CANADIANCADDY Posted April 22, 2005 Report Share Posted April 22, 2005 Hi there! While driving my 94 STS to work today it suddenly seemed as if my transmission was slipping and at the same moment the service engine light came on. I pulled the car over and shut it down and when I restarted it everthing seemed fine for a few minutes of driving and than the service engine light came on again and the transmission once more started to slip. I ran the OBC and came up with PO86 - Undefined Gear Ratio (Transmission Pressure Control) and PO94 - Transaxle Shift "A" Solenoid Problem (Vehicle Speed Sensor). I reported this to my mechanic who said I will have to take the car to a Transmission Shop as he can't scan for transmission problems? I hate the thought of going to the Transmission Shop without having an idea as to what needs to be fixed as obviously I don't want to be ripped off for unnecessary repairs. In light of this I wondered if one of you could possibly please give me an idea as to what might be required to fix my problem? Many thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBuckley Posted April 23, 2005 Report Share Posted April 23, 2005 Sounds like you have a shift solenoid problem, You can do this repair yourself if you are a weekend mechanic and have the manual, the shift solenoids run about 50.00 or so from Gmpartsdirect.com Many references to this if you search, if not give email me and I will send you the instructions I followed when I did mine last year. I was able to drive mine in 3rd gear , not overdrive for about 2 months before the other solenoid gave up the ghost, You might want to try this and see if what happens. The older 4t80e had some problems with the solenoid bases, where the valve body filter would back out under pressure and jam up against a solenoid and crack the base. The new solenoid kit comes with updated solenoids and bracket to lock the filter in place. John John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAUL T Posted April 23, 2005 Report Share Posted April 23, 2005 Yes, the codes point to the shift solenoids. Be careful at the tranny shops because they use this oportunity to convince you that you need a total rebuild. I had one dealer quote me $600 just to look at the tranny. Shift solenoid replacement at the dealer is 2-1/2 hours labor and around $50.00 for solenoid kit. I found a REPUTABLE mom & pop tranny shop to do mine for $70.00 labor, do not expect a tranny shop to do it that cheap. I got lucky. It actually takes about 1-1/2 to do, the shift solenoids are located under the bottom pan. It can be done at home but it can get messy. Check around the local REPUTABLE tranny shops and ask them how much it would be to change the shift solenoids. Once you get past them trying to scare you that it may be something else, they will give you a price. The shift solenoid failure is common in older cars. Mine failed at 70,000 miles, it now has 124,000. Easy fix. Also, driving it in "limp" mode will not harm the tranny unless you try to red line the tach for a long period of time. I drove probably 200 miles before I had mine changed. Good Luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANADIANCADDY Posted April 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2005 Thanks to JBuckley and Paul T for their responses. Now that I know what I am dealing with I decided to seek out three Transmission shops to see if one of them could do the fix. As expected, as soon as I outlined the problem, the managers of all three shops immediately started to tell me what a major repair it was that I have on my hands and how the replacement of the solenoids would most likely be only the start of much other work which they would have to do for me! I basically told them to piss off and stop trying to jerk me around and oddly enough they did! I than contacted a fourth shop where the fellow said he knew exactly how to fix what he called a fairly common problem and that he could do this right away as he has the replacement solenoids kit in stock. Now this fellow wants $300.00Cdn. to do the job but this seems to be the best and perhaps the only honest (hopefully) deal I can get. The message here is that most Transmission shops continue to live up to their well deserved reputation of ripping people off and so one must have as much information as is possible as well as do a bit of searching if you don't want to end up spending a hell of a lot more than you should for your repair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
navion Posted April 23, 2005 Report Share Posted April 23, 2005 CANADIANCADDY, That converts to $ 243.072 USD! That is a little steep! Seeing that the solenoid kit, filters & gasket come to less than $100.00 US. They ought to be able to do the job in about one to one & 1/2 hours. I did mine in less than 2 and I had never done it before! I would sign a work order for changing the solenoids, gasket, filters and fluid, ONLY! No further tear down allowed! ( They do have to drop the valve body.) And don't fall for the " BOY YOU ARE LUCKY!! SEE THIS PILE OF DEBRIS IN YOUR PAN" trick. It is normal particles from the clutch plates. Transmission shops use that to convince unsuspecting customers that their transmission is about to self destruct. Just say "That's normal." (Because it is.) At that point tell them to "just put the solenoids in like we agreed". And tell them that you will worry about the "debris" later. Just for kicks, check with your local Caddy shop. They could be cheaper (I doubt it), but it wouldn't hurt to check. You could be surprised. And they would have the experience too. And they know that it is a solenoid problem. Good Luck, Britt Britt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAUL T Posted April 23, 2005 Report Share Posted April 23, 2005 I do not know what the exchange rate is but that price does not sound too bad. It gives you more confidence in the tranny shop when they are familiar with the problem. It sounds like you made the right choice, do you know anyone who has had work done there? I wish you the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadian95sts Posted April 23, 2005 Report Share Posted April 23, 2005 Just did this same procedure myself, three days ago. I think $300.00 Cdn is a reasonable price. Did this job myself, in the Hamilton area, went to Dennis Searles GM dealership in Caledonia,(have a buddy that works the parts counter), got the shift solenoids for $89.00cdn(they list for $96.00 at canadian GM dealerships), and had to get six L of Dexron 3, got em for free, not sure on the price. Heres the kicker, GM wants $169.00Cdn for a transmission filter kit, yeah right. cleaned out the old filters(which were clean already), Car ran great. Had to also replace the VSS yesterday, $19.95cdn at same dealerdhip, its like im drivin a brand new car A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...BUT, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "darn...that was fun!" www.madd.ca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
67coupedeville Posted April 23, 2005 Report Share Posted April 23, 2005 GM wants $169.00Cdn for a transmission filter kit, yeah right. cleaned out the old filters(which were clean already) There is no need to purchase new tranny filters, good call on cleaning them and putting them back in. Spence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANADIANCADDY Posted April 25, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 Here is the final word ---- have decided not to replace the solenoids myself nor use the only local transmission shop which I thought might do an honest job for $300.00CDN. This same shop didn't come across as good in real life as it sounded over the phone. I can't believe I am telling you this but I have decided to go to the Caddy dealer which although is a little more expensive seems to know exactly how to do this job and has the solenoid kit in stock. They made the repair sound like it is routine and no big deal and I don't believe they are going to be giving me any surprises by making it appear otherwise tomorrow. Will let you know how it turns out. PS The Caddy dealer rates the job at 2.5 hours which may be a little much but the real pain comes from their hourly rate of $96.00CDN per hour! My wife says not to worry as it is my birthday today and I should just think of the repair as a gift to myself eh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackc Posted April 26, 2005 Report Share Posted April 26, 2005 Sounds to me like you've made a safe and reasonable decision. Hope it works out well for you. And Happy Birthday!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster Posted April 26, 2005 Report Share Posted April 26, 2005 OK!!! I've heard ENOUGH!!! Everyone of you who are all KNOW-IT-ALLS please go into ANY transmission shop and get a job if you are that SKILLED. I own a shop and let me tell you a few secrets. One, we do a FREE check of your vehicle. Remember you call us we don't call you. 2nd, if you do have a problem (90% you do) we ask for an inspection fee. Unless all ya'll great ones out there have X-Ray vision which I doubt we need to see inside of your unit and find out what's causing the problem. Yes we do find metal shavings inside your pan and I do believe that we are the professionals here and we know what is normal and what is excessive. Third, when we find out what is causing the problem we call you and tell you how much. As for everyone who is bashing prices, you don't work everyday to break even do you? I thought so. Remember that it is a business and there are bills and payrolls. We have families to feed along with our own. Relatively speaking it is an easy job but like I said if everything was so easy then you wouldn't be needing a trasmission shop. Did you know that there are 800 moves to perform an open heart surgery and 1600 to rebuild a 4T80E? Its just like when you are talking about foreign cars and saying that since they are imported they are better, shops competing against dealers is the same thing. We install every new update available inside the unit. Most dealers just go and get a re-man unit that doesn't even have close to the updates that we install. Last but not least let me explain what happens when we work upon someones car and not go by procedure. Lets say that what you're telling us over the phone sounds like the solenoids and we give you a price. You bring it in and we fix the problem without working on anything other than that even if we noticed that there is other codes and excessive amounts of friction material in the pan. You drive away happy that its completed and thought that we were just trying to get a rebuild and more money when we mentioned these problems to you and two months later your unit comes apart. What are you going to do? Call the shop that performed the work and state that they didn't do something correct. The shop denies that they were at fault and remember telling you that you had other problems than just the solenoids. You decide to sue because you weren't given a warranty (shops don't give warranties on patch work, only on recondition and rebuild services) and you go in front of a judge that has no knowledge of a transmission but feels sorry for you and awards you the judgement. Trust me on this, I KNOW from experience. This is what craws my hide when I here that its so easy. I'm not saying if you can do it don't but please when you are discussing a business that keeps getting more and more complicated everyday don't act like a genius. I think that Guru has that title all by himself. On a lighter note, I am glad to here that everyone is trying to help people on here fix things without taking the car to a shop everytime something goes wrong. It makes me feel like we are still a country or continent of do-it-ourselvers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANADIANCADDY Posted April 26, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2005 Hey there Rooster ---- please chill out or take a pill! All we are saying is that transmission shops do have a reputation for ripping people off and here in Canada there was an investigation a few years back which fully supported this same reputation. A lot of us here do use mechanics to do our work but I will tell you this much in nearly every instance the people on this board can assist these same mechanics in getting to the route of the problem and finding the right cure for same. You may run an honest shop and I applaud you for this but you must have your head in the sand if you do not know the extent of the phoney repairs which are carried out nationwide by transmission shops every day. Boards such as this protect consumers by providing us with the kind of knowledge which keeps us from getting screwed. Finally you or any honest repairman like you should appreciate our efforts here to keep your industry as honest as is possible. Put that in your pipe and smoke it eh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAUL T Posted April 26, 2005 Report Share Posted April 26, 2005 OK!!! I've heard ENOUGH!!! Everyone of you who are all KNOW-IT-ALLS please go into ANY transmission shop and get a job if you are that SKILLED. I own a shop and let me tell you a few secrets. One, we do a FREE check of your vehicle. Remember you call us we don't call you. 2nd, if you do have a problem (90% you do) we ask for an inspection fee. Unless all ya'll great ones out there have X-Ray vision which I doubt we need to see inside of your unit and find out what's causing the problem. Yes we do find metal shavings inside your pan and I do believe that we are the professionals here and we know what is normal and what is excessive. Third, when we find out what is causing the problem we call you and tell you how much. As for everyone who is bashing prices, you don't work everyday to break even do you? I thought so. Remember that it is a business and there are bills and payrolls. We have families to feed along with our own. Relatively speaking it is an easy job but like I said if everything was so easy then you wouldn't be needing a trasmission shop. Did you know that there are 800 moves to perform an open heart surgery and 1600 to rebuild a 4T80E? Its just like when you are talking about foreign cars and saying that since they are imported they are better, shops competing against dealers is the same thing. We install every new update available inside the unit. Most dealers just go and get a re-man unit that doesn't even have close to the updates that we install. Last but not least let me explain what happens when we work upon someones car and not go by procedure. Lets say that what you're telling us over the phone sounds like the solenoids and we give you a price. You bring it in and we fix the problem without working on anything other than that even if we noticed that there is other codes and excessive amounts of friction material in the pan. You drive away happy that its completed and thought that we were just trying to get a rebuild and more money when we mentioned these problems to you and two months later your unit comes apart. What are you going to do? Call the shop that performed the work and state that they didn't do something correct. The shop denies that they were at fault and remember telling you that you had other problems than just the solenoids. You decide to sue because you weren't given a warranty (shops don't give warranties on patch work, only on recondition and rebuild services) and you go in front of a judge that has no knowledge of a transmission but feels sorry for you and awards you the judgement. Trust me on this, I KNOW from experience. This is what craws my hide when I here that its so easy. I'm not saying if you can do it don't but please when you are discussing a business that keeps getting more and more complicated everyday don't act like a genius. I think that Guru has that title all by himself. On a lighter note, I am glad to here that everyone is trying to help people on here fix things without taking the car to a shop everytime something goes wrong. It makes me feel like we are still a country or continent of do-it-ourselvers. It sounds like you have a REPUTABLE shop, but, from experience, not all shops are like yours and not all cars have the ability to pull the diagnostic codes like a Cadillac. We do not pretend to know-it-all, we are just here to lend our experiences and give our advice no matter how harsh we are on tranny shop owners. Your shop being REPUTABLE, you should have no problem making a good living at what you do. Word of mouth is the best advertising any business could have. Unfortunatly, you have to deal with a wacko every now and then. I feel your pain, I am a business owner myself and I do understand what it takes to stay afloat, I wish you all the best and look forward to your input on tranny problems we might have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted April 27, 2005 Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 don't act like a genius. I think that Guru has that title all by himself. Is that a compliment to Guru or a zing its not clear? You can defend tranny shops all you want to me, its voodoo science at best. Your business is a prime example of time is money, and most shops DON'T take the TIME to do it RIGHT! Although you may... I had my tranny go about 3 years ago on a 91 Seville, a sprag let loose. I was extremely careful to make sure I choose a reputible and competent tranny shop so I asked my local Caddy dealer. They recommended a local shop. When I visited the shop I told the guy I was a fanatic and would do it myself if I had the time but please do a good job. $1800 later I was on the road...... FOR 5 minutes that is, UNTIL I drove out of the driveway and the brake splash shield was scraping against the rotor, drove it back and they fixed it....and I was on the road...... for 24 hours that is UNTIL my OIL light came on at 65 MPH, and I noticed that I was leaking oil from the oil cooler lines at the oil filter adaptor! I called, the shop, and they said they don't have anything to do with oil cooler lines, I said DUH, you can't get the bellhousing bolts out unless you disconnect the lines! PLUS they left two bellhousing bolts OUT! Big arguement ensued and I fixed it myself and during the fix I noticed misrouted electrical harnesses over sharp edges.. I was on the road again, UNTIL I was driving and my dashboard LIT UP, TURN CAR OFF OVERHEATING at 265 degrees.....and I had electrical smell and smoke from under the hood. There was a wire PINCHED between the tranny and engine that BLEW a fusible link to my AC COMPRESSOR, HORN and COOLING FANS! THEY CAME HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, plus I am familiar with mechanicals! I informed the Caddy dealer who recommended them of the problems COMPLETE with photos... How about this one, a LIFETIME warranty from AAMCO (girlfriends car) that they VOIDED because they said I, put brake FLUID in the tranny? I said that I was the only person that put tranny fluid in the car (it was leaking), and I was a first class mechanic in the machinery maintenance division at Sun Ship Building and Drydock and that there was NO way that there was BRAKE fluid in the tranny! What a joke, and they would not fix it till we VOIDED the warranty!!! Read this one http://caddyinfo.ipbhost.com/index.php?sho...l=flywheel&st=0 Tranny shops to me will always be the last resort if I can't fix it myself, you may be a reputible and honest shop great, but as a whole they are incompetent thieves that I will NEVER trust. And for the record, I have rebuilt 3 Turbo hydramatic 350's and one Turbo Hydromatic 400, which by todays standards are probably tinker toys. Sorry for the rant, your TONE got me going.... I am sure you are reputible and competent as you say, but you are in a minority if you are! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimD Posted April 27, 2005 Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 Rooster: You have to know that some very high percentage of folks that drive cars every day are the gas-and-go type. They are only concerned with "how much is the monthly payment". Nothing else matters. Long before transmission problems can develop, most drivers are in another vehicle. By the time you locate this board, you are listening and talking to a very small percentage of car owners and an even smaller subset of car owners that are Cadillac owners. We are no threat to your business. You are in a repair specialty that has a questionable reputation, deserved or otherwise. If you do quality repairs with documentation and agreements, you will find yourself turning away work. Word of mouth recommendations flow through a community eventually, but much slower than comments about "bad repair shops". Hang around and share your knowledge with us. Jim Drive your car. Use your cell phone. CHOOSE ONE ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willie Hank Posted April 27, 2005 Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 All, Stay away from any shop that does not accept credit card payment.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willie Hank Posted April 27, 2005 Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 That converts to $ 243.072 USD! That is a little steep! I think that is a great deal!!!! It took me about 3-1/2 hours my first time, not mention quite a mess. Of course, I take my time, use all manual tools and wipe everyting down clean, before re-assembly. I also pay attention to torquing. If I had to do it again, I would easily spend $ 250 - 300 for someone else to 'muck' with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
navion Posted April 27, 2005 Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 Rooster, You hit a nerve when you started on about how transmission shops are the only true pool of knowledge on transmission repairs. (My take on your rant.) Possibly you are reputable. That is great. But by your attitude, you seem to think that you have a monopoly on brains. I have news for you! There are always people out there that have you and me beat in some facet of life. If I came into your shop and you displayed the acrimonious attitude that you implied in your post, I would be long gone! And I would tell everybody about it also. ( A normal reaction when someone is displeased with the service or treatment one receives.) Like several other posts have said. A bad experience in ANY kind of shop will travel through a community like wild fire. Good reports take a while. In MY business, if I put out bad work, people can get KILLED, cause you just can't pull to the side of the road in an aircraft when a problem arises. There are people out there who's line of work is just as complicated and demanding as yours or more so. To take a superior attitude on what YOU do is an instant turn off to people with even a little mechanical knowledge. If you don't think that transmission shops in general have a bad reputation, then you need to take the blinders off & get a look at the real world. You may have the best, most reputable shop in the country, but if you let that attitude be displayed directly to your customers, then you will be branded as arrogant. & it will eventually come back to bite you. That will be because you will eventually come to believe that you DO know it all, which nobody can. Now, if you want to rescind your "OK!!! I've heard ENOUGH!!! Everyone of you who are all KNOW-IT-ALLS please go into ANY transmission shop and get a job if you are that SKILLED. " Statement and contribute and share you knowledge in your area of expertise, then by all means do so. If not......... Britt Britt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted April 27, 2005 Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 Let me tell you how difficult rebuilding my first 350 turbo hydramatic transmission was: 1) buy the ATRA rebuilding manual, I am a firm believer that if you can read you can do anything, 2) purchase a rebuilding kit, 3) purchase a new torque convertor 4) disassemble transmission, carefully marking, categorizing and keeping individually related components together (forward clutch, valve body, etc), I fabricated tools as necessary from my days of working in the ship yard. 5) take major components to a transmission shop and have them put them through their cleaning process (never us a national firm for this, they are know-it-alls and intimidated by you) 6) reassemble individual components, replacing parts as necessary if clearances are not correct 7) reinstall tranny, fill with fluid 8) turn key, work through gears, drive away Now I will not say that I was fast at it, I think it took me 4 days to do my first tranny rebuild, but without education and having never seen how to do it before, I think that was pretty good, my third rebuilt went a lot faster. While tranny shops want you to THINK that transmissions are mysterious and spooky, there is NOTHING to them, if you can read.. I can guarantee that if the tranny goes in my Deville, I will rebuild it. I actually enjoy rebuilding transmissions! Someone here I think Jackc just rebuilt the tranny on his Allante if I am not mistaken.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted April 27, 2005 Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 OMG, here is Rooster's post on 12/7/2004, describing all about transmission shops and how "reputible" they are. This feels like Twilight Zone to me, am I missing something here? Isn't he talking out of both sides of his mouth? If you want to find his post, Click Rooster and click find all posts... This is Roosters 12/7/2004 POST! 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!!! 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Scotty Posted April 28, 2005 Report Share Posted April 28, 2005 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. Thank you Rooster for the profound words in December 2004. You classify us as "Know-it-Alls" huh?, your statements are EXACTLY why I do my own work, because if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself to make sure its done right and complete. A lot of people around me tend to look down on me because I do my own work, their attitude is why do you do that, just pay to have it done its a more effective use of your time....you confirm the reason why I do what I do, thanks It's funny how you profess to be so honest but you are so versed in how to fleece the unsuspecting dolt that is happy because their car moves again... That you would take offense to statements made on this board about tranny shops after making these statements about the lack of ethics in tranny shops is ridiculous. Do you visit Bob is the Oil guy forum by chance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
navion Posted April 28, 2005 Report Share Posted April 28, 2005 Hey Rooster, In light of your take on the rest of us, how about giving me the location of your shop, so I can be sure not to upset you further with my "Know It ALL" attitude. After reading your previous posts on the subject, I certainly don't want to hurt your feelings when I ask you simple questions about MY transmission. I will attempt to avoid you at all costs. Thanks for giving us an insight into the nether world of "reputable transmission shops". I wonder what a dishonest one is like? Remember, you're the one who "kicked our dog" first. (For the folks from North of the Mason Dixon Line, that means Rooster started it.) Here is a quote from your December post. "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." Britt Britt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHE Posted April 28, 2005 Report Share Posted April 28, 2005 OMG, here is Rooster's post on 12/7/2004, describing all about transmission shops and how "reputible" they are. This feels like Twilight Zone to me, am I missing something here? Isn't he talking out of both sides of his mouth? If you want to find his post, Click Rooster and click find all posts... This is Roosters 12/7/2004 POST! 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. I don't agree with Roosters feigned outrage either but this part of the post was not by Rooster - it was by 95 SLS. Kevin '93 Fleetwood Brougham '05 Deville '04 Deville 2013 Silverado Z71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted April 28, 2005 Report Share Posted April 28, 2005 Thanks Kevin, I just looked back at the thread, I stand corrected. The above shows as a Rooster post. He must have done something wrong when he did the quote the top part was 95 SLS. Thanks, Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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