William church

I have a 2005 Acura TL with 142,000 miles on it and the transmission is slipping, and when I check the fluid it's a burning smell. I was told by a mechanic I need a new transmission, the transmission shop is charging $2800 to have it rebuild with a one year warranty. Would you guys recommend a rebuild tyranny or used?

TheSauceBoss

Yikes, unfortunately I think you're beyond the point of pressure switch replacements and a fluid change (though depending on the severity of the slipping, you may be able to prolong the failure a decent amount). It's really up to you. You could:

-Pay $100-200 for the pressure switches and new fluid (and installation cost if applicable) and pray the tranny lasts another year
-Pay ~$2000-3000 for a tranny rebuild
-Or save that $2-3k on the rebuild and just put it towards a new daily driver car.

Personally I would try the first and last option but at the end of the day it's your call. It would additionally be helpful to know how serious the slippage is

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Depends on the $$$$$$$. A used trans would be less expensive, but if the trans is bad you'll pay additional labor unless the yard guarantees the part & labor.
Last year had a used trans installed in the daughters '05 Grand Cherokee Hemi, first trans went bad in 3 months, they installed a second and didn't like the shifting, installed a third and the results were the same, so they finally installed the fourth and there's been no problems since. All these transmissions had <80k miles, but as I didn't pay any extra for the additional labor/parts/fluid, it work out fine.
If you go rebuilt, make certain it comes with a decent warranty as some rebuilt units leave a lot to be desired.

William church

Thank you guys for the feed back the warranty they are offering is a year, is that good?

BreezyTL

iTrader: (8)

One year warranty is typical with more places.

The main questions are: What condition is the rest of the car in? Does it need more maintenance than just the transmission? What is your long term plan for the vehicle?

NoTLoud

You gotta weigh the options.

Do a quick Google search of transmission builders in your area. Luckily, I am in a city, so there are plenty of choices. It took my maybe 10 min to find the place I would take my car to. All 5 star reviews, which says something for automotive places. The guy offers a 3 year or 36,000 mile warranty (whichever comes first) on his rebuilds, which says even more about his work. If you're near Charlotte, NC, the place is called TransArt Transmissions. I went by his shop and he took 30 min of his day to explain why these transmissions go bad, the typical wear items, and drove my car. He said my transmission felt fine. I was worried the current issue I was having may be the transmission, but I can now rule that out. I was quoted around $2700 for the rebuild, so $2800 isn't an outrageous price or anything.

As far as a used transmission goes, it's a gamble. You could be fine or you could have the nightmare that TurboNut went through.

Either way, make sure there is a good warranty with either path you choose. That's the most important factor, in my opinion.

Let's say your car is worth roughly $5k with it's mileage and it's in good condition with a working transmission. A rebuild will cost you half of the value of your car, but with the rebuild and paperwork, you may be able to squeeze some extra value out of the car, maybe. As it sits, the car is essentially totaled. You can maybe get $1500 out of it. I think it makes more sense to get the transmission swapped out or rebuilt vs. selling the car as is. You stand to get more money out of the car if you invest in getting it fixed before selling. The other option is to trade the car in. Most places won't test drive it and you never have to mention the transmission is bad. You may get a couple grand on trade-in that you can put down on another car and avoid the hassle of getting it repaired yourself. That trade-in will almost 100% get sent right to an auction. It may sound like a scumbag move to do that, but dealerships are going to screw you on trade-in anyway, so why not try and screw them back.

Glorygang600

What shop was this?

flyromeo3

The reason your fluid smells burned is due to the torque converter burning out.
The metal shavings ( from the clutch packs ) have worn out and not allowing proper circulation of the fluid. Trans switches wont fix it.
You will have to get the trans rebuilt or replaced.

With my rebuild, I got a 2 year warranty. First year was fine but after 14 months it started to act up again. At that point I had over 190k miles.
So best choice for me was to dump the car and get another.

On top of other maintenance I had to do, I didnt want to waste more time or energy with this car.