Mods, delete this if you want.

I am getting my transmission serviced this week. I only have a few questions that need to be answered and I thought this would be the easiest.

I have took my transmission to four diffrent shops, and I called the dealership. Three out of four of them told me it needs a total rebuild. I took it to aamco and left it there to be inspected, exterior visual and drive test.

AAMCO, this is one I trust the most, because of a good background, BBB.org says they have been in business since before I was born, from all the years, only two complaints, both of them resolved. My brother got his transmission fixed there for his S-10, seems to be fine. Price is high. Anything from $1390 basic, to $2400, price of all metal parts that could be broken, ie. drums, shaft, torque converter.

One of them was a small transmission shop that told me it would only cost two thousand only and anything after that he will pay the rest. Ha.

Another one I went two qouted me for three thousand because he has done them before and knows what it would cost by past experience.

And the last shop. Ok, this is the only time where I gained this mechanics trust by speaking with him. He was working on a job and he saw me and immediately dropped what he was doing and came to talk to me. I told him my problems, he said "Lets go for a ride", I took him around the block, after the first shift from 1st to 2nd he said "Yup, its slipping". I drow back to the shop and he brought out one of those little hand held computers that he plugged into my car (under the ash tray) he checked it, He showed me the screen, it said nothing. I knew that because my check engine light hasnt came on. duh. So, he told me, nothing seems to be broken inside, but for me to know for sure is to open it. He said nothing is making noise, everything sounds ok. Just a basic ovehaul. He claims that he is aamco certified, and cottman certified. He has worked for both and now he decided to work for himself, opening his own business.

All of them 12 month warranty.

*Thanks for reading if you read all that

So let me tell everyone what my car is doing. I know you guys arent all transmission mechanics.

My car slips some gears and it does shift hard from first to second and sometimes second to third. When I get on it it slips then it shift really hard in any gear, even rolling from third. Somtimes the car will shift perfectly fine.

My questions.
What are your thoughts on my transmission rebuild?

With all the details from most of the shops, who should I trust?

Do you really get what you pay for?

If you have had yout transmission rebuilt, what did they charge you for, what was broken?

How much did you pay?

How has it been treating you since you got it rebuilt?

Thank you to everyone in advance, I really appreciate everything.

Oh yeah, for those who know, 8000k, coming thursday.

 

18 Views.

Come on, anyone? I might just go to AAMCO tommorow.

 

How much are you willing to spend? If you want THE BEST tranny job, you ill need to get it rebuilt with Dr. Evil...

LSD built in, completely re-enforced, and it has a pretty good warranty (I believe).

Otherwise, do a search on Aamco on the board.. I think someone got a rebuild from them a while back.

Good luck champ.

-Alex

 

AAMCO sucks, they purposefully overfill transmissions all the time, to help cover up slippage. Just to warn you, the rebuilt my tranny a year ago, and it's going back to them in a week or so, for the 4th visit, this time the tranny is comin out

 

alright, I guess AAMCO is out of the question.

my mechanic, which is also my friend, referred me to a shop down the street where he sends all of his customers to get transmissions worked on. I went here, he told me upfront, a total rebuild can be from $2000 to $3000 depending on whats broken, I doubt anything is broken really, I dont hear any noise, just slipping and hard shifts, seems like a normal over haul.

The plus side to this is he is offering a free 18 month warranty, and he has done these transmissions in the past before. so experience, mechanic referred, 18 month warranty, plus he has a good record with the BBB, with no complications what so ever, the shop is right down the street.

Im guessing the qoute he gave me is for a total over haul, I shouldnt be too scared. I did schedule a test drive with him for him to check it out for tommorow. I guess ill do that and he will tell me a more acurate quote.

 

are you sure it's slipping? Honestly these transmissions shift different than a lot of other cars I've been in. they are pretty rough shifts already, and sometimes there is a lag betwen shifts, that is not really slipping, just "lazy" shifting of the trans.

If you are accelerating from a stop and have the throttle depressed the exact same amoutn the whole time, and when it shifts if it revs up a little bit and/or you lurch forward for a second then it is slipping.

My current trans is only doing it sometimes on the 2>3 shift, but only when I goive it about 30% throttle (really weird), never when I go WOT. Honestly until it's noticeably slipping over 50% of the time, then I would wait to get a rebuild.

I'm getting a Dr. evil trans because I got the group buy price of $3500 over at "the other forums who's name we are not allowed to say", and it will cost about $600 to install. So if you consider it will be about $4100, which is less than the cost of two regular rebuilds from aamco, and will almost possitively last longer than two of them. Someone over at the "other forum" is pushing over 350 whp on one for about 2 years now.

And as stated above includes LSD for better traction from a dig, better reworked internals, and upgraded tq converter for better power transfer to the wheels.

 

That sounds likea better deal. Plus, aamco only offers a 12 month warranty, at month 12, my tranny started poopin again

 

$4100, thats more than 2/3 of what my car cost. and it still stock..... from your description of slipping, yeah its slipping.

 

well if you buy a Dr.Evil tranny, it may just raise the price of the car by a bit more (especially if you sell it to a tuner who knows what its all about.)

 

YOu also have to go without your car for like 3 times as long as a regular rebuild

 

get a warantee.

they have 3rd party waranty companies (i used CNA).

my trans was slippin before i got the waranty... and then i took it in and it was covered

(Lee Myles did my trans)

 

not unless you just pay a $500 core deposit, then you don't have to be without a car at all, assumiong the transmission still works.

 

well, if you plan to keep the car for as long as you possibly can, then I'd say get the dr evil, because after another 50-100k you'll just be buying another transmission anyways. From what I've read once you get a regular rebuild the trans tends to fail faster than the first one.

 

$2600. Man did I think it was gonna be worst than this. Im getting it back tommorow. It getting fully rebuilt with all new parts. 18 Month warranty, im having him install a transmission cooler also. Ill give you all more detail when I get her back.

HID's are coming too.

now im poor.

 

Mine made it about 20K

 

did either of you add a transmission cooler after the rebuild?

 

Would they warrenty a 1998 i bought two years ago and it now has 124k on it, like an extra 30k-50k?

 

Was about to, and it started leakin from the main gasket

 

also, how do you guys drive?

i drive like a grandma, i dont ever get on it or floor it all the time.

 

Same as you do, nice and smooth on the acceletation, slow even.

 

I got it last night, drive awesome, but, when cold, it seems a little funny, like its almost acting up but doesnt really, i thnk its still breaking in, it only has 10 miles on it. $2500 even, 18 month 18k mile warranty, parts and labor.

 

Don't drive her hard, cuz there's too many problems with her. Glad to hear you got yours fixed man, better warranty than mine, if I had that warranty, my new tranny problems could be fixed for free

 

i was just looking at the aamco website and it says they have a lifetime warranty..
anyone know anything about that?

 

I added a trans cooler to mine shortly after I got the car at about 48k miles on the motor. I now have just barely over 70k miles on it, and it only sometimes slips from 2>3 shift, other than that, no noticeable problems. My trans fluid is starting to get a little darker, so it' just a matter of time. I'm sure I oculd extend the life more by replacing the trans fluid again, but I don't care I've got a dr evil tranny on the way. I'm still on the original trans as far as I know.

how do I drive? Sometimes I drive like a grandma, and other times I drive like a mad man. I think the main thing about my driving is that I drive so that the transmission shifts as little as posisble.

For example, I take off from a stop quite a bit adn just slowly roll on the throttle till I'm WOT at about 4k rpms, then I stay WOT till about 50 mph, then let off wot, and just cruise.

Sometimes I drive the car like a damn gokart, but I don't do that too often at all.

I wouldn't say I floor it all the time, but I drive it pretty sporty sometimes.

 

i did mine my self and saved 2500$ it costed me a total of 300$ manual, kit and everything. but i had no warranty.. i would go with aamco. and have them install alto, red eagle clutch packs.. thats the ones dr evil uses. and you can buy just those.. and youll last almost forever. or you can go for the stockies, and get the life time warranty. good luck pimp.

 

once again, you are the man,i'm on that.wilp/cocoa ftw on 3.0's...........