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I went up to Wedge today 170km drive north of Perth and then drove about 4km along the very fine beach sand (I have a auto 92 liberty). As I got to my destination on the beach the car felt like when I put my foot down the the car only moved forward a little bit like something was slipping(and I don't think it was the wheels slipping) I had a milder slippage sensation driving through the softer sand which could have been the wheels. I stopped the car and it stank a hot smell, I reckon it may have been auto fluid, it wasn't as bad a smell as auto /power steering fluid that drops onto exhaust smell. Turned the car off let it sit for about 4 hours, then on the drive back along the beach I switched from economy mode to power mode and I tried to drive mainly on the harder sand and no problems, well no slippage, no smell.
Any ideas?

The autos do tent to get hot when driving in sand. If the fluid is at the right level(gearbox and front diff) then I wouldn't worry about it. Just keep an eye on the temp guage when in sand.

Torque converter slippage. Make sure your transmission oil is still okay, check the colour of it, it shouldn't be black. It might be ready for a change.

You may want to fit a transmission cooler also.

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Definately getting hotter as beach driving is a lot more work on the engine and trans. I would also like to recommend a tranny cooler if you don't have one. Also make sure the tranny gets regular services.

Did you let your tyres down? if so to what pressure?

Lastly, do you have any leaks from engine of tranny? as this on hotter exhaust pipes can be very deceiving.

Hmm not sure if I want to answer the question about tyre pressure, I didn't really think about that at the time, just drove from road to beach I think they were at about 36
The auto was drained, cleaned refilled about 3000km ago and I took Coupe's advice a while ago and put on a transmission cooler from a 98 Outback a couple of months ago but it's only a small unit, the ones I've seen in the auto shops are huge compared to the OB one.
Would tyre pressure help out that much for beach driving?
RSR 555I don't think the smell was from fluid on the exhaust as you fixed that leakage, It was smelly inside the car but not a full on burning smell.
Should I drive slow or flat out on the beach would that have any affect on the auto?
The engine temp gauge stayed at it's usual halfway mark.

LIFTED wrote:Hmm not sure if I want to answer the question about tyre pressure, I didn't really think about that at the time, just drove from road to beach I think they were at about 36
The auto was drained, cleaned refilled about 3000km ago and I took Coupe's advice a while ago and put on a transmission cooler from a 98 Outback a couple of months ago but it's only a small unit, the ones I've seen in the auto shops are huge compared to the OB one.
Would tyre pressure help out that much for beach driving?
RSR 555I don't think the smell was from fluid on the exhaust as you fixed that leakage, It was smelly inside the car but not a full on burning smell.
Should I drive slow or flat out on the beach would that have any affect on the auto?
The engine temp gauge stayed at it's usual halfway mark.

Airing down makes easily a 70% difference on engine and gearbox strain. I almost never not go on the sand unless aired down. Doing that would probably stop it from happening. Air down to 15psi or there abouts.

With the oil cooler you have and aired down you shouldn't have much of an issue unless a really warm day..

When aired down you don't need to rev the car out either, just keep up momentum for the situation. Being an auto you don't need to be worried about what gear you are in either.

Yeah just make sure you carry a compressor for when you get back on the bitumen.

Wow 70% is a lot of difference. I think the auto would have already been warm from the 170k journey and not airing down put extra load on it cause for the return journey from a cold start along the beach and back to the road no problems.
Has anyone heard of autos having problems in the sand?

Not really a problem as such.. it's more that they (automatic trannys) just require more work when on soft stuff. I run my tyres at 14psi and even go as low as 8psi when it really gets soft. I also recommend a tyre compressor. You don't need the biggest and greatest for the Subaru's but I would recommend you buy a good quality one.

The Outback tranny cooller will do nicely it aiding the auto fluid temp to remain below boiling point. I would only change to a larger cooler if you were going to tow a trailer for long periods.

Ok.. the hot smell might just have been the hot exhaust on the sand.

LIFTED wrote:Hmm not sure if I want to answer the question about tyre pressure, I didn't really think about that at the time, just drove from road to beach I think they were at about 36

+1 for airing down...it makes a huge difference!

Mostly it lengthens the tyres contact patch (also widens it a little) which allows the tyre to "float" over the sand rather than drag through it.

A few of us have Supercheap Auto compressors which, while not exactly top-of-the-range, seem to do the job fine & dont cost too much.

If you do air down without a compressor, try about 20PSI. That allows you to drive (slowly lol) to a servo to air back up.

Had a look on some other subi forums US based and they seem to prefer autos in the sand.
Just a couple more questions am I better of in power mode or economy mode? Should I be using the manual button?
I might have to get some of those tyre deflaters ?staun but they only come in sets of 4. Anyone got just one they want to sell?

Most of us use the eBay Staun copies, they do a good enough job.

a set of 4 is more useful anyway as you can preset all of them and its done very quickly, as opposed to using a gauge or one deflator at a time.

Definitely use the power mode. econo mode will just bog it down and make the engine work too hard. You shouldn't need the manual shift unless you fell it still change gears too early. Higher the revs the better she'll skip along the beach.. too high and the engine will get to hot.. so just find a happy medium

Buy the full set of 4 china copy set off fleabay.. I have 2 set at 14psi and 2 set 8psi (marked accordingly). They don't take long on a 14" tyre to go down but I feel 2 each works well. I use the 14psi all the time and only use the 8psi if I get into trouble.

I had a look on ebay and gumtree
any one used any of these or recommend which ones?
http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/clarkson ... /356861194
http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/beldon/o ... /282866665
http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/beldon/o ... /322149249