Also known as: 4eat, 5eat, tz1, subaru automatic, sportshift
Subaru's conventional automatics — the four-speed 4EAT and five-speed 5EAT — in the Legacy, Outback and SVX.
They are longitudinal, because Subaru's flat engine and symmetrical drivetrain require it, and that alone means a procedure or a part from any transverse automatic does not describe one.
The characteristic Subaru fault is not in the gearbox at all: it is the transfer clutch. Subaru's all-wheel drive is managed by a clutch pack at the back of the transmission, and when it binds the car judders in tight turns at low speed — a car park, a three-point turn — which feels exactly like a transmission fault and is not. The fuse trick that puts the car into front-wheel drive is the standard diagnostic, and it is what separates the two.
Mismatched tyre sizes cause the same symptom and destroy the clutch pack. On a Subaru the circumference of all four tyres matters mechanically, not merely for wear — a single replaced tyre on a car with three worn ones is a real fault mechanism.
Beyond that its faults are the valve body and the solenoids, presenting as harsh engagement or a limp mode.
4EAT is a four-speed and 5EAT a five. They are the same architecture with a ratio added, which is why they share a page — and why a torque-converter or valve-body part number does not.
Cars fitted with this gearbox
2 generations. Only where a source names the model and the generation together — a gearbox is documented as a product far more often than as a fitment, so this list is deliberately shorter than the truth.
Information, not instruction
CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.
Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.
Community experience
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