine. I couldn't really comment on the condition of the fluid, but it appears normal to me.

-Jerry

Reply to
Jerry

Hi, Burnt fluid looks dark, not usual fresh looking pink. Also it smells different. Good luck, Tony

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Got it. This was clean looking and smelt like normal transmission fluid.

Thanks,

-Jerry

Reply to
Jerry

For what it's worth, the dealer said the car needs a new transmission. At least it's covered under warranty.

-Jerry

Reply to
Jerry

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