Thanks for confirming transmission shudder issue

[PollieKrismis]

Hi All,

I bought an 07 Tribeca at the beginning of the year and also noticed the shudder between 1800-2400 rpm in 5th gear accelerating slowly from day 1. (feels almost like a misfire on one of the cyclinders.) It is definitely more pronounced the more load is placed on the engine, i.e. driving up an incline or driving into a strong head-wind and can even be felt as passenger.

My dealer did not know of the remedy and were also of the opinion that it is normal. Subaru South Africa also did not know about any new mappings/software for the gearbox.

So I just want to thank the people here for chasing down the problem and posting their resolutions here.

I have asked my dealer to find out about the torque converter replacement and will also ask about the upgraded software as my warranty expires 31 Dec.

Will keep you posted about the results. I just hope Subaru South Africa does not take the route Subaru Canada seemed to have taken.

Anyway, thanks again.

Paul

[PollieKrismis]

Hi All,

Seems like we going down the Subaru Canada route...

Official response from dealer.

"We have contacted Subaru South Africa. On the 3 litre there has been no problems with the torque converter in South Africa so we have no bulletins on torque convertors or pak files for the gearbox control unit."

I guess the next step is to make sure the version of the gearbox ECU software is the latest available version.

Not liking where this is going...

Cheers

Paul

[PollieKrismis]

I am now trying working with a tuner to see if we can get to the bottom of this.

There is no issues with misfiring, but he has found that the car pings quite badly.

We have also narrowed the problem I have with surging, on steeper hills around the 2700rpm mark, down to be richness.

[t5rrr]

So it's not the transmission shuddering?

[PollieKrismis]

No it's not the transmission but rather the engine. I think shuddering should have been hesitation, caused by the engine. (English is not my first language.)

I had something similar on my BMW R1100S which at constant throttle would "surge". After replacing the entire fuel and ignition system, it turned out to be a loose baffle plate in the exhaust that when rattled into a specific position would cause the problem.

So the next step is to get rid of the cats, but I'm a bit hesitant as they way the exhaust guys wants to do it is irreversible and then there is still the question of how the (cat) sensors will perform/influence the tune if they are no longer there.