I have a 93 Ford Aerostar that has 170,000 miles. When I bought it, it already had 90K on it. I've changed the Overdrive trans fluid & filter every 25K and so far it's working fine, although it's always clunked/jerked harder than normal when it's first shifted into Drive or Reverse.
I plan on keeping the van for several more years. From what I've heard from other Aerostar owners, I'll probably need transmission work at some point. My questions are:
- Since I have access to a lift bay and have the time to swap it out myself (even though I've never dropped a tranny in my life), would I be better off buying a remanufactured unit when/if mine fails and installing it myself rather than having a transmission shop rebuild it locally?
- Is there any consensus as to who sells the best rebuilt units? My short Google search turned up some horror stories about Phoenix rebuilds. How about the rebuilt units that Autozone or Pep Boys sell?