Blown CVT transmission?

20

Asked by GuruCFFVV Mar 09, 2019 at 03:11 AM about the 2011 Subaru Legacy 2.5i AWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

The CVT transmission in our Subaru Legacy 2.5i 2011, 43000 miles, stopped pulling while driving, and check engine and other lights went on. Car
doesn't move in drive or reverse, engine just revs up and there's a whining sound coming from the torque converter housing. Towed it home and
connected the SSM3 and got the following DTCs:

P0841 Transmission Fluid Pressure Sensor/Switch "A" Circuit Range/Performance (Secondary Oil Pressure Sensor Performance)
P0965 Pressure Control Solenoid "B" Control Circuit Range/Performance (Forward and Reverse Solenoid Function)

The CVT previously had symptoms of shuddering at around 1500 rpm.

What's the most likely cause for this?

The dealer says the CVT needs to be rebuilt. They either don't know what's wrong with it or won't tell me if they know. Either way, it's too expensive to
have the dealer do anything to it. A better option would then be to buy a used transmission. However, if it's just the valve body that needs to be
replaced I could do it myself.

1 Answer

20

My Subaru dealer does not sell remanufactured transmissions. They want to remove the old transmission and rebuild it, but I can get remanufactured and used transmissions from other sources at a cheaper price. Including transmissions that come with a one year warranty. Many Subaru CVT transmissions have been fixed by just swapping the valve body, but I reckon you think that's too much of a gamble? It would be relatively cheap and easy to do, but it's not guaranteed to work.

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