Topic: Trusted Subaru shop in Edmonton, now 4EAT shift solenoid questions...

[jiggseob]

Stepdaughters car, 99 leggy outback auto-trans with dohc 25. swapped out to EJ22 (I did it myself).

Car had a CEL for shift solenoid 1, it seemed to work fine for months.

Now it jerks and lurches on acceleration / deceleration.  Car is not with me in Round Hill, its in Edmonton with stepdaughter.

I've never taken an auto trans apart.  I've changed the fluid and filter in this one, and put in a shift-medic additive recommended by a trans shop.  If it needs auto-trans work its beyond me.

So I need recommendation on a trustworthy shop capable of diagnosing / repairing a Subaru auto trans.  Of course stepdaughter is on tight budget...

Thanks ,  Jiggs

[Shanty]

I found AutoRX to be fair and quite good. The owner is very nice, knowledgeable and knows subarus quite well. I had my Impreza there for timing belt, head gaskets, brakes, etc. and all was done well and for a good price. For trans specific, not sure but he may be able to point her in the right direction.

[YvanF]

AutoRx is also my go to place for anything I can't do myself.

[Dev]

Talk to James at AutoRX he can help you out!

[jiggseob]

James gave us an estimate of over $1000 for replacement of Shift solenoid B, I guess its only available to him as part of solenoid pack thats $750 for the parts alone, plus a few gaskets, oil, labour, etc, its over $1000.

Unfortunately, thats beyond the depth of the pocketboook of my stepdaughter and her free car.  So the car has landed back in my driveway.

I will, by hook or by crook, fix this thing, hopefully for less than $1000.  I'm going to check out the possibility of obtaining a replacement "shift solenoid B" by some other means.  If thats not possible, entire transmission at Kar-basher self-serve wrecker is $150.

This is (I think...) a phase-2 4EAT, in that its a late 99 model outback that HAD a DOHC 2.5.   The transmission has a filter on the side, which according to the literature, makes it a phase 2.

Anyways, has anyone ever had the P0758 Shift solenoid B DTC code and resolved it by replacing a shift solenoid?

Thanks,  Jiggs.

[ultimatt]

http://opposedforces.com/parts/legacy/us_b11/type_45/automatic_transmission/at_shift_control/illustration_2/

Part Number 24030AA040 or 24030AA041 would be my guess.
Poke around opposed forces and make sure, as I'm just making a wild assay guess. Based on Ebay images.

Those two PNs are about $225 (plus shipping) from https://www.subarugenuineparts.com/oe_parts_cat.html

I think the solenoids themselves are like $50 on ebay?

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/4EAT-Subaru-2-Shift-Solenoid-31939-AA180-FREE-KWIK-SHIP-/311005812672?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item48696417c0&vxp=mtr&_uhb=1

There are two 2000 leggies at PnP in edmonton as well.

[jiggseob]

Got the pan off that 4EAT phase 2.  Drained about 5 litres of atf (I was scolded by a tranny shop that its not oil, its atf)  Found the shift solenoids exactly as explained in some phase2 literature I found.

Only had an hour to go to scrapyard, so had to go to Kar-Basher on my end of town, not pick-n-pull on west end.

Found an 01 legacy, has automatic,  drained and pulled pan, found solenoids just like in the tranny at home.  Oil was black and smelled like tar.  Un-bolted all the solenoids in the pan, snipped harness, and took all solenoids.  Took all solenoids home, swapped them in.

I was surprised to find that all old solenoids metered between 13.5 and 15 ohms, which is what they are supposed to.  All new (to this car) solenoids metered close to the same.  When 12vdc power is applied to the solenoids, nothing happens at all.  I thought there would be a click or a buzz or something.  If power is left applied for 15 seconds or more, the one I tried gets a bit warm, but thats it.  I expected the solenoid to click or move a plunger to open a port or do something I could see or feel.

Is there any way to bench-test the function of these solenoids, or is the only way to put it all together and pray?   Or are they all bad?

Thanks,  Jiggs.

[Asstuna]

Not an answer for you.... but FYI, changing the subject of the first post will change how it appears to the forums. Changing the last post is only local to the post.

[jiggseob]

I hope these replacement shift solenoids work.  They look the same, ohm the same, and plug in the same.

The 1999 tranny brings the harness into the transmission oil cavity through a big round plug.  The 2000 donor transmission brings the harness in through a rectangular clamped conduit.  The wire colours and locations of solenoids are all the same though.

Got the pan back on, using red permatex goo.  Both pans I removed; stepdaughters car and car at scrapyard, had pans put on with red goo.  My preference has always been to use goo on one side of a gasket, whichever side is easiest to get a wire wheel on, and multipurpose grease on the other side of the gasket.  When eventually disassembled, it just comes apart with no fuss and without trashing the gasket.

Before using the goo, I stopped at a tranny shop to try and buy a gasket.  I made the mistake of saying that I prefer a gasket over goo at preventing oil leaks.  I got a stern lecture that ATG is not OIL and blah-blah-blah.  After all that he says he uses red goo and not gaskets.  Gasket is only available to him as part of rebuild kit, which he doesn't have.  So red goo it is.

I was surprised, that almost 48 hours after pulling the pan off stepdaughters car, the valve body is still raining ATF from many different points into the drain pan.

I'll leave the goo dry/set for 24 hours, then fill with oil and pray for shift solenoid tranquility.

While under the car, I observe a rear suspension member is bent, from someone jacking on it, or else hitting a big rock while backing up while off-roading.  I'm not sure which of those two misbehaviours are in my stepdaughters wheelhouse.

The adventure continues.

[jiggseob]

Swapped in shift solenoids from scrap transmission, codes cleared with ELM327 obd program on laptop, but immediately came back.  Read on internet that transmission codes are stored in TCU that is separate from ECU, and TCU can be reset by unhooking battery for 30 seconds.  That did it.  TCU reset by unhooking battery and then code reset with laptop and ELM327 and codes are gone and staying gone.

Car drives and shifts OK.  No jumping and weirding from awd system on sharp turns.  Full throttle acceleration shifts OK.

Now onto other niggly issues.

I still don't know how to or if its possible to test those shift solenoids on the bench, but at this point I care a lot less about how to test them.

Jiggs.

[jiggseob]

Another update...   after swapping in shift solenoids, driving for a while, shift solenoid B code came back again.  D'oh.

Hoping to get a TCU module from scrapyard.  Watched scrapyards for Legacy with Gen 1 electronic engine controls and phase 2 auto trans, nothing for weeks.  Finally a Imprezza with EJ22 and phase2 auto comes in, 2000 model year, manuf date 2 months different from my Leggy.  The TCU mounts different, but plugs are the same.  I grab the TCU, 26 bucks.  Also grab 2 id plates from Imprezza, to compare to mine.  Transmission type is 10 characters, first six are same, last 4 are different.

Check engine light is on.  Remove battery cable, swap in TCU, move modules around a bit behind knee panel to accommodate different mount.  Connect battery.  Check engine light is out - good sign so-far.  Drive car a few 10-mile round trips to relatievs house and back, no light and no funny shifting.  So far.

EJ22 TCU does seem to be programmed for higher shift points, engine now revs to 2200 rpm with mild throttle before shifting, a few hundred higher than before tcu swap.  Full throttle acceleration still revs over 4000 before shifting.  Since this car and old TCU used to be EJ25 and are now EJ22, maybe this changed TCU is a good thing.

Swapping that head-gasket puking EJ25 for the EJ22 was a good thing.  The car gets better mileage, and although it was no hot-rod before, is still no hot-rod.  A Legacy wagon with old school natural aspirated engine is not a go-fast thing in any form.

As far as scan-tool, I'm using a dirt-cheep ELM327 cable and free scanmaster ELM software that came with it.  It works, has some useful features such as monitor engine parameters, and reads and clears codes.  It cost less than 10 bucks to my door.

I'll post further findings...

[jiggseob]

Update...  January 10, 2015.

Legacy has been with my university son for a few months now, about 5000 kms, no further check engine light, no further transmission weirdness, running great like a Scoobaroo should.

The aspect of this situation that is bothersome is I do not KNOW FOR SURE that the TCU has fixed the intermittent problem, or if the problem will re-occur just when my son is on his way to something important like a job interview.  It seems odd to me that a computer logic module would have this intermittent failure, my experience with electronics is that they work or they don't.  Oil, valves, mechanical things, can get stuck and un-stuck with changing conditions of temerature, flow, and random impurities moving around in the oil.  Yes, I've changed the atf and filter.  I expect some random intermittent stuff from the atf and the moving parts, hopefully the new atf, filter, and a shot of tranny overhaul in a can additive makes takes care of wonky things mechanical.  Maybe the TCU had a loose connection, and plugging in and out established a good connection.  Hopefully and maybe its fixed, but the farther it goes without the problem re-surfacing, the more confident I am.

Fingers crossed.

[RockThePylon]

Just some thoughts reading this thread...

Shift solenoids don't always click. Coil resistance is usually the best bet.
Solenoids sometimes only fail under heat stress - we're in the fall/winter months now.
There's also the O-Rings on the solenoids - bypassing fluid will cause issues.
Loose/Corroded connectors are a very strong possibility with any intermittent issue.

[jiggseob]

Long term update.  Car is fine now, no further misbehaviour from transmission.  What finally fixed it was my university book-learned son messing up the latest engine oil change.

He crawled under the car, pulled the drain plug and changed the filter.  Then he went to the topside and added 4 quarts of oil to the engine.  Then he started it up to check for leaks, and it wouldn't move off the ramps.  Turned out he drained the atf out of the transmission, put a new clean engine oil filter on the side of the transmission, then overfilled the engine by another 4 quarts.  So the transmission was now empty, and the engine was double-full.  He went to town, got more oil, more atf, a replacement transmission filter, a replacement engine filter, and straightened it all out.

So swapping the shift solenoids from the scrapyard car, swapping the tcu from the 2.2 Imprezza, and two atf and filter changes have straightened it out.  100,000 more kms and no further problems.  Bonus, now my son knows where the bottom-side of the engine is.

Jiggs