Non Tacoma Question

Wife drives a 2017 Forester. Good passenger car. 55,000 trouble free miles.

Took it to independent shop for 60k service.

They advised that the transmission cooler we had installed when new, to assist when towing a small camper in Arizona weather was 'leaking' just a little. Advised they could remove it and i'm like no don't remove it.

There has never been and 'drip' on the driveway. Not one drop in 8 years. There has never been any warning light. I would have never known if they didn't say anything. Since there is no dipstick to check the levels, which I think is stupid, is this a potential issue?

I might take it back to the shop that installed it to check it out but should it be of major concern, seeing that there is not a 'drop' on the driveway?

I would have posted to the Subaru Forum but they banned me for life LOL.

 

@Delta09

 

Banned you for LIFE?!!?!?!? What forum

 

Can you take a look to see if it is indeed leaking? Congrats on being banned from the LL bean forum too!

 

I second opinion never hurts. I have a 2004 Honda Element that I brought in for some service a few months ago. They said I had an oil leak. Similar, no drops in driveway WTF they talking about. I had them show me where it was leaking and they were right. It was a slow leak, just never hit the ground.

 

Subaru Forester forum. They put out a global message that anyone using the word ( starts with 'T' ends with 'FF' ) would be banned.
So I posted about 20 lines of the word over and over again.
Boooom - banned.

 

I suppose I could crawl under. Getting down on the ground and scooting in is one thing, scooting out and getting back on my feet
at damn near 70 years of age is another. Plus the pavement is about 140 degrees to boot.

No idea why these auto's don't have a dip-stick to check levels. I suppose in a few years there will be no dipstick to check the oil as well.

 

How long do you plan on keeping the 2017 Forester? If a long time might not hurt to get the leak addressed.

If you might sell/trade it soon, then I would just monitor the fluid level. I imagine the check level procedure is similar to that of our Tacomas.

 

Yes. Take it back to the place that installed it. (I'm a former owner of a 2017 Outback which is mechanically similar.) It is possible to get leaks under pressure, slight though that pressure might be thru the cooler, that may not appear as drips on your driveway.

Unless the transmission cooler is actually defective, or if the hose clamps are loose, I think that the place that said it is leaking may be wrong. Did they even check the level of the transmission fluid? That is not simple to do, and no conclusions can be made without a fluid level check. (A Subaru CVT fluid level check is similar to the level check on my 2023 Tacoma.)

Do you want the CVT on your Forester to last 300,000 miles? If you do, take it to a good shop that understands Subarus with CVTs. Ask them to do a remove plug, drain, and refill on your CVT. That will change out about 3 quarts of CVT fluid out of maybe 8 total quarts. Use only actual Subaru CVT fluid! Do this every 30,000 miles. Dealers do not like to do that because they think it can get them crosswise with Subaru's CVT warranty and will tell you that the CVT transmission uses a lifetime fluid. As an Arizonan, I believe that to be horse pucky.

I can't recommend a good shop, sadly. I did my own work.

 

TaRiFf? Tariff? TARIFF? that one?

edit: more tariffs!

 

You mean you are not allowed to discuss movie clips on the Subaru forum?

https://youtu.be/yuOHbyuanbY?si=PLeIa6zxl21EEAoJ

 

Oh yea the 60k service changed the tran and cvt fluid and spark plugs and what-nots.
I used a real good independent shop. The shop that put the cooler in ONLY works on Subaru but they were booked for the week I had
time to get there so I used my Taco- dudes who had a Subi guy on board. The Subi Shop I use in Tempe is Subiworks... if you're nearby and
need something done I highly suggest seeing these folks - same crew for 8 years that tells you something.

For the taco I go to YotaPros in Tempe they are darn good too.

 

what’s wrong with Tuff?

 

First of all, you should be banned here for posting this in the 3rd gen section instead of https://www.tacomaworld.com/forums/general-automotive.57/

Secondly, Subarus leak by nature. All the OEM spring clamps sag with age and leak. So you will need to jack up the vehicle and have a look, both at your ATF cooler and all the OEM hose connections.

 

i really wouldn't worry about it. i think it's a good idea to address the leak if you can(cracked hose, or bad clamp?), but it would take a rather large puddle under the car before the level is effected to any significance.

my old chrysler lebaron taught me that the transmission needs to be about 2-3 quarts low to effect much, and the main condition will be a lack of shifting, where it just holds 1st, if it goes into gear at all.

 

It’s huge.

 

They want to remove the cooler because if the "little" leak turns into a "big" leak soon amd they were the last ones to touch it by doing a drain and fill then they could be liable for transmission damage. I'd bring it up too..

If you don't trust them then crawl under and look for yourself. It would take about as much time as posting a thread on the internet

Or take it to a different shop

Dripping or not, a leak is a leak and they're right to bring it to your attention.

 

Spring clamps don't lose tension, usually it's the rubber getting flat and compressed under the clamp that makes the hose connection loosen up. Thats why you can always move the spring to a different position on the hose and it'll go back to squeezing better.

Sure the super small ones can get bent if you aren't careful with the pliers but if you dont mangle them they can be re-used for a long time

Worm clamps are the ones that can back off over time