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2019 Ascent needs new transmission

23K views 75 replies 30 participants last post by  yoyo 
#1 · (Edited)
Whelp! Not what I ever expected of my new Ascent that just reached 5000 miles. Started hearing squealing sound last week and felt what seemed to be a belt or chain slipping at 60 mph, happened repeatedly for about 5 minutes. Thankfully, the car was still drivable off the highway. I took the car to the dealership the next day and got a call in the afternoon that everything checked out normally, they could not reproduce the issue, and they could not find any problems with the engine. I refused to leave it at that and asked them to keep the car longer and drive it more to see if they could catch the problem in action. Very next day, the technician called me back and said he was able to reproduce the slipping this time and was able to record it and send the info to SOA. As of today, a new transmission is on the way. I’m relieved they found the issue and are dealing with the repair. However, it’s super frustrating that we replaced our last car bc of a serious transfer case issue (that the manufacturer refused to cover) and are now dealing with a significant problem with our brand new car as well. Subaru was our go-to bc of their great safety ratings and supposed reliability. Thankfully, the dealership we are working with has been pretty good to deal with which reduces some stress. That said, it’s hard to feel any confidence in a car that needs a new transmission after 5000 miles! And who knows if the new one will have the same issues as the faulty one after the next 5K miles we drive... Has anyone else had this experience and if so, how is the car performing with the new transmission?
 
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Discussion starter · #3 ·
There seem to have ben a few bad trannies in the earlier batch. When did you buy yours?

I have 19k miles on mine with over 2,000 of that towing 3500+ lbs.

They seem to have gotten the trannies sorted out so you should be good once your new one in!
We bought ours from a dealership in MD in November 2018 (it was driven from another MD dealership near Ocean City for us). I don’t know the build date bc the car is currently at the dealership awaiting the new CVT so I can’t look at the stamp in person. I’m guessing it could very well have been from the August-Oct. batch that seems to have the higher number of transmission issues. My big concern now is that the new one may have the same issue unless they’ve changed something with the new transmissions. W haven’t been able to get a clear answer from
the dealer yet, as to what the specific problem is and whether or not Subaru has made any updates or changes to the more recently built CVTs. I don’t want to drive another 5-10K and run into the same problem. And yes, I’m glad it’s all under warranty but the amount of time and loss of use of the car this will all take is extremely inconvenient.
 
Discussion starter · #4 ·
I also find it very disconcerting that when I check the MySubaru app that regularly sends me notices about the “health” of my Ascent, it still states that everything is running well and there are 0 issues with the car! At this point, that app/feature is useless.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
The car computer may not always detect a chain slip. If not, then no code is thrown and the app has nothing to say.

Anyway, the TR690 has been around for a tiny bit over a decade now. I've yet to see anyone with problems on their second CVT, and, most seem to be Aug/Sept builds.

Mine is still going strong, even though I've towed, yanked cars out of the mud, done many miles on the soft, difficult Long Island south shore sands, and am hitting 24,000 miles soon.

As a matter of fact, I am so confident, that I am once again towing this big 2011 Heartland Edge, fully water loaded, through the Adirondack and Catskill Mountains, to Crown Point and back at the end of August (650-700 mile round trip, mostly through the mountains).


Before that, I will be going on a 6,000 mile non-towing cross-country trip (once you add my side adventures not yet on the map). The car gets a 1.5 week break between the cross-country trip and Crown Point trip. While I won't be towing, the car will still have a quarter ton of filming and photography gear, and many pounds of Subaru Swag to give out to the people I meet along the way.



I expect to start the fall at 35,000-40,000 miles on the car. ;)
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
Thanks for the feedback. Keeping my fingers crossed for a quick repair that lasts. We don’t do any towing, in fact the car leads a pretty leisurely life. Aside ftom a couple road trips to the Outer Banks, it mainly serves as our family car toting around young kids and a big dog, so even after 7 months we just made it over 5000 miles. Happy to hear of your good experience with the Ascent. Looks like some very fun travels!
 
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