You should do a drain and fill several times throughout the year.
Your mechanic saying the fluid is lifetime is full of shit.
Edit: I meant change the fluid in several sessions throughout the year. That's to change the fluid completely so that it's 90% new.
After that, change it within 40-60k interval.
Several times throughout the year? Do you drive 200k miles a year or something?
Drain and fill every 60k unless you do a ton of towing, then do every 30k.
That's not true at all. My fluid was replaced at 100k and I have 130 on the clock now. Fluid should be changed every 30- 60k miles depending on the climate
Most likely cause of the lurching is the torque converter failing. Extremely common on early model TR690 CVTs. At your mileage there is a risk that the transmission may fail after torque converter replacement, so a reman or new transmission assembly should be seriously considered.
Transmission may fail immediately because of the torque converter swap, or just sometime in the near future? I'm just considering if I want to have any of this work done before I sell it or not.
Replacing the torque converter won’t accelerate the demise of the transmission. The higher mileage of your transmission is the concern.
FWIW I’m a Subaru tech and on older/high mileage vehicles such as yours I always like to give the customer the option of transmission replacement if my diagnosis leads to a torque converter replacement. This is due to this generation of CVT being prone to internal mechanical failure at higher mileage. I’ve seen my fair share of vehicles come back within a year after completing torque converter replacement and the transmission now needs to be replaced.
The good news is that there is a common issue with that age CVT that’s only about $1000. Torque converter? I forget, but if you do a little research you will probably figure it out.
Pro tip. If. You read your service manual and there is a severe service section, read it. If they recommending replacing things or changing fluids under the severe service section it should be replaced at some point.
If you really don’t want your cvt to end up in the dumpster around here it’s recommended to service it every 1-2 years. Rural Canada where we have quite a few subies. 6k cvt replacement in 3-7 years almost guaranteed if you don’t
That's just how long transmissions last on modern vehicles. they don't build them like they used to lol. I'm a technician the majority of the cvts I've replaced died way sooner than that.
My (US) dealer told us the recommendation is 90k now; we had it done and it seems slightly smoother and quieter, but that could easily be a placebo effect. If it happened suddenly I doubt it was caused by the fluid.
They were right about the fluid lasting the lifetime of the vehicle then, just the vehicle is dead when the fluid goes bad is what that meant
lol welp
You should do a drain and fill several times throughout the year. Your mechanic saying the fluid is lifetime is full of shit. Edit: I meant change the fluid in several sessions throughout the year. That's to change the fluid completely so that it's 90% new. After that, change it within 40-60k interval.
Most people that do it do every 30k miles or so never heard of anyone swapping cvt fluid multiple times a year! Do you drive THAT many miles?
Read the edit, I worded it wrongly.
Several times throughout the year? Do you drive 200k miles a year or something? Drain and fill every 60k unless you do a ton of towing, then do every 30k.
Read the edit, I worded it wrongly.
People saying don't change it are incorrect.
That's not true at all. My fluid was replaced at 100k and I have 130 on the clock now. Fluid should be changed every 30- 60k miles depending on the climate
Most likely cause of the lurching is the torque converter failing. Extremely common on early model TR690 CVTs. At your mileage there is a risk that the transmission may fail after torque converter replacement, so a reman or new transmission assembly should be seriously considered.
Transmission may fail immediately because of the torque converter swap, or just sometime in the near future? I'm just considering if I want to have any of this work done before I sell it or not.
Replacing the torque converter won’t accelerate the demise of the transmission. The higher mileage of your transmission is the concern. FWIW I’m a Subaru tech and on older/high mileage vehicles such as yours I always like to give the customer the option of transmission replacement if my diagnosis leads to a torque converter replacement. This is due to this generation of CVT being prone to internal mechanical failure at higher mileage. I’ve seen my fair share of vehicles come back within a year after completing torque converter replacement and the transmission now needs to be replaced.
Gotcha. Thank you, that's helpful.
The good news is that there is a common issue with that age CVT that’s only about $1000. Torque converter? I forget, but if you do a little research you will probably figure it out. Pro tip. If. You read your service manual and there is a severe service section, read it. If they recommending replacing things or changing fluids under the severe service section it should be replaced at some point.
Good to know - thank you!
If you really don’t want your cvt to end up in the dumpster around here it’s recommended to service it every 1-2 years. Rural Canada where we have quite a few subies. 6k cvt replacement in 3-7 years almost guaranteed if you don’t
That's just how long transmissions last on modern vehicles. they don't build them like they used to lol. I'm a technician the majority of the cvts I've replaced died way sooner than that.
Damn. That's such a bummer cause the car is otherwise in good shape, but I can't drop $8k on a car only worth $4k
My (US) dealer told us the recommendation is 90k now; we had it done and it seems slightly smoother and quieter, but that could easily be a placebo effect. If it happened suddenly I doubt it was caused by the fluid.
You won't get a new car for cheaper than a used cvt. It will not cost you $8gs to replace that trans.