continued: first shop said it could be cruise control down shift or needed a trans rebuild $1800.
second shop (private transmission shop) found that it was the torque converter. $1300. They said they went through entire transmission and fixed what was needed. They did not use the term rebuilt or remanufacture. But thats not the same as a remanufactured transmission. $2500
neither shop was going to get a rebuilt transmission from NAPA or other source. both said it would take 3 to 5 days to repair mine. I have been told not to use AAMCO transmission.
Why did shops not want to get a rebuilt transmission?
The transmission shop i used was recommended by the NAPA manager and others who had used it.
Was getting my trans fixed at a reputable trans shop the best choice? As opposed to having a rebuilt one put in?
Depends..If the shop is really good and honest, you may have made the better deal. If they went through the tranny, cleaned it, replaced the parts that were needed, and installed/adjusted it properly, then you should have a good unit
Some of the franchise shops dont have stellar reputations. And I say that very mildly.
Now, one of the shops in Houston told me that they never overhaul transmissions in advance, and that they dont have off-the-shelf units. Why? Their story is that if you leave a rebuilt on the shelf that it begins to deteriorate because of seals that are not lubricated, etc. Sounded reasonable to me.
You are taking the car to transmission shops. They fix transmissions there for a living. Asking them to put in someone else's rebuilt is like going to a fine restaurant and then asking them if they cant just run to Deny's to get your steak. If you just want someone to swap in another transmission take it to a general mechanic.
Generally yes. The rebuilt ones you buy are mass produced typically by less experienced people under poor conditions. They use the cheapest parts they can and replace as few parts as possible. You might get a good one but it's a hell of a lot of labor to swap it out if you get a bad one.
A good independent trans shop is going to use better parts and replace anything that's marginal. They don't want to see you back there again and sure don't want to eat the cost of having to do the job over because of a $20 part.
The trick unfortunate is finding a good shop. The industry is full of rip off artist and fly by night shops. Your idea of asking the guy at NAPA was a good one.
The thing is... hardly anybody really knows anything about automatic transmissions. A manual, you could drop the thing and rebuild it in your driveway, everything inside it is pretty obvious. But an automatic, very few people really know how they work inside. I know I don't. Half the guys at the transmission shops don't even know, they only know that when this symptom happens to check this part.
Most non-specialty shops won't touch a transmission. They send it off to a rebuilder or they get a new one from the factory.
Frankly, the symptoms you described in the last message don't sound to me like a torque converter problem. But as I said.... I don't really know much about how automatics work inside. If you can find a transmission shop that really does, use them.
It could be, depending on who did the remanufacturing. A reman COULD involve someone checking every single part with a micrometer and making sure everything is correct... or it might also involve some slapdash replacement of a couple obvious parts. You don't know unless you know the company or people that did the work.
That's probably because they are specialty transmission shops.
A rebuilt from NAPA might be fine, or it might be a disaster if it has been sitting on the shelf for a long time. Or if it was rebuilt badly. It's not an easy job, there are a lot of small pieces, and as I mentioned above, very few people really know what they do even though some people know where they all go.
Aamco is a chain, and some of their shops are good, and some of them are phenomenally bad. You don't know until you try one which one it is. I wouldn't risk it unless a local shop gives you a real recommendation.
Because they want to do the work themselves, which is good.
There are a LOT of fraudulent transmission shops out there, for the same reason there are fraudulent used car dealers. People don't normally get transmission work all the time, so almost everyone is going to go to a transmission shop only a few times in their life. So they don't really expect a lot of repeat business anyway. Consequently, bad shops can hang on for a long time.
If the NAPA manager recommended it and other folks who used it recommended it, that's probably a better indication it's a good shop than anything else you will ever see.
I think so, personally. If it were me, though, I'd toss the thing and get a manual transmission and never look back. I have an old Getrag manual with 480,000 miles on it and the case has never been opened. Automatic transmissions are way more trouble than they are worth.
followup: they rebuilt the transmission in two days. it is a transmission repair shop, thats all they do. (good old boys atmosphere). they replaced the torque converter and some plastic part that had deteriorated. they removed, rebuilt and replaced the unit. shop and owner has been there for 35 years. gave me a written 12 mo
12,000 mile warranty.
the trans shop had no opinion as to why the unit failed. Only clue I had is that the dipstick read from full to 1 inch over full depending on day and when you checked it. (trans warm, on flat ground, after being driven, trans in park) and the fluid looked light brown with a red tint. They said fluid with that color would not of caused it to fail. Its a 1987 town car and it failed on the hottest day of the year. Maybe it was just old and deteriorated.
now, how many miles should the average rebuilt auto trans last?
I had a transmission specialist tell me to check the trannie fluid in neutral NOT in park. He said that checking it in park gives a false higher reading (engine running of course).
I suspect the plastic part they replaced was the one I mentioned in another response to your post. I also suspect that is the cause of the final failure. The part is a bushing where the throttle pressure cable attaches to the throttle lever. When the bushing deteriorates sufficiently, the line pressure in the trans is reduced greatly. The driver usually never notices that the trans is beginning to shift very smoothly albeit very sluggishly and sloppy which is actually slippage because of the low pressure. It is only a matter of short time and distance driven depending on the condition of the trans and how it is driven until it fails. If you do not feel the trans shifting, it may be slipping and need attention. Shifts are almost undetectable with some late model electronic transmissions other than hard acceleration.
As far as the fluid level, it ideally should be on the full mark idling in nuetral or park when hot at full normal operating temperature and with the vehicle on a level surface. An inch or so over full under normal operating conditions is no problem. It should not be below the low mark or it may tend to disengage when turning corners, etc. The life of the trans can be greatly extended by regular service around 30k mile intervals.
"Average" might not be a good number to go with. In my experience, a properly rebuilt tranny should last 100 k miles, give or take a lot. The shops give a short warranty to get out from under the liability. But if the job is done well, the tranny should be about as good as new.
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