2002 Subaru Impreza wrx

By all means, check out the transmission fluid level as soon as you can because that is likely the problem you are having. Or, at least, from a first viewing of your problem that’s what is going on.

The clues that tell me this is likely the problem are really simple to see. There’s a slight lag when going into reverse; drive is taking a longer time to lock up, and you lost reverse once.

What is happening is simply this: Because the fluid level is down a bit, the transmission has to work harder to bring the fluid up to pressure that is needed now to make the transmission work properly. Normally, the transmission fluid doesn’t have to have the pressure increased because it bathes every device within the transmission housing. Howeve, if the fluid drops a bit, the tranny tries to compensate and the internal pressure increases as a matter of course.

At times, when the pressure isn’t high enough, some gears or the vanes on the torque converter turbine are left high-and-dry and the transmission won’t work. At other times, such as on a hard corner, your devices can actually have the tranny fluid peeled away to cause problems.

So, check the tranny fluid level and be sure to see whether your Subaru is down just a bit — which I suspect it is — or whether it is a larger amount. Then, add the proper transmission fluid (check your owner’s manual for the proper type) until it reaches “FULL” on the dipstick.