It happend to me (transmission)

[Digitalgp]

209k on the clock and my trans seems like its decided to kick the bucket. Drove it to the grocery store about 10 mins from my house completely fine. On the way back is when it started acting weird. Went into 1st ok, shifting into 2nd it felt more like it was surging rather than upshifting then going into 3rd when it was going to shift the rpms revved up then it upshifted. After 4th & 5th it shifted fine, but everytime I had to stop or slow down it did it again.

I don't know if the transmission has been replaced or rebuilt before, but since I bought it with 155k I'm sure it has. I do not see any trans fluid leaking. I'm kind of in the crosshairs right now as to what to do. I am a bit skeeved going with a used unit due to the known problems with these. The local scrap yard has units ranging from 62k to 127k ranging from $1400-1600. The scrap yard is also selling reman units with a 3yr/100k warranty for $2405. I know OEM & Jasper are neck & neck price wise. Jasper being $3037 & Ford $3084 for the unit itself (minus core charge). Both have very similar warranties. Other than that the couple local rebuilders I would concider are closed from the holiday. I did talk to an AAMCO. He said $3000 installed for a rebuilt with an 18mo/18k warranty or $3600 installed for a reman with a 3yr/unlimited warranty.

I do want to keep it for at least another 100k if possible. I'm curious to see what everyone else did and what their experience was

 

[boominXplorer]

Are you getting your pricing from a shop or researching yourself? The Ford and Jasper units seem about $4-500 over what they actually cost.

V6 or V8?

 

[Explorer_PL]

Not sure what engine you have but I bought reman 5R55S for $ 1,800 from StreetSmart Transmissions including shipping. They have remanufactured 6R60s for $ 2,200

 

[Digitalgp]

I priced out on my own. That’s what jasper & ford said were list prices on the units when I called. I have the v6 with the infamous 5r55s.

I dropped it off to my local trusted shop this evening for him to give an official diagnosis. He probably won’t get to it till Monday at this point, but it’s not doing anything sitting in my driveway. The weird part was that it drove fine. The only thing that felt
off to me was the upshift from 2nd-3rd felt a little hard. Still no lights on the dash or anything. I was also going very easy on it. I know something is definitely up with it.

Good to know about street smart. Their warranty seems good too. I will contact them tomorrow.

 

[Explorer_PL]

Glad you have a guy who will maybe rebuild it for you. I wanted to do the same but my local shops would not rebuild it if I brought the tranny to them. They wanted the full job. Good luck, looks like you can handle it yourself.

 

[Digitalgp]

Explorer_PL, I would probably just give them the whole job if it comes down to it even if they let me bring my own unit. Reason being I would most likely lose out any labor reimbursement if I do have an issue again down the road.

So the mechanic I use locally did look at it this morning and called me. He said that when he took it out for a test drive it felt fine to him other then a little lag between the 2nd-3rd shift which is probably what I felt driving to his shop last night. When he brought it in there were no codes in the system. He checked the fluid and it was full and only slightly dirty, but not burnt smelling or anything that would alarm him. He doesn't feel like there is any action I need to take at the moment. I asked about changing the fluid, but he doesn't feel that is necessary. He did say to bring it right back if I do feel it acting up again. I am still thinking something tranny related may be the issue, but now I'm completely boggled as to what else it could be.

 

[Digitalgp]

Sorry about the post whoring, just wanted to update again.

Picked up the explorer from the shop. He was nice and didn’t charge me any diag time on it. Drove home perfectly fine. I drove it normal, I didn’t baby it nor did I beat on it. Was shifting very smooth like nothing ever happened. Just still feeling a bit anxious about it happening again

 

[Explorer_PL]

Great, not sure why I thought you dropped the transmission at the shop LOL not the whole car.
I thought you pulled it out of the car already.

 

[Digitalgp]

^That is beyond my scope of abilities lol.

I’ve talked with a number rebuilder shops to get some education and test their knowledge of this trans. They all ran in the vicinity of $3000. Some a little under some a little over. Out of all the ones I’ve spoken with I only feel comfortable with the knowledge and thoroughness of 3 of them. All 3 mentioned about the servos wearing on the case and me likely having a failed band in the trans. They would drill out the bores and resleeve with brass (which I saw in a thread here) as well as some other updates/upgrades and of course doing a full flush. Of those 3 only 1 offered a 12month/12,000 warranty (which the majority of the shops did). The other two were the only ones to offer a 1year/unlimited mileage warranty which would work better for me with how much mileage I put on. Between those two shops it’s pretty much a difference of price (being a couple hundred bucks) and distance. My wife has AAA so I would more then likely take advantage of that.

I would prefer having a Ford or Jasper unit swapped in, but from my research I believe going with a good knowledgeable rebuilder is the best middle road solution between cost & reliability. For right now it’s just a matter of putting some money aside for it. I have my Pontiac I can drive around in and my wife has her car

 

[Blackexplorer06]

I had my first 'rebuild' at 90,000 miles. $1800. They basically fixed what was broken. Then at 130,000 miles I realized the differences in rebuilds. This time I had a complete rebuild. They took the whole thing a part down to an empty case. I went by and saw it as they were cleaning the case. Then a complete rebuild with upgraded parts. $3000 all new. 3 year 36000 mile warranty. Like new.

 

[Digitalgp]

I get the whole saving money thing, but at the same time if you plan on keeping it might as well get it done the right way. When I save the money to get it done I want whole thing rebuilt especially being over 200k. I want this thing to hit over 300k on the odometer. That's why I went around to so many shops trying to figure out their knowledge of this transmission & what they would do. That 3year/36k warranty is excellent for a rebuilder. Nobody around here offers that