Subaru forester will not go in to reverse or Drive

[mark]

I have a 2009 Forester XT automatic.

Car will not engage in drive or reverse and when i put it in neutral to move it IT WILL ONLY MOVE FORWARD but it will not move reverse when trying to push it, ( i noticed thou if i lift front end it will roll forward or backwards no problem in neutral)

Is my transmission Toasted? Is there a way to check for transmission codes ? I dont have any check engine lights on…
it has 80K miles on it
As a note i just got this car the way it is.
Transmission fluid is brown color smells like transmission fluid( fluid level is above the max mark) when i put it in gear to go forward or back i can hear some thing happening in the transmission for first 3-4 seconds ( like engaging sound or pressure building sound . This sound reminds me of a 2005 dodge caravan we had before every time you put it in gear it will make this distinctive sound…

Thank you for your help in advance

Topic

[college man]

Sounds like a fluid pressure problem.

https://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-transmission-problems

[Rob]

you can check to see if the pump is working… before you start the car check the lvl then start the cr… the lvl should go down… that is the pump sucking the fuild in…. I would also check that you are really in gear… you can try to see is to manually shift the car by disconnecting the shifter and manually feeling it in the engine comaprtment by shifting it there and see if it shifts and works better…
other then looking in the trans under the valve body and seeing if all the springs and shifters are working, thats all I can tell you, you might also want to replace the valve body gasket at that time too… sorry Im not a trans expert but thats all I can think of

[mark]

Bump…

[Shaun Flichel]

If you can’t push the vehicle backwards in neutral, it doesn’t sound promising. I would drop the pan and see if any extras come out

[Bubba]

Attach picture of fluid from transmission………put fluid in a paper plate so we can see color of fluid very good. Compare fluid condition of another car you have.

[Greg]

Is this a CVT transmission?

[Mike]

Is this a full-time AWD vehicle with a center differential? It’s possible the transmission is fine-ish but the center diff might be toast. Not that it matters much though. I believe the center diff is incorporated into the transmission casing anyway.

[Author]

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