98 Forester

Have you checked the manual ?

I read somewhere that if you get that you don;t even have to stop, but don;t drive like mad for a while and it will go away.- then... mwhahhaaa!

Re Hard shift - what the heck is that ? Not sexual, is it :-) but I don't normally drive wife's auto so pardon my ignorance :-)

What I remember of the manual is the "AT oil temp" indicator lights when your Auto transmission fluid temperature is higher than what is deemed comfy. Drive at a reduced speed (50 mph or below) and avoid any extraneous loads on the tranny, such as towing, or holding yourself on a hill using the transmission instead of breaks (it must sound almost silly, but my sister uses her transmission instead of breaks when stopped on an incline quite often). The manual did not make this out to be a super-unusual case, but, to be extra careful when you do receive the warning. I don't remember anything about the indicator flashing, but it's been a while since I read that part so maybe that's the normal function when lit.

I would venture your driving style or conditions could be factors in receiving such an indicator, but wouldn't rule out low fluid or failing cooling aperatus as possible sources. Might be worth taking to a Soob dealer to ask about, or a trusted transmission shop before any serious damage occurs. Subaru transmissions are not cheap, not that other brands are so much more affordable!

Because the transmission oil is cooled by a small radiator in the front of the car, unless malfunctioning, I would suspect that driving reasonably will keep better oil flow throughout the system and help reduce the temperature of the oil more than pulling off to the side of the road. This is of course barring any unusual, unforseen harbinger of doom that could be causing the oil temperature to rise.

Ever have the oil in your transmission checked / changed? It's a recommended practice, just as you change the oil in your motor, but not as often. (-; A girl who works where I do had her transmission grenade on her. High mileage vehicle, severe service driving, and from my understanding, the fluid wasn't changed in some 120,000 + miles. Not a Subaru though so YMMV.

You mention you can't pull any codes off "it." Any check engine codes? Was outside ambient temperature unusually high when the indicator lit? Were you driving a steep grade? Did you have the transmission in low gear, and run the motor at higher revs for an extended period? Any seemingly unusual movement of the tach before / after the AT oil temp indicator began flashing? Any funny noises? Any services performed on the car recently? I suppose a service shop could even have put incorrect fluid in the transmission, and the fluid is not performing well.

By "hard shift", do you mean that the transmission went "clunk" rather hard after being placed into Park, or that you have difficulty in moving the shift lever to the Park position? Before attempting to shift the transmission into Park, did you first set the parking brake? If nobody elses', this practical procedure is at least in my user's manual. If your fluid was still overheating I would speculate viscosity could be reduced, but I do not know if this could influence moving the shift lever into the Park position.

~Brian

"AdvarP" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com...

I have the same problem with my 99 Legacy. After about 20 miles the AT OIL TEMP light starts flashing. All tires are the same, all up to pressure. So tires are not an issue (seen in other forums as a possible problem). The mechanic at my shop could get no code on their computer. Their suggestion was a tranny replacement at about $3500. I also get a "clunk" when putting it into park. Other than that the car shifts fine. Fluid is up to the mark and doesn't look burned and doesn't feel too hot. It has been about 60K since the last change. Any ideas?

25 - 30k has always been what is recommended to me as the proper fluid change interval for automatic transmissions. I don't know enough to argue for or against this though, so I do my best to stick to it. Because there must obviously be a sensor somewhere being used to determine temperature and set the "AT oil temp" light, there can always be trouble with that sensor, the connection to it, or the device (ie. computer) that is reading the sensor. If the car is otherwise driving fine with the indicator lit and the "clunk" into park, your car can probably live with it for the time being instead of throwing $3500 at a mechanic's guess. If an independant can't properly troubleshoot the issue, check with a Subaru dealership, or even ask a dealership if they can recommend somebody. Also, depending upon where you live, other folks in the forum here may have suggestions for reputable service shops.

~Brian

Yeah. Does your car sometimes shift down from 4th to 3rd gears unexpectedly when you are driving at freeway speeds (55+) on the downward sloop of a hill? If so, there's a sensor that could be responsible for this. I can get the name from my mechanic, who just ordered a replacement for that sensor for my '99 Forester.

The AT Oil Temp light came on exactly as you discussed once when my husband was driving the car to work. The mechanic said that, if the car had downshifted and he had not noticed, the oil temp might have gone up when he was driving *up* hills on the way to the work site. (He's an archaeologist, doing a dig in some mountains near where we live.)