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Transmission Repair

Car: 1999 LX Town and Country. 3.8L engine. 120K miles. Transmission place pulled pan. Showed me the magnet in pan. It had metal slush and metal pins that looked like 1 inch long needles. FLuid was still rose colored with no obvious odor other than transmission oil smell. Transmission fluid and filter have never been serviced. American Service Station says I need to replace transmission. The only symptom I had was at high speeds in going up a hill or cresting the hill the front end would bounce (when changin gears) like you were running over bumps in the road. Do I really need a transmission or is this guy jerking me around?

Reply to
LXI
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\ The slush is normal and to be expected as long as the whole pan wasn't full of it. That's mostly worn friction material from the clutches. The metal pins are not normal and would be a cause for concearn. I think I would take those pins around to a few good independant transmission shops and see if they have any idea what they are from. It isn't unheard of in the transmission industry for the shop to have added the pins after they pulled the pan in order to scare you and sell a new transmission. Hopefully that isn't the case here but I would be a bit skeptical until an independant third party identified the parts.

Steve B.

Reply to
Steve B.

If your serious, then you need to really think about this, your tranny is falling apart, theres metal inside just destroying it, and you wonder if it needs to be fixed?

thats your call, do you enjoy walking miles on end?

Reply to
Punch

Of course not. How on earth could you even ask the question? You're supposed to tell them when your transmission goes out. They don't tell you. That's the driver's job.

The shaking is probably a clutch slipping, so it may not last too long. You gotta remember the transmission knows that it's slipping. If it thinks its excessive, it'll go to limp mode. Times sure do change. I can't believe I'm typing this.

Reply to
Joe

Sounds like you can drive it OK, although something about the behavior of the car urged you to bring it in for service. For the difference in price, you might consider changing the fluid and filter then taking a "wait and see" attitude. One of three things will happen: it will get better, worse or stay the same.

If this is a reputable shop, then they might be giving you good advice. If it is some sort of chain transmission shop, I would be suspicious. Fine filings on the magnet are normal. That's why the magnet is there in the first place: to keep these guys contained where they will not recirculate and cause harm.

The poster who mentioned the "limp in" feature was correct. From personal experience with a Chrysler transmission: when it dumped it's guts into the pan, it also went into this mode. It allows you to drive the car, but the transmission never shifts out of some lower gear. That part worked OK. It's probably worth mentioning that this tranny failed at around 30K miles. You have gone 120K, so it appears that whatever was ailing mine likely isn't ailing yours.

Good luck.

Ken

Reply to
KWS

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