TRANNY REBUILD OPTIONS

[ERIC]

The topic of the apparently short-lived EXP auto tranny has come up many times on this board, but I haven't ever seen a discussion by some of you gear heads (band heads?) regarding the best option for someone who is going to have to deal with a crapped out tranny.

I am specifically interested in the often short-lived auto tranny in the 4.0L. I have seen at least one reference here that it is "too weak" for the job. Whatever the case, there seem to a lot of them that begin to slip, especially when cold and in cold temperatures, around 100K miles.

The tranny in my '96 XLT has 126K on it. Over the past three winters, it has become increasingly slow to shift and lock up when first run in the morning. In fact, it is to the point now where it won't operate properly after being parked 5-8 hours in an ambient temperature of less than 60 degrees. At this point, a two mile drive usually brings it up to speed, so to speak. However, the handwriting is on the wall...this tranny isn't going to make it thru another winter.

My options are:
1) Let the Ford dealer slip in a factory rebuild at $2500 or so. (FWIW, my Taurus had a factory rebuild installed under warranty...it failed in 10K miles...2 weeks after the shortened warranty ran out...and Ford would not discuss a make good.)

2) Let AAMCO rebuild it (unknown cost). (After the Ford unit failed, AAMCO then installed a rebuilt in the Taurus and it was fine...but I only kept the car for 25K after the installation...not a real test.)

3) Let a local tranny shop rebuild it for $1075 plus up to $400 in "hard parts." (Several friends of mine who are car freaks...custom rods/classics/etc...are recommending a particular tranny shop they regularly use when rebuilding and repairing.)

Obviously, the local shop rebuild has a nice cost advantage. Also, the place gets recommended by some fairly demanding owners. I'm inclined to take this route.

However, before I make this decision, I'd be interested in any thoughts from those of you who actually know something about auto trannies...cause I sure don't!

 

[jaks7124]

I have a 91' Ex, and around 125K my transmission started acting up. 1st the overdrive went completely out. 2nd, the tranny started making noises. Well i kind of ignored them b/c I knew it would be too expensive to fix the tranny, well- 3rd, the tranny was very sluggish. If it had been sitting (turned off) for a period of time (usually about 2 hrs. or more)and no matter what temperature it happened to be, it would rev really high and wouldn't shift for about 2 miles. After this I really knew something was up. But I continued to drive it. Well about 3 weeks ago it went completely out. I too had to look at all of my options. Taking it to a ford dealership would be way too expensive. So I asked around and many people referred me to a local transmission shop. Well that had two options for me, 1st- rebuild the tranny for about $1100, and 2nd- install a brand new Jasper tranny for about $2300. Well I'm still in college so I chose the $1100 rebuild. I haven't had any problems yet, except for my empty wallet. Just don't wait for it to go completely out b/c I had to had on a towing bill. The auto trannies on the older explorers are not very good. Several of my friends and family members have one and they have already replaced their trannies. Good luck and I hope this helps you out a little.:redexp:

 

[kandtholman]

Ford has always had problems with trannies in anything. In my life I have owned 3 Fords (86 Cougar, 95 TBIRD, and now my 92 X), 2 Hondas (91 Civic and 91 Civic Hatch), 1 Pontiac (86 Fiero V-6), 1 Chevy (82 S-10 Durango), and 1 Nissan (300ZX). The only problem I had with tranny's was with the fords and Honda's. The Honda was just the clutch's needed to be tightened once and a while. The problem with the Fords was that the tranny's just suck. The cougar went out at 112,000, the TBird when cold was a butt to shift from park unless you stood on the gas for it to warm it up more, and my X has had no problems yet at 94,000 miles. I looked at some consumer reports stuff and they said that the tranny's in all of the FORDs are unreliable after 100,000 miles. But some people get lucky I guess. I hope I am one of them.