I've already been through the oil consumption issue with this car. Thankfully, Subaru didn't push back too hard, though I did catch them overfilling the oil before I set out on my 1200 mile "test." I had them draw excess oil back out, and after 1200 miles, the car failed the test, naturally.
That said, there is no scheduled replacement of transmission fluid for this thing, which might be normal for these CVT transmissions, but I swear I heard Scotty recommend replacing the transmission fluid every 30K, regardless.
What's the deal? Is this a scam to get a few more grand out of each vehicle? Is it misinformation? Is there a drain plug and filter, as with traditional transmissions? And what do you say to service staff who insist the oil doesn't need to be replaced?
Like a lot of other manufacturers, Subaru claims their CVT transmissions are "sealed units" with "lifetime fluid". This is nonsense. The fluid needs to be changed regularly for best service life.
Dealers though don't seem to want to do a fluid change before 100,000 miles. The procedure for changing the fluid on a Subaru CVT is fairly involved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5xbnpTYk0s
OK. I'm about to hit 90,000 miles. I'm not going to change my own. I will have the dealer do it; not sure if my local mechanic would.
At 90K miles the dealer should be willing to do it I would think.