Questions and Answers

Subaru Legacy Won't OD Q. Dear sir, I have a 1991 Subaru Legacy FWD. Although it shifts fine and very smoothly it simply refuses to go into OD after going into third gear. It has a (power) light in the dash which when you first start the car. It will blink exactly 16 times and then go off. Is it related, and if it is what do you advise me sir? Is it a bad ground or a loose connection? Yours, K.J

A. No, the blinking light is just a blinking light. The transmission is electronically controlled by a Transmission Control Module (TCM) but it does not have self-diagnostics.

The most likely cause is a bad or stuck Shift Solenoid 3 or control valve inside the valve body. Unfortunately it is not going to be something simple.

You might want to change the transmission filter, just to eliminate it as a possible cause.