Subaru ATF (OEM) color

thatguy · Apr 16, 2010

I started the process of the drain/refill the ATF on my wife Subaru forester today.. Does anyone know what color the original ATF is suppose to be? What came out was burnt brownish looking..

Brian

Scooby074 · Apr 16, 2010

Our Legacy was filled with Red ATF.

Cant say for sure about the forrester but id assume it was the same?

Maybe some fancy synthetic ATF would be a different colour but i have never seen it.

Did it smell burnt?

thatguy · Apr 17, 2010

Scooby074 said:
Our Legacy was filled with Red ATF.

Cant say for sure about the forrester but id assume it was the same?

Maybe some fancy synthetic ATF would be a different colour but i have never seen it.

Did it smell burnt?

I would also assume the Legacy and forester has the same ATF.

it did not smell burnt, just had that odd color.. The vehicle only has 35k on it as well..

brian

Scooby074 · Apr 17, 2010

thatguy said:
I would also assume the Legacy and forester has the same ATF.

it did not smell burnt, just had that odd color.. The vehicle only has 35k on it as well..

brian

ours was a couple generations older than yours, so the current OEM could be different. but id assume it isnt.

If it didnt smell burnt i wouldnt sweat it. Just add fresh ATF. i think the factory "high performance (STI)" ATF is more pink the blood red. I always ran regular brand name ATF (red stuff) with no issues.

By no means im not questioning your ability, but its happened before where people have dropped the front diff lube by mistake. That would be a light brown/black gear oil colour.Subie trannies are quite long and mistakes can happen if your not familiar.. just throwing that out as a possible solution, no offence intended

thatguy · Apr 18, 2010

Scooby074 said:
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By no means im not questioning your ability, but its happened before where people have dropped the front diff lube by mistake. That would be a light brown/black gear oil colour.Subie trannies are quite long and mistakes can happen if your not familiar.. just throwing that out as a possible solution, no offence intended

I can see that happening. BUT I had just drained the front (and rear) differentials early that day.. The front differential drain plug was marked 'diff' (which is nice of subaru to do).. The front diff also take a T-20ish torx socket..

I also double checked the front diff and transmission levels to make sure they were not overfilled/empty.. lol

Brian