Hi gang, I’ve got a 96 KV3 Sambar Dias Classic with the ECVT. We purchased it (from Mitsui ) because it has what I believe is a factory installed hydraulic wheelchair lift in it. Wanted to use that for my father in law, but he passed, so we don’t need the van and are hoping to sell it to someone that can actually use it. This thing has been a freakin’ nightmare since the day it landed here. The van wouldn’t move from the first “mode,” so once you (forced it) into gear and accelerated, your rpm would be screaming at 25 kph. Got the van home, and the first thing we checked was the transmission fluid. It was low enough it didn’t even register on the dipstick. Since then, we replaced the brushes and got a new powder clutch installed. Fast forward 2 years, and we got the vehicle drivable and finally registered with plates and all that. Had to drive it to the other side of O’ahu to get the VIN inspected during that process, which meant going over some decent hills. On flat ground, the transmission seems ok, and it’ll let you accelerate up to 80 kph or so. (I didn’t want to run it any higher than that.) When you start to go up any “real” hill though, the rpm start racing, and it just gets worse if you keep your throttle at the same position. If you back off the throttle, you can get up the hill, but the speed drops way, way off. It also threatened to overheat on me on every long hill, but thankfully was able to keep it just below “H.” Over on Sambar Squad at Facebook, it was suggested (by Gregory Miller, who seems to know what he’s doing with ECVT!) that it could be something in the hydraulic system. He suggested: Check line pressure cable and make sure it’s adjusted properly. Pull transmission pan and filter and check for debris. Pull valve body and dissemble it, checking pistons and bores for scoring. While valve body is out, inspect ECVT belt for wear. Maybe pull the pump (hydraulic?) and inspect, replace pump gasket. He also noted that he’s been running O’reilly’s premium ATF and it has been working good in his vehicle for several hundred miles. So. I never learned to wrench growing up, so I’m learning later in life. I’m not afraid to do stuff, I just lack a lot of knowledge. I think I can differentiate a hydraulic line from a fuel line (), and I’m guessing I’m going to be looking for something on the center or maybe left side of the transmission? I can’t think of where the hydraulic line would have to come from, since everything is behind the rear axle. Will look around and see if I can figure it out. I searched here on the forum, but wasn’t turning up much in the way of “how to” or diagrams for this. I did a quick poke around YouTube, but from what I saw it’s all about replacing the powder clutch, and not so much the how-to / why of the whole system. Can anyone kick a link or some bread crumbs my way? The one good thing about this (and all the other work I’ve done on the KV3) is that the person that buys it is going to have a very good ECVT for a long time!
Seems like Greg Miller may be your best bet for information. Otherwise, the Japanese factory service manuals on jdmfsm.info will be the authoritative source for instructions, albeit in Japanese. If there are going to be videos/writeups, someone needs to be the pioneer to make them.. you might as well be that person!
Ooh - tasty nuggets! Was grabbing manuals from jdmfsm.info (yes, I donated) - under Old Models, I found three ECVT docs, for Subaru North America! ecvtdiag1.pdf (38 MB) ecvtdiag2.pdf (53 MB) ecvt diagnostic.pdf (38 MB) First one (from the Foreword) is a Video Reference Booklet (VRB) and is dated September 1990. It references an "ECVT Transmission Diagnosis" video tape. It also talks about a Technicians Reference Booklet (TRB). Right now I'm looking through them in the order I listed them to see if I can get some ECVT knowledge dropped on my brain housing group. More to come!
Just a bit of caution: All of those English books are for the Subaru Justy. The transmission in the Sambar is very different. Some of the "bigger picture" techniques may be helpful, but take anything in those books with a huge grain of salt when working on a Sambar.
Very good point. I'm just trying to understand more how the damn thing works - and I figure if I can read it in English, that might help me identify parts on my li'l Sambar engine.
Making little bits 'o progress. Got a nice assist to get me started from Jhanek Szypulski over at Sambar Squad. He posted this set of files on Google Drive containing a chunk of the Sambar stuff run through Google Translate to English! As I've since learned from Will Toth over at the 'Squad, I need to take the first maintenance manual (parts 1 & 2) and then the subsequent releases were changes or additions to the originals. (Is that correct? If not, please tell me!) Gregory Miller suggested the first thing I check is the ECVT line pressure cable. My damn ADHD brain read that as "line pressure" and stopped. >.< Thankfully, in the Google Translated version: Next step in the manual is to check the "stall speed." I've heard of this in automatic transmissions but... (The cool kids have 3 pedals.) My van doesn't have a tachometer in it, so I picked up an induction type digital tachometer from the Amazooooons. It is supposed to arrive tomorrow (things arrive way slower in Hawai'i). The next bit in the manual says to check the line pressure. I am not sure what the oval "ST" means, but it looks like I need to find part 498575400 "Oil Pressure Gauge" and 498895400 "Pressure Gauge Adapter (3)" What sort of pressure reading thingamabob do those hook up to? I haven't done this type of test before.
Yes, that is correct. Each book only lists the changes from the prior model break. Some things changed every year, some things changed only once or twice.. some things never change for the entire generation. Because of that, you need every book from your model year, all the way back to the start of the generation to have a complete set of books applicable to yours. "ST" means "Special Tool". Pretty much any tool that Subaru uses that does not fall within a standard tool chest is considered "special". It could be anything from a simple alignment device or something complex like a diagnostic computer. While Subaru is happy to sell you their specific tool, I am sure that any hydraulic pressure gauge will do the trick just fine. Those part numbers were really for the dealers so that they knew what to order from corporate/their tool supplier.
LOL! Of COURSE they are happy to sell me the (inflated) Subaru part. Any particular hydraulic gauge you can recommend? Is it as simple as the gauge head + an appropriate hose + the specific adapter (waves hands) that fits (magic spot on EN07 transmission)? Thank you again man, for everything you've done, do, and continue to do for the Sambar community!
Fast forward to February, 2025. Found that the "Oil Strainer Assembly - Transmission" (part 31728KA061) was packed up with crap - not surprising given the state of the other items that should have been maintained. Cleaned that out with carb cleaner since it's NLA and put it back in. Van at least does ECVT things now, although I'm not 100% sold it's good to go. The issue remaining now that is keeping me from marking the transmission as done is that it likes to stall when in drive at a stop. It doesn't happen 100% of the time, and I don't seem to be able to make it happen on command, but the engine definitely bogs down and then will stall. From one of the graphs above - I would like to check the hydraulic pressure of the ECVT system, but I don't know where the place to test it is. The english translation calls fro "remove the pressure relief plug from the side case" but I have not found where that is. I did a kg/cm^2 to psi conversion and found that 25 kg/cm^2 is like 355.5 psi, so I'm going to need a pretty stout hose and gauge to read it. I'm not sure what to get. Anybody got any advice? Would love to get this KV3 buttoned up and cleaned so we can hopefully sell it to someone that will be able to use the hydraulic whelechair lift....oh, and then I can have my Vivio RX-R shipped over
Well, cleaning out the oil pan filter seemed to do it. Lol I mean in conjunction with everything else Van really tries to overheat on me. Buddy who is a professional mechanic said that it's possible I've got air in the coolant system, so he asked me to hop over to the shop he works at so we could use this vacuum system to draw the air out and make sure it was all filled up with coolant. Well, I got there and pulled into the bay. He spotted it first, and then I was like...oh god. That's coolant. (sigh) Thankfully in my last big order from 500 Yen Shop last year I got a friggin' warehouse full of gaskets, seals, etc. Only one water pump though (I have several EN07 powered Sambars). Thought I may have been stupid and skipped out on the timing belt tensioners, but I did find them in a picture I took of the haul. ...so I've got my KV4 with the blown head gasket that I was trying to psych myself up for (+ timing belt, water pump, seals, etc). Now it looks like I get to do the timing belt + water pump twice. Hell, I might even feel confident the 2nd time! Mr. Subaru did a 3 part video on changing the timing belt and water pump as well as the cam & crank seals. #1 #2 #3 I'm planning on doing it March 1st. Will have to come back and let you guys know how it goes!
