2018 Crosstrek — CVT valve body replaced, same problem returned ~3,000 miles later. Dealer says warranty is expired, and there’s now a newer valve-body revision
I’m looking for advice from anyone who has experienced something similar with a 2018 Subaru Crosstrek Premium with the CVT.
The car currently has about 133,000 miles, but it hasn’t been driven very much over the past couple of years.
Here’s the timeline:
December 2024: The CVT developed a problem and the Subaru dealership diagnosed it as a valve body/control valve issue.
The dealership replaced the valve body.
The replacement came with a 12-month/12,000-mile warranty.
The car wasn’t driven very much after the repair. I only put roughly 2,000–3,000 miles on it afterward.
About a year after the valve-body replacement, I started noticing the same problem again.
The problem occurs once the transmission gets hot.
When the transmission is cold, the car generally drives normally.
Once it reaches operating temperature, it doesn’t shift properly and the RPMs go up without the expected corresponding change in vehicle speed.
It’s most noticeable during highway/interstate driving, after the transmission has had enough time to heat up.
The issue is specifically the transmission not shifting properly once hot and the RPMs increasing.
The check-engine light is currently off.
Here’s where things get particularly interesting:
When I spoke with the dealership recently, they pointed out that Subaru introduced/revised the valve body in 2025. The revision currently being referenced is not the same revision that was installed in my Crosstrek in 2024.
So now I’m wondering if anyone knows anything about the different valve-body revisions for these CVTs and whether the newer revision was introduced to address a known issue or improve the original design.
The dealership is also telling me that the 12-month/12,000-mile warranty on my 2024 valve-body replacement has expired.
That’s frustrating because the vehicle simply wasn’t driven enough for me to discover that the replacement hadn’t solved the problem until roughly a year later. I didn’t intentionally wait to report the problem — I just wasn’t putting many miles on the car.
I’ve also contacted Subaru of America Customer Advocacy and asked them to review the situation for possible assistance. My case was being reviewed, but I haven’t received a final resolution yet.
What I’m trying to figure out
Has anyone with a 2018 Crosstrek or similar Subaru CVT experienced this?
I’m mainly trying to find people who have experienced this specific failure pattern and learn what ultimately happened with their cars.
TL;DR:
2018 Crosstrek Premium (~133k miles).
Subaru replaced the CVT valve body in Dec. 2024, but I only drove ~2–3k miles afterward because the car wasn’t driven much.
About a year later, the same problem returned: once the transmission gets hot, it stops shifting properly and the RPMs climb.
It drives normally when cold.
The dealer says the 12-month/12k-mile warranty has expired.
They also told me there’s a newer valve-body revision from 2025, which is different from the one installed in my car in 2024.
Has anyone had this happen?
Posted Sep 29, 2026, 2:24 AM UTC