Mine has the CVT also. I don’t have an answer for how to check or change the ATF. I want to get a factory service manual for it but so far, I cannot find if Subaru even offers them. I don’t see them on the Subaru web site. I haven’t Googled for one yet.
@insightful
“Just some friendly advice from you local auto repair shop owner” who will
gladly take your money for changing your oil too often.
A shop owner comes to this forum to contribute his professional input, and that’s how his very first post gets treated?
We all have very differing views on when oil should be changed, which is fine as long as we respect our differences.
The Only service manual that I can find for these is online and intended/priced for the repair shop market. $35 buys you 3 days and it’s about $2,500 for a year’s access. http://techinfo.subaru.com/index.html
At this point neither Chilton or Haynes offers anything that I can find.
“When I took it into a mechanic for the 30k service, he said that it is “sealed up tight” and something along the lines of you don’t need to do anything with it, unless there is a leak or a problem. The manual states that it only needs to be replaced under severe driving, or towing, and has no date on when to change the fluid, just the 30k “inspect” marker.”
I would be a little wary of a mechanic who claims to not be able to do the simplest of tasks, such as checking your transmission fluid level.
I think most professionals here would agree that replacing your transmission fluid every 30,000-60,000 miles is pretty cheap insurance against having to replace your transmission.
Just be sure the fluid gets replaced with the correct CVT fluid, not regular transmission fluid.
+1 to asemaster’s comment.
The mechanic in question either doesn’t want to be bothered checking the fluid by removing a plug, or he simply doesn’t know what he is doing. Either way, I would suggest that the OP find a different mechanic.
I would change the oil every 5k miles unless you have almost no short trips or stop-and-go.
Check oil level at least every 1000 miles.
I would also change ALL the different fluids on some schedule, even if replacement isn’t mentioned in the official service schedule.
Transmission fluid every 30k miles.
Brake fluid every 2-3 years.
Power steering fluid every 50k miles.
I did the first coolant change on my Toyota at 5 years instead of the recommended 7.
Don’t change the air filter too often, it gets more efficient when it has a moderate layer of dirt.
wolyrobb, I did see that on the Subaru website, ouch. That annual subscription is for only one model. As I recall, there are about a dozen models so it appears that Subaru is doing there best to keep independent mechanics from working on their vehicles. I wonder if this could be a violation of the fair trade act.
Alldata is cheaper but right now it is not available for 13 and 14 models. I also looked at my dealers price list for PM and ouch. They don’t even have a price for CVT service but a drain and fill on the 6 speed AT is $150.
As for the service interval on the CVT, the owners manual says no service required unless used for towing more that once (I forget the exact words used), then it requires changing every 24,855 miles.
From Subaru’s website:
(http://www.subaru.com/owners/resource-center/vehicle-care-tips/article.html?uri=/owners/resource-center/vehicle_care_tips/posts/04032014_0000/&tq=posts/vehicle-care-tips)
FACT: Subaru designed today's engines to operate longer between oil changes. After decades of reminding owners to change engine oil every 3,000 miles, engine and oil technologies now allow for 7,500-mile maintenance intervals.
The complete owner’s manual is there for the OP’s car, but not the maintenance schedule.
@keith So far no one else offers a service/repair manual for the latest Subaru’s, My brother takes his Subaru Legacy ('06 Wagon) to his favorite local shop and I’d suspect they use Alldata. Many of the european makes such as VW use Robert Bentley publishing for the service manuals sold to the public but none so far later than the 2010 model’s