For Subaru ambassadors. I bought a new 2020, December 2019.
Sadly, just an FYI, although I am very active in helping with Ascension issues, I am one of a very small handful (under half a dozen out of 20,000 of us) who do.
As a youngster I have had this problem after accelerating from a bit of “coasting” or no load usually straight uphill. The transmission shakes for a moment and then smooths out. Unfortunately, this does not happen all the time, so when they are tested, they cannot be repeated. No lights, etc. I have read of a number of similar cases since the Ascension was introduced. My dealer denied knowing anything about these issues in the past. Just 2 days ago, they received a related service bulletin, but I don’t think it applied to my situation. Unfortunately, I was not present at the dealership to go for a test drive with the technician, I will next time.
When the satisfaction survey came out shortly after my purchase, (4th Suby) I added a statement about my impression that there were no problems with this model. I never got an answer that I thought was weak enough. At least admit the problem. I just find it extremely frustrating, hard to understand why a good company can bury people’s concerns. So….is there a problem and hopefully a solution?
A torque converter lockup when climbing hills at certain speeds can cause an intermittent vibration that looks like a misfire. This can also happen on flat roads. Mine has softened over time and I don’t notice it. It is normal. Some people never notice it because their driving habits rarely cause it to happen – so when the lockup clutch learning is further along, even if they hit a hill at the right speed, it’s not noticeable.
There is a torque converter lockup relearn they can perform, but that won’t necessarily make it “better” – it restarts the entire learning process, which can put you right back to square one.
As for the TSB, in the TSB they found, it refers to problems with the other clutch packs in the CVT. The computer (TCM) would show very specific data for such an issue, so if they think it doesn’t apply, it’s because (a) the data results showed normal operation during the “shake” or (b) they couldn’t recreate the situation (in which case, it’s either normal or abnormal, but, they wouldn’t know).
If it’s a one time freak out about things like this, it will probably calm down, as mine and many others did. If it’s doing it repeatedly (multiple vibrations on the same hill), that’s likely something else they should be able to replicate. It is very important that they repeat it. The solutions are, depending on the data (a) reset the lockup clutch, (b) replace the TCM, (c) replace the entire CVT.
So the repair is simple (push a few buttons on the SSMv4 while it’s connected to your car) or mostly simple (replace the TCM) or more complex (replace the entire CVT). Because of this, they can’t do much until they can replicate the problem and get data from SSMv4 so they can figure out what’s causing it.
