Overdrive shifts too early

[bigblue]

New here, so sorry if this has been asked and answered.

If I have my foot all the way to the floor on the accelerator from a stand still in drive, the tranny shifts into "overdrive" too early, and with my foot still in it, it eventually downshifts, accelerates nicely, then shifts like it should into overdrive. I have also noticed that the "manual" button no longer stays in manual. Other than that the car works fine.

Is this how it is suppose to work (shifting into overdrive early) - do I have a problem - and if I have a problem, where to look?

thanks in advance

[THAWA]

we dont have overdrive thats some silly american crap, what you are experiencing is the torque convertor locking and unlocking, if your car is stationary why is it downshifting when you gas it, it starts in 1st gear no matter what the selection is when you stop. What do you mean the manual button no longer stays in manual? like it doesnt click and hold? Does the light still come on in your dash?

[bigblue]

I guess I wasn't clear. If the car is stopped in Drive, and I floor the gas pedal and keep it there, the car shifts through all the gears, but it seems to shift into (4th?) too early. I know what a torque converter feels like when it is locking and unlocking. After the car shifts into (4th?) for a few seconds (my foot still floored), I feel the torque converter unlock, then a couple seconds (maybe 4 seconds) later the tranny shifts back into 3rd, accelerates to whatever speed I feel is safe, then I back off the throttle a bit to allow it to shift back to (4th?).

It's irritating that the tranny won't stay in 3rd beyond about 45 to 50mph (rough guess) even with the gas pedal floored, and has to go through the motions of torque converter unlock, shift back down to 3rd...

I read some info on the "manual" button. Bad me. No problem with the manual button. This is my wife's car, so I'm now driving it while my truck is in for repair.

What I can do is record the sound the car is making while it shifts up/down while accelerating from stand-still to, say, 80mph and my foot stays floored the whole time. I'll post a link to the sound, and maybe a guru can determine if this is standard issue Subaru shifting personality, or if something is amiss.

[THAWA]

well I dunno if that is normal or not but mine does the same thing Infact, I'm glad theres someone out there with the same wonders. It take some getting used to but you can go to 3rd quickly if you hit the throttle just right, then theres always putting it in 3 whenever you want.

[bigblue]

The last time I manual shifted to third, the timing belt slipped a couple teeth and I barely made it back home! I just got the car back from the stealership this week to replace that belt as well as a few other nickle and dime stuff. OK, I was 35k miles over the 60K recommended miles to replace the belt - so it was partly my fault it slipped.

I'm not glad your's is doing the same as mine, but I don't feel alone anymore.

[ciper]

I dont see how manually shifting the transmission would have been the cause of the timing belt slipping.

Why not try loosening the front brake band a little?

[bigblue]

I dont see how manually shifting the transmission would have been the cause of the timing belt slipping.

Words right out of my mouth. Maybe just a coincidence that I was manually shifting as the timing belt slipped a couple teeth. Kinda sucks to limp home with about one cylinder firing...

I know this timing belt is pretty stout and winds it's way around the ware pump and such.

[evolutionmovement]

Any other car and you may've lost the engine. The belts are supposed to be replaced every 60k, but I know a lot of people run them 100k or more. I always do it pretty close to schedule, though.

Steve

[ciper]

I just thought of something, aren't 3rd and 4th both overdriven?