diagnostic for the Duty C solenoid?

The fact that the problem goes away when you pull the fuse pretty much guarantees that the solenoid is *working*.

If the problem didn't go away, then you certainly could suspect the solenoid.

Did you recently have your transmission serviced? Similar thing happened to me after a Transmission flush on my 98 Legacy wagon. She would shudder during low speed and tight turns. A guy in this group recommended a pint of lubeguard highly friction modified ATF additive. Sounded like snakeoil to me but the alternative was a $900 job from Subaru. I bought the $9.90 bottle at a garage (the stuff is an additive that is made for honda/toyota etc. transmissions) and I put it in the 98 Subaru. In 2 days of driving the shudder was gone and hasn't come back. That was 14K miles ago.

Snakeoil? I'll take that kind of Snakeoil every time.

Here is a website so you can see the packaging. I googled on "lubeguard ATF".

Look into the manual.

I wasn't able to find the lubeguard ATF mentioned in an earlier post after some looking around in the immediate area, so i bought an additive that was oriented towards stopping shudder. i avoided the ones that mostly talked about fixing leaks, as that wasn't my problem. after adding the entire bottle, i drove around for two days with the FWD fuse in. then i pulled it out, and the shuddering problem is completely gone. i did some tight turns, including a turn at a spot where i thought the front end of the car was going to fall off, and it's smooth as silk. the shifting has been a lot smoother the last few days as well.

the car sat for just over 6 months, and it shifted rough for a little while after that, mostly calming down but still a bit rough in certain situations. a few months later, just about 2 months ago, the shudder started. i suppose the moral of the story is to have your transmission fluid changed after the car sits for months on end. spending $150ish on that will save you the $11.50 on an additive and hose to fit down in the right spot buried under some hoses.

now i can wait until next year, or another, to buy a subaru that comes with a sunroof you can get without also having to buy leather seats, and with a hybrid engine that allows you to get 1000 miles a gallon. of course gas will cost $2000 a gallon then, so it's not that great when you look at it that way. my goal is to make my 98 last 10 years, just like the 88 GL-10 Turbon wagon FWD did.

-- He was last seen carjacking a Subaru Forester... --

Beats the dogsnot out of the $950 the dealer wanted to charge....