UTMC

Among other problems, both past and present, he has this Subaru Impreza with an auto transmission in it. He's about to put a fifth (yeah, I know) one into it. He bought the car in February, and has probably only driven it 20 times.
Are the '99 Imprezas known for bad auto transmissions or something?
To compound his troubles he still lives in PA and has two DWI's under his belt. So that means he has one of those blow-into-it-thingys that make the car go, even though his last offense was almost a decade ago, he still needs this device for some reason for at least a year because, you know, once you've broken the law they basically have to ruin your life no matter how long it's been. He's dirt-poor, needs the car to go to work, and this thing is the biggest albatross ever. If he loses this job I don't know what will happen to him.

I suspect that the transmission shop hasn't been replacing it, I think they're just doing a quick flush and fill. The last one lasted four days.

Are there any forums out there that could yield any info on these particular cars?

Has he ever gone and gotten a second opinion? From a different transmission shop or garage? Has anyone perhaps compared the transmission serial numbers?

There's no way that shop put five rebuilt transmissions in that car in 8 months. It would be far cheaper to buy the car back from your brother. I also think the shop has been doing something shady.

Have him take it to a new shop and get a second opinion, then maybe a third opinion from the dealer to be sure and go from there.

I have no idea what he's doing, honestly. Obviously he doesn't either.

Sisyphus wrote:I have no idea what he's doing, honestly. Obviously he doesn't either.

And, so it seems, neither does his transmission shop - or, probably, they know exactly what they're doing.
Hence, go tell your brother to go find someone who know what they're doing so they can figure out what the other guys have been doing, knowingly or not.

When I was dispatching couriers I can tell you that the guys with Subarus (one fellow in particular) always had transmission problems. They just don't hold up to a heavy beating like Hondas and Toyotas do.

I don't know much about the more recent ones (I was dispatching in the late '90s and early '00s), but a '99 Subaru is simply going to eat transmissions -- that's apparently what they do.

--Jaeger

I had a subaru legacy once. The transmission lunched itself. Weird.

My wife put a quarter-million miles on our '00 Imprezzer, no transmission problems, never even wore out the clutch. Went through wheel bearings a bit, its true, but they work hard in an AWD car, and I can tell you I sometimes, ah, mistreated that clutch playing in snowy parking lots. There's a certain, ah, clutchy smell that says 'cut it out'. That said, I've heard tons of anecdotal tranny woes. Get this driver in a car with two driven wheels.