Questions and Answers

Lurching Subaru Legacy Q. Hi Vince. I have a 1990 Subaru Legacy with an automatic transmission. Recently, before I went on a seven hour road trip, I decided to change the transmission fluid. It road well all the way there, but on the way back the car started to , particularly when going up inclines. The RPM gauge also behaved erratically when it lurched really bad.

But then the RPM's shot up to around 3,000 while the car lost acceleration completely. I checked the transmission fluid, thinking I might have lost fluid, but it seemed to be okay. I managed to make it back home, which was only 15 miles away when the serious lurches began, and it has not occurred during my normal in-city driving since then. Any clues?

Thanks,
David

A. Whenever someone comes into my shop with this type of complaint, the first thing I do is look at the throttle Position Sensor (TPS). A TPS will get a "dead" spot in it and when ever you hit that one particular throttle position, the engine will start to buck and the transmission will shift in and out of overdrive.

Since it is a physical defect and not an electrical one, a code (31) will not be se. tI would definitly have it checked.