I have a 1999 Legacy Outback Limited wagon.

It has been experiencing sluggish shifting for about four months now. I have noticed on other forums that flushing the ATF may help, or I may need a new transmission. But let's tell the story first.

Today I changed the oil. First I undid the oil fill cap. Then I crawled underneath and opened the drain plug, out came warm black gold, and then I undid the filter. I let it drain until nothing at all was dripping. Then I put the plug back in, and with some difficulty put on the crappy Fram filter I was sold at Auto Barn -- it is not easy to turn that on, and after I thought it was tight (and refilled the oil), the oil dripping out let me know clearly it was not. I tightened it down until the leaking stopped. I had put in synthetic oil, roughly 4.8 quarts as called for by the manual. So I thought surely with the oil loss from the loose filter, I would need to add more. But, either because the oil is still coated about the dipstick channel, or because I didn't get it all out, the dipstick shows a lot of oil. This is quite odd because I measured the oil removed (by filling quart containers) and it was about 4.5 quarts that came out (including what leaked from the filter).

I don't know if I should just wait until morning and hope that the oil will have all gone done into the dipstick tube, or if I should open up the drainplug again and let some more out. (I don't have one of those oil suction tools to remove excess oil through the dipstick tube). When the car is running now, I get quite a bit of smoke from the exhaust. I presume this is excess oil.

The next problem is that when I went to move the car, it now completely refuses to move upon shifting into any gear (it is an automatic AWD). Before it would take a bit of time but it eventually would shift and I even moved the car (drive and reverse) before doing the oil change so I could get the car level. When I checked the ATF dipstick I could not see any fluid on it at all. I know it is supposed to be checked after the car is driven a bit, but I am now unable to drive it to get it warm. Shouldn't it have some fluid on it down by the bottom?????? I would like to get the car at least in motion so I can take it to my local shop and have them flush it and see if it needs major overhaul, at which point I will need advice from you forum readers as to where to get the best and least expensive replacement transmission.... money is an issue for me right now. Any suggestions on what the problem is and how I could address it? I have since added 1.5 quarts of ATF to see if that would help, and the car still doesn't move. It got dark so I came inside to read the forums.....

So now I am questioning whether or not what I drained out from the plug was oil or ATF. It was quite black and sure looked like oil to me, but as one forum said, the plugs for the oil and to change the ATF are identical. The diagram for the oil change in the owner's manual was not what my car looks like underneath. Is it possible that I drained the ATF and then just double filled my oil??????? How do I find the ATF drain plug -- does anyone have a photo or diagram?

I am sure that I changed the oil filter because the old one said on it Toyo oil filter and the part number I read to the Auto Barn store was confirmed by them as for the oil filter.

As for the crush washer on the drain plug, the owner's manual made no mention of it and now after reading forums I am aware of it and will have to order one for the next oil change, but meanwhile the old one went back on. With the crush washer, which side does the flat part go against -- the plug?

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.