When I come to a stop, the car shakes sometimes while at idle. If I change to reverse, it does it also (like lining up to park). Dealership said it was torque converter; spent almost $1000 ---- still does it. Sometimes it feels like it’s going to die right there at the stop light…any ideas?
What is the maintenance of this vehicle and how many miles does this outback have?
It is 8 years old.
This could be as simple as needing new spark plugs, air filter, or a bad motor mount.
Yosemite
It has about 130,000 miles. I had the “big” tune-up done at 115,000 miles (ish). I do all the maintenance as close to the suggested times as possible. It just feels like – well the best way to explain it is if you’ve ever driven a larger older manual trans truck. If you don’t give it quite enough gas when letting the clutch out it stutters/shudders. That’s what this does, except that it’s an AT and shouldn’t do that. Thanks for any and all of your help.
Denise McDonald
Yosemitehttps://community.cartalk.com/u/yosemite
May 21
What is the maintenance of this vehicle and how many miles does this outback have?
It is 8 years old.
This could be as simple as needing new spark plugs, air filter, or a bad motor mount.
Yosemite
There’s the possibility that the Idle Air Control valve is flaky, possible vacuum leak, or the worst case scenario; compression dropping in a cylinder.
The latter brings up the possibility of tight valve lash which is holding a valve open in the cylinder head. Valve lash should be checked every 30k miles although this is seldom ever done.
And yes, I’m familiar with Subaru’s misguided recommendation of checking lash every 100k miles ot whatever it is now.
Ignoring valve lash works out ok for most people. For some, not so much. It’s a gamble when one ignores it.
Make sure it is not the torque converter. I received a letter from Subaru last July about an extended warranty for the CVT. Thought nothing of it since it shifted fine. A few months ago I had to slam on the brakes to avoid someone pulling in front of me. It stalled. I tested a few more times and it stalled on hard brake. Turns out that is what the warranty is for. Expires end of July. It covered my 2010 Outback with 160,000 miles. $2000 job for free. Thank you Subaru! Most manufacturers would say it is too old to be covered.
wow, that is a strange symptom for a failed transmission. Since I have the same extended warrantee, I’ll keep an eye out.
It is similar to hitting the brake on a stick shift vehicle and not pushing in the clutch at the same time.
If you actually spent money on the torque converter you should be reimbursed from Subaru for that as it is under extended warranty. It is unfortunate the dealership did not know that?
I called them out on it yesterday. The warranty extension started last June, they did the nearly $1800 worth of work on it in November. I’m taking it back in today and having a discussion. Do you happen to know where I can find information about the warranty extension online? What it covers? Thank you…
Denise McDonald
here is a link to it. Click it and it will download a PDF to your computer.