Was reading thru the manual for 3rd Gen and discovered that the ECU uses the signals from the input and output shaft of the auto to allow for slip according to the differential speed. This being the case, if we connected both the output shaft and input shaft connector to the same input shaft sensor, theoretically the ecu will see no differential speed between the input and output shafts and thus allow no slip, giving a firm shift.

Another interesting thing I discovered was that the auto shift points are determined by the output shaft speed for a certain TPS opening, so if we can artificially increase the output shaft speed seen by the ECU, theoretically it should shift at speeds lower than normal.

Has anyone tried any of the above before and would it send the ECU into limp mode? Also if it does, would disconnecting the battery get it out of limp mode?

i think the auto is smarter than that and will go into limp mode and you'll be stuffed lol

i think that shiftkit site looked into it and couldnt work it out

I'm sorry to say it but I honestly can't see the point of getting it to shift earlier nor to lock into limp mode. If driven carefully the gearbox will change at ~1500rpm. I have done this before. And limp mode is considerably dangerous I would assume. I have no idea but I would be thinking that if you forced the car into limp mode then you would probably tear the gearbox apart quickly. That or you wouldn't be able to get above 20km/h.

But then for small take offs and just cruising you'd feel the car jolting and would be horrible to drive. What would be more beneficial would be to have a switch that could go to and from "sports mode" shifting. And yeh i believe there was a place looking into it but they gave up.

.... a switch that could go to and from "sports mode" shifting.......


This idea is really interesting, but it requires either two ECU's with a stop to change between each one, or an ECU with two different configurable areas. This is problematic in two ways:

First : It is relatively hard to program a switch-over on a machine code level (2nd Yr CS Eng Student). It may not be but then you of course blow the cost of the chip out by a massive number.

Second : If you make it two separate chips, then at one point, you will have no control over the system.

If you mod your own ECU mount, then you can probably, and quite easily wire the ECU's through switches or something like that (never got a chance to test it yet).

This idea is really interesting, but it requires either two ECU's with a stop to change between each one, or an ECU with two different configurable areas. This is problematic in two ways:

First : It is relatively hard to program a switch-over on a machine code level (2nd Yr CS Eng Student). It may not be but then you of course blow the cost of the chip out by a massive number.

Second : If you make it two separate chips, then at one point, you will have no control over the system.

If you mod your own ECU mount, then you can probably, and quite easily wire the ECU's through switches or something like that (never got a chance to test it yet).


Don't the new Subaru's have a switch/dial thing in them to switch from regualr to sports mode, or is this a different switch that doesn't effect the transmission gear shifts?

If I remember right, the Subaru idea was to change the fuel/air ratio and apparently the transmission control. I await to see how they managed it, but apparently I've been proved wrong.


SI-Drive regulates the engine and transmission control units, and fine-tunes the electronic throttle control.

Although somewhere in the article (its on the subaru webpage) it mentions using a simplified torque curve to do something. The article was boring so I didnt bother to read it. The other thing I'm interested in seeing is how many of these new liberty's get new gearboxes/engine internals/engine blocks because the person driving forgot to change it back to Intelligent from Sports #. Should be interesting.


Jordan