shift flair on subaru
 

I've been having this problem for some time now. The RPM's jump up 500 before engaging the next gear. The problem is minimal once the trany oil gets up to temp. I've been exceedingly gentle on it when it's cold, and try to control the shifting by progressively opening up the throttle threw each gear and letting off completely before up shift. I've been in situations where this is not possible, like merging up hill, and it shifts with a thud. A friend has the same problem with an really old Benz, but I think that a old German tank can handle the thud better than a little Japanese rice rocket. (Most wouldn't classify it as a rice rocket, not being turbo, but these 2.2L put out at lest twice the power you'd ever need... like most cars in the USA)
Anyone have this problem or know what causes this, or better yet some easy/cheap solutions.
thanks

Can you enter your car into The Garage? That makes it much easier to reply to questions like this, then we can see what year, model, and transmission you have.

I checked your past posts and it's an automatic. It may be slipping. :( I googled a little and it doesn't sound good. If you're lucky it's learned computer behavior and you may be able to reset it by removing the negative battery cable and stepping on the brake pedal several times (what I found didn't say if you step on the brake pedal while the cable is still removed or after re-connecting).

Does it do this coming out of first too? If it doesn't it might just be the torque converter unlocking. My Cressida would lock the converter the first chance it got at anything past 35 so it would look and sound like a slip but it wasn't.

If it does this all the time and it didn't used to, you're probably looking at a tranny going south.

thanks for the reply
I've disconnected my bat to reset the computer several times for other reasons (playing with sensors sets off the idiot light), but don't remember if I messed with the brake during any of the times so it's defiantly worth trying.
I should add that it hasn't gotten worse in the last 20k, and it rarely happens when the trany is up to temp (about twice the driving that it takes for the water to get up to normal temp)
I was thinking that some sort of oil heater would help, but that seams like a major project w/out a lift.
Another concern is that I may be making it worse by going from N to D wile moving (which I do often). I always try to match the RPM that it will want to run at once in gear, but it's impossible to get it right on every time.

It dose it mostly on the 2/3 shift (25-30mph when driving soft). The torque converter seems to lock only over about 45... i think...

I'm not experienced with Subaru transmissions, but GM automatics don't seem to have any problem going from N to D at speed.

The transmission oil heater should be pretty easy. The transmission almost certainly has oil lines that run through the radiator to help warm it up quicker and to help cool it once it's up to temp. When installing an auxilliary cooler one uses those lines; an auxilliary heater ought to work just as easily. I personally wouldn't be comfortable adding heat to an automatic transmission, though, even just to warm it up to normal operating temperature.

I would not heat an auto tranny. The radiator will heat the tranny durring warm up. anything more than that will probably do damage.

The torque converter is able to absorb most of the N-D shock at motion. What it doesn't I wouldn't worry about since the transmission is designed to take repeated WOT high rpm shifts where the engine is turning 6000 or so RPM and the next gear is down at 4000 and that much of a change at idle or right off it is nothing in comparison.

When was the last time you changed the oil and filter in that transmission?

The oil is well overdue for a change, but it is at the right level and looks and smells good. I'm going to change it next time I do my engine oil (about 1000 miles from now)

I'd figure it's line pressure getting low due to filter getting overdue for changing. Also bands may need adjustment.