Forester transmission

What is the dreaded J7Q43 defect? Google comes up with nothing. I've also used Lucas trans oil additive with great success, smoothes out the shifts.

Must have been a typo, shurely he means J7Q48.

;-)

My wife's '04 forester xt does some very strange things as well. I think the drive by wire throttle has alot to do with it. The 4eat in my svx is very predictable. The same tranny (although upgraded over the years) seems to be schizophrenic in the forester.

Sometimes a very slight change in throttle position causes a 2 gear downwhift and a quick run to redline, other times (usually when you need it) the tranny hunts for the right gear for 3-4 seconds before passing with the pedal to the floor.

Is your wife's driving style similar to yours? I think this may hold the key to question.

I've heard that the EAT is some sort of electronic controlled transmission that has a degree of learning ability i.e.it remembers and adjusts to your driving style (?).

I also have the reverse-surge type sentation described by the original poster (Impreza '00). This happens especially after a long highway-speed trip. I suspect the tranny's electronics have set up for highway type driving and when style changes it gets out of sync briefly, so I get some infrequent weird reaction from it..

This is my very subjective explanation of what is going on,

- I am not a mechanic. Anyone familiar with this issue please comment on the theory.

MN

You are correct. Most electronic autos have a small amount of "learning ability" and can and do adjust to different driving styles (even if you don't use the power/economy switch, if it has one).