First, you need to know a 2001 Outback auto tranny is sluggish in cold
weather period.  Mine was serviced regularly and refilled just a few months
ago and it acts like that in weather below about 40 deg.  The sluggishness
should go away and get more responsive once it warms up.  Usually that's
three or four miles of driving. (Friction heats it)

If the transmission has not been serviced since the thing was built, then, I
would probably go with the pan and filter work.  There's no particular
problems with those trannys (that I know of) however, the 79 price is
probably a jiffy lube type place which a) will do a shitty job b) is
designed to make it easy for them to move the car through, which is NOT
always what the car needs.

ALSO note, the trannys in those things are notoriously hard to fill
properly.  You have a much better chance of it happening right at a dealer.
Expect to have to top it off several times later anyway as the little areas
fill up and take up extra fluid.

I used to work at a used car dealer. We did one 'flush' on one of our cars
with 120,000 miles on it. End of transmission.

One of the guys renting space from us for a detailing shop did a flush on
a transmission with ~100,000...end of transmission.

A customer bought a car from us and had a transmission flush, 140,000
miles...end of transmission...

Here's part of the problem: if a transmission hasn't been maintained
properly and get up or over 100,000, the fluid turns brown and or smells
burned. The main reason for this is the friction materials from the
clutches and brakes is wearing off the surfaces and being deposited in the
fluid. Pretty soon the fluid itself becomes the friction materil! (A
slight exaggeration, but you get the point...) Flush out the old fluid,
the material goes with it, and loose material from the friction surfaces
also gets flushed away as well.

If the transmission has been maintained over the life of the car, the
fluid is red (or better, bright red) and the trans is OK, then a flush is
OK. However, you can also drop the pan, clean or replace the filter and
add 3-6 quarts of tranny juice in your backyard for <$50. (NOTE: If the
trans has been well maintained with regular service, it doesn't *NEED* a
flush! In this case, you're looking at a wallet flush...)

EXCEPTION: Chrysler vehicles. "We use Dexron Mercon with friction
modifiers." NOPE!!!! Best way to kill a Chrysler tranny. ATF +3 or +4 ONLY!!!!

pan,

Check maintenance schedule in the book. In Oz, a/t fluid change is ever
50 & 100,000Km with the interval 3 & 4 service. Change starts to suffer i
you miss more than one. Dealer plan is the way I'd go:- drop pan, the
change gasket, filter & fluid... but *no* flushing. Cheers

-
Message posted using http://www.talkaboutautos.com/group/alt.autos.subaru
More information at http://www.talkaboutautos.com/faq.htm

Conventional wisdom on the subies is that if this is the 1st real
transmission maintenance, a flush is a bad, bad, thing.

If the trans fluid has been maintained regularly a flush is OK, but
then is also not really likely helpful.

If the trans has not been regularly serviced (fluid and filter
changes) then the pan-drop-and-filter change is good to do, as only a
fraction of the fluid is changed out that way. Do maybe 3 or 4 of
those in a given year and then resume normal maintenance.

Now, the sluggishness- does this refer to it taking a while to go into
"D" from "R"?

This is called delayed engagement, and subaru says up to 3, or maybe 5
seconds is 'normal'.
What happens is, an internal seal in the trans gets a bit old and
doesn't seal well. Some have used a mix of trans fluid additives to
good effect, but if you're only seeing 3 seconds or so its best to not
pursue that fix.

Dave