root Posted November 24, 2004 Report Share Posted November 24, 2004 took the car to the transmission shop, hoping it was the solenoids. The guy called two hours later, said "the problem is internal, need a new transmission -- $3k plus tax" Interestingly enough, current KBB is $3240, exactly to the dollar equal the repair cost. Any recommendations on what can be done with a 94 ETC with no 4th gear? Had this car for 6 years, grown to love it, can't just junk it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadillac STS Posted November 24, 2004 Report Share Posted November 24, 2004 get a second opinion...pull out the codes...how many miles does your car have? blown tranny isn't very common with our cars..knock on wood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted November 24, 2004 Report Share Posted November 24, 2004 Get a second opinion, that figure is HUGE to get your tranny rebuilt, it should be more like $1800 to $1900 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norton1 Posted November 24, 2004 Report Share Posted November 24, 2004 The dealer replaced mine. Tranny cost was $2100 for a factory rebuilt. I had a lot of other work done at the time and total was around $4000. And nearly all of the 4T80E trannys have a cracked bell housing. It is a casting flaw from the original design. Your core will still get deducted $175 for Cadillacs error in manufacturer. I'd talk to a local rebuild shop. I'm betting they can rebuild the tranny for a lot less. Hindsight on my part. And if you decide to junk it I'd be VERY interrested in talking with you. Lots of little parts that I am wanting to replace. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAUL T Posted November 24, 2004 Report Share Posted November 24, 2004 get a second opinion...pull out the codes...how many miles does your car have? blown tranny isn't very common with our cars..knock on wood Before I would take it to someone else, I would PULL THE CODES. Turn the key on (engine off) then, press and hold the "warmer" and "off" buttons on the climate control for a few seconds, then watch for codes in the message center until the "PCM?" comes up. The codes can tell you what is wrong with the transmission or at least tell you where to start looking. To exit codes turn key off. Post the codes and we will decipher them for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
root Posted November 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2004 thx y'all for the input. the guy I was talking to is the local rebuild shop (milt and rons in Rochester, NY). The $3k he quoted was for a rebuilt transmission with a torque converter including labour. I will pull the codes (gotta dig out my shop manual), maybe take it to another guy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Hall Posted November 24, 2004 Report Share Posted November 24, 2004 Cost in parts to rebuild one of those is about $80 for rebuild kit and $90 for the torque converter. I was also quoted $3k to do a 440-T4 transmission which was al more than the car was worth so I end ended up doing it myself and saving a bundle of money. Very unlikely I'll ever have a tranny rebuilt again by someone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
root Posted November 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2004 k, just got the car from the shop, here's the codes: P094 S015 S016 S017 S025 S026 S027 SO61 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acklac7 Posted November 24, 2004 Report Share Posted November 24, 2004 I just paid $1900 (total) for my trans. to be rebuilt. That included the solenoids,torque converter,valve body update kit, and a whole bunch of clutches. Also make sure the shop is listed with the BBB and ATRA (Automatic Transmission Rebuilders Association). A.J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acklac7 Posted November 24, 2004 Report Share Posted November 24, 2004 P094...Transaxle "A" shift solenoid problem.....all of the SO## codes are suspension related...You can type the trouble code in on google and then the word cadillac to find all of the codes. A.J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norton1 Posted November 24, 2004 Report Share Posted November 24, 2004 I can look the SO codes up for you tonight. But acklac7 is correct - they are all suspension codes. You might try clearing the codes and see which ones come back up. Some of these are probably history and some are current. It doesn't take much for suspension code to rear its ugly little head and they usually don't mean much more than frustration. The solenoid is probably all that is wrong with the car's tranny. Somebody is looking to get rich on you Brother - Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAUL T Posted November 24, 2004 Report Share Posted November 24, 2004 P094...Transaxle "A" shift solenoid problem.....all of the SO## codes are suspension related...You can type the trouble code in on google and then the word cadillac to find all of the codes. I agree with acklac7 my guess would be shift solenoids. I had a shop quote me $600.00 just to look at the tranny. I finally found a shop to just replace the solenoids for $70.00 labor. Total cost $145.00 parts and labor and that was 2 years ago. Knowledge is power. Tell them what codes you found, buy the parts and have them just put the solenoid kit in. Just make sure the shop is reputable. Dealer will charge $250-350. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted November 24, 2004 Report Share Posted November 24, 2004 Cost in parts to rebuild one of those is about $80 for rebuild kit and $90 for the torque converter. I was also quoted $3k to do a 440-T4 transmission which was al more than the car was worth so I end ended up doing it myself and saving a bundle of money. Very unlikely I'll ever have a tranny rebuilt again by someone else. Ed, how difficult do you think rebuilding one of the 4T80Es would be? Having rebuilt a few TH350s, I could see myself tackling it one day. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Olsson Posted November 24, 2004 Report Share Posted November 24, 2004 Get a new solenoid kit. Here in Sweden it costed me about 100$ to get the parts and I am sure that you will get them cheaper. The new ones are a different design and will (from what I´ve heard) never break again. I have done that work myself and it´s a lot of posts about how to Quite easy but can be very messy too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
root Posted November 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2004 Thanks again for all the incoming info here. i found most of the codes here. The suspension codes told me the rear strut has died as well as the front right one in either case, prior to looking at the transmission, the mechanic thought it was most likely the solenoids, and he quoted me $600 to replace them. Apparently the pan has to come out on a 94 ETC, and all that stuff. I would have been pretty happy if that had turned out to be the case. I guess now I can take it to a couple more shops, see if they have a different diagnosis. PS: I don't have very much latitude for trying out stuff, tho, have to drive from NY to CA next month... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
95SLS Posted November 24, 2004 Report Share Posted November 24, 2004 My Tranny shop, (My as in near) wanted $3K to just replace a speed sensor. I found another place that said they would do it for Under $500. Turned out it did not need it. But a Trans shop ALWAYS Will try to hook you for a rebuild NO MATTTER what the problem. Lets say you take their hook. You pay what they want and they get in there and find a bas silinoid, so ALL they do is replace that in and hour. Keep the car for 2 days and call you back in. Yea! They will warranty the work that they did not do because they ALREADY got paid for it! So, mind you,, ALL they done was a siinoid and maybe a looks see and a fluid change. They got your money 3K and you take off and they never see your car again, it never breaks or say you sell it. THEY JUST WON THE LOTTERY! (On YOUR Dime) You are happy cause you car works and they are happy bevcaus ethey did $300 worth of labor for $3000.00 bucks! Worst case for them is you REALLY do need a rebuild and they really do have to do a lot of work. BUT mind you they gave you a worst case price. Trust me they are not going to replace ANYTHING that don't need it. They are going to rebuild only what they have to te get her going. Again, they still have left over money just not as much. It's really hard to find a true transmission shop willing to repair a transmission. THey are simply parts replacers like most of the mechanics now found. I think I'd try to do it myself. It most likely is a silinoid, maybe a loos wire or something very obvious when you drop the pan. OR find one that has a like tranny at the junk yard and DIY. Scrap the shop though. Keep the Car or sell it to me I can be there in 5 hours to pick it up for book value minus what they want to charge you for a rebuild. I can bring it home and fix it, and sell it back to you in 3 days for book value, Unless I really like it and then I will keep it. And that brings up another ply they use, they give you a cheap price, get it appart tripple the price and sell the car on a mechanics lean in 90 days when you won't pay. Look up http://www.waterlootransmissions.com/ Waterloo transmission shop on line from akron Ohio area, that site will walk you all they way through trying to fix it yourself. Only shop I would trust. KEEP THE CAR! Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norton1 Posted November 24, 2004 Report Share Posted November 24, 2004 Replacing a solenoid would be messy but not very hard. If you have a shop manuel, get one if you don't, it will take you through it step by step. Probably one of the simplest repairs on a tranny - Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Hall Posted November 24, 2004 Report Share Posted November 24, 2004 Cost in parts to rebuild one of those is about $80 for rebuild kit and $90 for the torque converter. I was also quoted $3k to do a 440-T4 transmission which was al more than the car was worth so I end ended up doing it myself and saving a bundle of money. Very unlikely I'll ever have a tranny rebuilt again by someone else. Ed, how difficult do you think rebuilding one of the 4T80Es would be? Having rebuilt a few TH350s, I could see myself tackling it one day. Mike The hardest part of the job is taking the transmission in and out of the car. From then on, it's just following the instructions in the book step by step. One thing I did was when I was dissasembling the tranny, I had my digital camera in hand and I took pictures of each step of the disassembly process. This worked out really nice during reassembly because I had my laptop by my workbench and I just worked backwards. One thing you can spend a lot more time than a shop that does a quick rebuild is you can spend time to check and correct all the clearances with shims. Also, there are hard parts that do wear such as the sprag. I would assume that many rebuilding shops just leave the old one in since the tranny just needs to last past the 10K miles/1year in which the warranty runs out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted November 25, 2004 Report Share Posted November 25, 2004 I actually had a sprag go bad in my 91 and that did a lot of damage internally. I enjoyed rebuilding the trannys i did. The digital camera is a good idea. I put nails on the wall in front of me and hung everything up in the order that it came apart but the camera idea is much better. Thanks, Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebby Posted November 25, 2004 Report Share Posted November 25, 2004 Did the shift solenoid design get corrected for the 97 STS? Did the factory find that the old design was weak and make a running change? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
root Posted November 29, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 29, 2004 sorry to say guys, I will be getting rid of the car. If I kept it, I would have to drive it across the country in January, something I am not too comfortable with right after a major repair like that... What kind of value you think I can get for it: 94 ETC, 142k, moon, bose, Cr wheels, kbb good cond is $3.2, kbb fair ("Some mechanical defects") is $2.2, and this one has no 4th gear. edited for kbb definitions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Hall Posted November 29, 2004 Report Share Posted November 29, 2004 Somewhere between $500-$1500. There was a car like yours advertised in the ads section of this forum with a bad transmission for $1000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHE Posted November 29, 2004 Report Share Posted November 29, 2004 If you could get $2200 for it with a bad trans, take the money and run...LOL. Seriously, if all that is wrong is the shift solenoids, why not replace them??? It's a straightforward job and many people on this board have successfully completed the repair in their driveway. At the very least, find an independant transmission shop to do the work for you. The shift solenoid replacement is far from a major repair. Kevin '93 Fleetwood Brougham '05 Deville '04 Deville 2013 Silverado Z71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAUL T Posted November 29, 2004 Report Share Posted November 29, 2004 sorry to say guys, I will be getting rid of the car. If I kept it, I would have to drive it across the country in January, something I am not too comfortable with right after a major repair like that... What kind of value you think I can get for it: 94 ETC, 142k, moon, bose, Cr wheels, kbb good cond is $3.2, kbb fair ("Some mechanical defects") is $2.2, and this one has no 4th gear. edited for kbb definitions Shift solenoids are not a major repair. It only takes a good shop 1 to 1-1/2 hours to fix and parts are only about $50. I had mine done 2 years ago and after 40,000 miles I am still not having any problems. I do understand your concerns about reliability but, shift solenoid repair is the cheapest tranny problem you can have. Take it to a dealer and tell them to just change the solenoids they should only charge you $250-350. I know from experience that tranny shops will scare you to death. P094 is one solenoid and P029 is the other. Both are replaced as a kit. Have it fixed and forget it. You will be lucky to get $1500-2000 out of it otherwise or you can get it fixed and sell it for $3500-4000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster Posted December 7, 2004 Report Share Posted December 7, 2004 My Tranny shop, (My as in near) wanted $3K to just replace a speed sensor. I found another place that said they would do it for Under $500. Turned out it did not need it. But a Trans shop ALWAYS Will try to hook you for a rebuild NO MATTTER what the problem. Lets say you take their hook. You pay what they want and they get in there and find a bas silinoid, so ALL they do is replace that in and hour. Keep the car for 2 days and call you back in. Yea! They will warranty the work that they did not do because they ALREADY got paid for it! So, mind you,, ALL they done was a siinoid and maybe a looks see and a fluid change. They got your money 3K and you take off and they never see your car again, it never breaks or say you sell it. THEY JUST WON THE LOTTERY! (On YOUR Dime) You are happy cause you car works and they are happy bevcaus ethey did $300 worth of labor for $3000.00 bucks! Worst case for them is you REALLY do need a rebuild and they really do have to do a lot of work. BUT mind you they gave you a worst case price. Trust me they are not going to replace ANYTHING that don't need it. They are going to rebuild only what they have to te get her going. Again, they still have left over money just not as much. It's really hard to find a true transmission shop willing to repair a transmission. THey are simply parts replacers like most of the mechanics now found. I think I'd try to do it myself. It most likely is a silinoid, maybe a loos wire or something very obvious when you drop the pan. OR find one that has a like tranny at the junk yard and DIY. Scrap the shop though. Keep the Car or sell it to me I can be there in 5 hours to pick it up for book value minus what they want to charge you for a rebuild. I can bring it home and fix it, and sell it back to you in 3 days for book value, Unless I really like it and then I will keep it. And that brings up another ply they use, they give you a cheap price, get it appart tripple the price and sell the car on a mechanics lean in 90 days when you won't pay. Hello Everyone! Glad to be aboard! Just joined but I have been reading for the past few months but I stay quiet most of the time online and fly under the radar, but on this I had to speak up. I am a 50% partner in a nationwide "franchise" transmission shop. I do not work there everyday due to a great job in the Communication Tower Construction business. First off I don't want my first post taken as negative but to this reply I will need to step in. 1. A transmission shop WILL NOT TRY TO SELL A REBUILD! A reputable shop as in mine offers the customer a FREE performance check, which includes, a road test, lift inspection of all external connections and adjustments, a fluid inspection and if needed on some cars the codes pulled with a computer that cost us over $12,000. This is a free service to our potential customers, a $75.00 value. Remember you called us, we didn't call you! Good shops are there to help you not rape you. 2. If the car shows signs of a transmission problem, we then offer you a RDI (Remove, Dismantle, and INSPECT). This service is usually offered between $399 and $599 depending on the make of the car and how hard is it to remove. This service is offered only if there is a problem and my technicians cannot determine the problem from the computer and the findings of the performance check is pointing toward internal. When the RDI is performed and the transmission is dismantled and we determine the parts that are bad we then call the customer and tell him the price to repair it. There are usually over 300 moving parts inside of a transmission at any given time not counting the other 200 parts that don't actually move. I live in GA and we have Waffle Houses here and it states on their menu that there are over 10 million ways to prepare one of their hamburgers with only about 20 condiments. Imagine the possibilities inside a transmission. If they want, they can come down and look at their transmission and see the parts that are damaged. Which by the way is a great selling point! When customers see for theirselves what is wrong they have a greater feel that they do know what is going on. 3. NEVER EVER TRUST A SHOP THAT GIVES A PRICE BEFORE THE RDI!!!! This refers to your problems as stated above with a worst case price. All shops do want a rebuild on every transmission that comes thru their doors. (Wouldn't you if it was your business and that is what keeps YOUR family fed?! But there are a lot of shops out there like mine who are looking out for you and want repeat business rather than one customer and ONE job. We want 1 customer with 5 jobs!) Sorry for the rant. 4. On the part of just repairing the problem and not repairing the WHOLE transmission is correct. Answer this one for me. You have a bad light switch in your house. Are you going to go buy a new house or are you just going to replace the switch?! Exactly, why make the price go up more than it needs to? You don't replace things in your house that are not broken and when something is, YOU REPLACE THAT PIECE! I asked my partner the other day what was the best tranny on the market. He said that the two best was the 4T80-E and the 4L80-E as far as new ones go. He said they are built better than any other piece on the market. Gentlemen, he also stated that it was the HARDEST to work on (4T80-E) and when they do go bad it is usually the 1rst and 4th shift noids, BUT if that is not the case then it is going to cost the customer a bundle due to when they go they REALLY LET GO! His exact words. If transmissions were easy then everyone would be doing them. (Sorry again.) 5. My thoughts are like this. EVERY shop is not alike and if anyone would like I will tell you what the best nationwide companies out there are but I don't want to bad mouth my competition due to it will come back to haunt me. It is NOT A HOOK when a shop is telling you the problem. If you think that it is a hook then you need to go to another shop. It isn't a great thing to tell people everyday that it is going to cost them $2000 that they don't have. Its the nature of the beast. When you say $300 labor then that shows that you have no idea what it costs me in technicians everyweek. Good workers are very hard to find. These transmission "builders" make better than me on some weeks and even the "R&R" men make very good also. Also when "WE" charge $3000 and it comes back under warranty and have to REALLY rebuild it that its already been paid for you are right and wrong. Once again think about this in a different sense. I repair your transmission and we give you one of two different warranties. 6 month unlimited mileage or 12 month 12000 miles. Once you leave my shop I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU ARE GOING TO BE DRIVING THE CAR WITH MY TRANSMISSION!!! The way people talk, they are always kinda racing their car on here. You have to look at it from a different perspective. I have to charge the least to get your business but at the same time I have to CMA in case you come back with problems! On the subject of a junkyard piece. DON'T DO IT!!! You don't why that unit is there, how many miles on it, or what happened to it before. You are buying a pig in a poke! It may last 200k or it may go 10 feet! You will pay AT LEAST $800 and you don't know what you are getting. Yes they may warranty it, but, does that warranty repay you or your local mechanic's time and labor for removing the old one and installing the new one and the removing it again?! Sorry again for the long reply but I take very BIG offense to the term "Parts Replacers". We give a honest price for an honest job and why "fix" something that isn't broken? Last but not least, any shop you go to it will have a "come back". This is something that should not happen but does. We all are human and we will make mistakes and you should not base one comeback on a certain shop. Base it on, did they make you feel comfortable with the job, do you feel that they were honest, were they reputable. They are many factors dealing with a transmission but please don't hate us for performing a job the best we know how. Thanks and I hope to help anyone that I can. Rooster in GA GOOO DAWGS!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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