'92 Subaru Legacy L wagon automatic
142K milesI've noticed for a few years now that sometimes when I drive this old car to go to work that the shifting feels raspy. The best way I can describe is by thinking about the brake cable on a bicycle. You have a vinyl-covered metal tube through which the twisted cable slides. When you pull on the brake or release it and the spring spreads the brake at the wheel, the cable slides up and down inside the metal sheath. If someone uses spray lube (that drips out or washes away) or the cable or sheath get rusty then you can feel the increased resistance of the cable to move inside the sheath. This is what it feels like when I first start shifting when the car has been unused for awhile.
If the car has sat for several days unused (parked in the car port), I start to feel the grainy shifting. Once the car has been driven around 20 miles, or more, or after a couple days of repeated use, the graininess or stickiness goes away and the shifting feels normal. The stickiness doesn't return unless the car has sat unused for several days. Well, this car often sits for weeks or months unused so, in those cases, the shifter always feels sticky until it's been driven awhile.
That the rusty stickiness goes away would seem to indicate it isn't a problem with the tranny. If there was excessive wear or defect in the tranny's mechanicals, I would think this grainy shifting would exist all the time and not go away.
The parts that might be causing the stickiness would be:
- Tranny - but then why does the the sticky shifting go away with use?
- Shifter linkage from console to tranny - but what would it stop being sticky since it's not like it's getting more lube?
- Fluid - could it be burnt or the wrong viscosity?
I had a fluid flush 6 years ago (after owning it for 13 years starting in '94 when I bought it 2 years old). It was a simple flush because the cost was only $50 which is too cheap for a fluid exchange. Since the car sits for months unused (I just run it once a month to recharge the battery), my recollection is that this stickiness started maybe a year or two after the flush. Could the shop have put in the wrong fluid? If it was too thin for viscosity, maybe it drains aways so shifting starts out sticky but after the pump moves the fluid around then the stickiness goes away? Or is this typical of automatics that sit around unused for a long time that the fluid has to get pumped back into the tranny for the stickiness to go away?
The shop's worksheet doesn't say what type and viscosity of tranny fluid they used. I hear if it is too thin that the bands won't grip (they'll slip) and you burn them up. I don't feel any lurching or snugging down after changing gears (manually or automatically).
I've read the varying and often opposing views regarding tranny flushes. For manuals, a flush is okay. For automatics, a flush is only partial as dirty fluid is left behind in the tranny's valves, torque converter, and cooling lines. There's the argument that crud gets dislodged and can lodge elsewhere but I would think a complete fluid *exchange* would get rid of the crud. I'd also check with the shop if they drop the pan to clean out the crud that sits down there along with the filter screen in the transaxle.
So I'm wondering if a complete fluid *exchange* with the right type of fluid and viscosity would eliminate the sticky shifter. Or if that's just something I have to deal with in a car that sits mostly unused. The shifting can be so hard after sitting a long time that I get worried I'm going to snap something apart when forcing the shifter lever to and fro.