Gen 4 – 2013 Outback 2.5i – CVT Growling Noise

Background:

• 2013 Outback 2.5i Limited
• 140,000 miles, 1 owner
• Normal driving habits – mix of highway, city, some gravel/potholed forest roads. No offroading.
  • Family car, not aggressively driven. Driven gently on the forest roads
  • Less than 100 total miles towing a utility trailer (furniture, small garden soil loads, etc)
• Notable Service Details:
  • Has always consumed oil. It was initially below Subaru’s warranty criteria, but rose above it some time after 100,000 miles
  • 1 rear wheel bearing replaced at 120,000 miles. The other is rear is now making noise, too.
  • CVT fluid changed at 130,000 miles by a Subaru specialist. The manual says this is not needed, but when I found out it is prescribed for later model years, and reading advice here, I decided it would be prudent.
  • No codes or warning lights

Issue: Growling noise from transmission

It has a noise my wife and I both describe as a “growling” or perhaps droning noise. I would say it is similar to the sound knobby tires make on pavement. I noticed it faintly a few months ago, and made a mental note to keep an ear on it, but then I didn’t personally drive the car for several months. The next time I drove, it was very obvious, but my wife hadn’t noticed until I pointed it out, so it must have developed gradually over a few thousand miles.

It only occurs when in motion, starting to become audible around 5 mph. The pitch varies with engine RPM, not road speed. The volume does not seem to vary. A low speeds, it is louder than the engine, but as I speed up, road noise because dominant. Throttle/load does not seem to affect it. It sounds very slightly different when accelerating vs. coasting. That seems to me to hint an issue on the input side of the transmission.

So far driveability seems unaffected. No issues shifting into drive or reverse, no hesitation, no hunting for ratios, no noticeable change in power. No temperature warnings or smells after longer drives.

We took it to an independent Subaru specialist, who confirmed it is a transmission issue, but couldn’t specify further other than the mechanic mentioned the opinion he shares with his coworkers that Subaru CVT issues are probably usually a bearing inside the transmission assembly, rather than the belt or pulleys. My understanding is they diagnosed it via a test drive, and it sounded like also put it on a lift to pinpoint it.

I have not gotten a second opinion yet. The local Subaru dealership’s service shop is booked out for weeks, and I’m not keen to pay another diagnostic fee.

This shop does not rebuild CVT’s, and says they don’t know any shop that does they could send it out to. They quoted replacing the whole transmission assembly with a factory remanufactured unit (new units are not available) and replacing the wheel bearing I also mentioned. They don’t recommend a used transmission, saying you might pay 50% of the price for parts alone for a transmission with 75-100k miles on it and an unknown history. A little bit of searching on the web seemed to corroborate that. The total quote including tax came to $9,000.

Kelly Blue Book says the car is only worth $6,000 trade-in / $8,000 private party if we repaired it to very good condition. Carmax offered $3,000 after we indicated it has a transmission issue but still drives.

My Goal:

This is very frustrating, because the car is less than 10 years old, and it appears already not economically repairable. The average car in in the US is older than this. It should be mid-life. I really want to get more value out of this car, even just a couple more years, and equally as financially significant, I really don’t want to buy another car in the current market.

Questions:

I would sincerely appreciate any expertise or opinions you can share regarding:

1. Have you ever had a CVT transmission “growl” or another CVT issue that could not be addressed externally? What mileage did it start at and what was your response?
   1. Drive it till it dies, and if so, how much longer was that?
   2. Spend the money fix it, and if so how much?
   3. Give up and sell it (with the issue disclosed. I’m not going to try to spring anything on an unsuspecting buyer)?
2. Are there any additional diagnostics recommended? Or if it were your $200, would you get a second opinion from a dealer mechanic?
3. Any hope of a lower cost repair? Eg – have you had a dealer do work internal to a Subaru CVT instead of a full replacement? Could the torque converter have an issue that would (a) cause a growling noise and (b) confuse a mechanic specializing in Subarus into thinking it was the CVT?
4. I’ve read Subaru of America will sometimes partially cover issues past the warranty. Has anyone every had this happen as far as 40,000 miles past the warranty (Subaru extended the CVT coverage to 100,000 a few years ago)?
5. Am I missing any other options aside from replacing the car?

Thanks in advance