Thoughts on 17 3.6 Subaru CVT

[BISCUT]

Valvoline CVT costs much less and says it can be used in Subaru Lineartronic. Amazon has a case of 6 for $37

If Subaru only sells it by the drum, that's another reason to go aftermarket. That by itself could be an intentional move by Subaru only to discourage anyone not a Subaru dealer to do the service (be it the indy shop you use, DIY customers, etc)

Anyone here want to substantiate using Valvoline CVT fluid in a 2017 Subaru CVT? From everything I've read and been told it is a huge no-no.

 

[BISCUT]

If you're putting 26k miles a year on it then that car is in "light" service. IME and IMO drain and fill every 75k is perfectly fine. It is exactly what I run on my automatic transmissions.

Reduced mileage over the last months due to COVID. She will be about 88k in January at the 4 year anniversary which is 22k a year avg. I was thinking dropping to drain and fill every 50k now with this type of mileage.

 

[Wheel366]

2016 and later resolved all problems (and Subaru did the right thing and extended warranties on 2015 and earlier). I retract my statement.

http://www.subarucomplaints.com/cvt/

My '17 Legacy before I traded it in got the warranty extended to 100K and I'm not positive but maybe my '18 also.

 

[Wheel366]

I have 2 Subaru CVTs. An '18 Legacy and a '19 Impreza and so far both are fine although the Impreza with the AC on does jerk and shudder at lower speeds. My cousin has a brand new Ascent and his CVT blew up in less than 5k miles. I have just over 12k on the legacy at 25 months and 6k on the Impreza at 12 months.

 

[Blagoje]

I have 2 Subaru CVTs. An '18 Legacy and a '19 Impreza and so far both are fine although the Impreza with the AC on does jerk and shudder at lower speeds. My cousin has a brand new Ascent and his CVT blew up in less than 5k miles. I have just over 12k on the legacy at 25 months and 6k on the Impreza at 12 months.

I will say that I have heard about people having issues with the high torque CVT when mated with the FA24F engine. I think Subaru is still working out a lot of the kinks with that engine being so new.

 

[Wheel366]

I will say that I have heard about people having issues with the high torque CVT when mated with the FA24F engine. I think Subaru is still working out a lot of the kinks with that engine being so new.

You know, I haven't driven a Subaru with the bigger engines like the 3.6 or the turbos. I did talk to a mechanic friend and told him how "slow" my cars are and he said it is because of the smaller engine and the CVT however I can't confirm that. I didn't buy my Subarus because I wanted a fast car. I bought for AWD and supposed reliability and safety. If I wanted fast I would have gotten an STI and/or some other brand.

 

[wdn]

Valvoline recommends you buy Valvoline transmission fluid. Subaru doesn't. Subaru now makes two different CVT fluids for their transmissions, regular, and high torque. Neither is compatible with the other. What then makes anybody think that Valvoline substitutes for both of these mututally incompatible Subaru fluids, plus a dozen other car brands? I would stuck with the Subaru CVTF.