I have a 99 Outback Wagon which I purchased used in September. In January, my car started leaking transmission fluid. I brought it to a local mechanic that I usually feel like I'm not getting screwed at. They replaced the front axle seal, transmission pan gasket and transmission filter. They recommended I do a dye test to make sure they got all of the leaks, but I'm just out of college and figured that I would be able to tell if there were any more leaks myself. The small puddle of transmission fluid on the floor of my garage was a pretty good indicator that it's still leaking fluid. I jacked the car up yesterday to see where it was leaking from. It's hard for me to tell (mostly because I'm car-stupid), but the 6 or so screws that screw into the bottom of the pan were all wet with fluid. I did notice that a screw was missing, one that screws into the side of the pan from the back. I'm sure that can't be helping the condition, but I don't think that's the only problem. I'm not sure if I should bring the car back to the same mechanic and hope I don't get screwed again or if I should just take it to a Subaru dealer. I've already spent a considerable amount of money on this problem already, and I would hope that the local mechanic would be somehow honest and not charge me full-price to try to fix the problem again. Or should I just feed the beast? It's not losing a lot of transmission fluid.
/rant