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The worst road trip I ever took in my old Subaru
Last summer I drove my 2008 Subaru Outback from Denver to Moab for a camping trip. About 50 miles outside of Grand Junction, the transmission started slipping real bad on a hill climb. I had to pull over three times just to let the fluid cool down. It turned a 4 hour drive into a 7 hour nightmare with the smell of hot gear oil filling the cabin. Has anyone else had a transmission overheat on a long trip like that?
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the_brian1mo ago
That bit about "the fluid was literally smoking" gives me chills just reading it. That's a full on emergency situation right there. I gotta agree with @the_alex about those cooler lines being the weak link, but there's something else nobody's brought up. When those Subaru transmissions start slipping and overheating, it's often because people don't realize the fluid level needs to be checked with the engine running and warm at idle. Most folks check it cold or with the car off, which gives a false reading. I've seen plenty of guys on the road overfill or underfill their trans that way. Combine a tricky check procedure with those brittle rubber lines and you've got a recipe for exactly what you went through.
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gracethomas1mo ago
oh man that sounds rough. i had something similar happen in my old 2006 outback but it was way worse because i was stuck on i70 in colorado summer traffic with no shoulder to pull off on. the temp gauge was pinned and the fluid was literally smoking by the time i got to a rest stop. what i'm wondering though is did you ever check the transmission cooler lines before that trip? cause on those older outbacks the little rubber hoses that run to the radiator can get brittle and start leaking without you even noticing until you're halfway up a mountain pass.
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