Gen 4 – Torque converter failure and fuel system maybe?? Still running poorly YIKES!

There we are, I’ll add myself to the list of people who have experienced torque converter failure. 2011 Outback 2.5l stalling while breaking hard. The problem appeared violently and suddenly while pursuing a particular case. I have been searching for the cause of a P2096 code for the past month. Both CAT, MAF and O2 sensors were replaced in the process. One of the two shops that worked on it thought the ECM might be to blame and took it to the dealer. The most recent was the MAF, the check engine light came back on three days later and brought it up when they went back with the guess at the ECM. Unfortunately…they also cleared the codes and the stall started around the same time frame while waiting to meet with the dealer.

Here we are now: The dealership wants $2825 to replace the torque converter and flush the transmission fluid. Yeah…and they see no sign of a fuel league error and won’t dig it out without codes. I personally highly doubt it was suddenly fixed because why would the code have returned after replacing the MAF?

So I’m really at a loss as to what to do now. I’ve probably sunk 3k at least into fixes that haven’t fixed anything and a dealer estimate that’s only for half the problem. There are 150,000 miles on this car to date, I’ve had it since 2015 and have kept up with regular servicing so I know its history well, it’s just unfortunate to be part of the wrong group of torque converters. It has been paid for a long time, although its value is only estimated at about 4 thousand as a trade according to KBB. Is it worth overhauling the torque converter to possibly keep chasing fuel and worry about a potential CVT failure down the line? Are we at the end of life here?