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Trouble with new trans rebuild

andante147

andante147

New member
'03 GTP with 135K. I was having some occasional slipping, and hum/vibration at about 40 mph and up when I released the accelerator, and erratic hunting. I asked a friend (a cop who owns all GM cars) where he recommends having work done. He sent me to an independent shop. They said I needed a rebuild. I choked up the $1700. Has a one-year warranty. It's been about 3 months, but the first week I took it in for a required re-check and told the guy I thought it still felt a little weird a time or two. Now it's weird almost every day... lurching into 1st after coasting to a stop, strong hunting between upper gears so much that it bucks a bit, and shifting is harsher than the same trans, same miles (not rebuilt) on my '02 Olds minivan.

When I did the test, I told the guy I thought it was off, but of course it didn't do anything on the test drive. Honestly, this guy (not the boss) strikes me as not knowing much. I said one issue I felt was in cold weather... he said "you have to warm it up for at least ten minutes". Ridiculous! Just for kicks, I actually HAVE warmed it up for that long two or three times. No lurch from stop, but other issues persist.

Ok - I HATE haggling, confronting these guys. Is it possible that they didn't do this job at all? If so, can it be proven after 3 months?

Any external components or controls they should have looked at?

I hate this ... and know they'll be jerks when I come back and they don't feel any problems at the moment... like I want to spend my time at their place for fun.

Advice?
 


Have you checked the fluid level while it is fully hot in park and idling? It almost sounds like its low on fluid.
 
Not really. Who knows if they followed the proper refill proceedure. They may have just filled it up with it cold and called it good.
 
Without looking at it, I'll say...they did the work. Otherwise it would ahve been bad from the start.

Go back, if you feel guy x isn't giving you what you want ask to speak to the next guy up. Ask if they'll keep the car overnight or a couple days and drive it to see what you are saying.
 
To be clearer, I did notice the slipping from cold start and mentioned it. That's when he said warm it up for 10-15 MINUTES. I always give it a good 15 SECONDS, to circulate fluids, etc. but not minutes.

So, there was some slipping in the first week - now it's just (minor) erratic stuff all over the place. I'm going out to start up, warm up and check fluid.
 


I'd drive it for about 15 minutes before you check the fluid. This will ensure it is fully hot. It will take forever to get hot just sitting and idling.
 
set the car on fire and drive through the shop front door, that will get their attention lol

of course im kidding!

frigging customer is always right i'd demand service! a rebuilt trans is a lot of money, pulse they never rebuild the whole thing, just what wrong with it, and the rebuild kit for them is like 150 bucks and they don't use the whole kit, the remainder of the kit will be used for other ppls trannys that need the rest of the parts.

trans shops blow! you really need to stress to them you want everything replaced or its not rebuilt its only repaired.

i found this out the hard way when my 97 trucks trans went out on me, fvcker told me well we replaced the 1 st gear clutches, i paid 1800 bucks for a repair? i was like what about the rest of them? he goes thats how it works, when it blew up again in 2 months i had them replace everything from a new rebuild kit, they even showed me all the kits hung up on the wall, 1/2 used!!!! i was pissed to say the least!
 
Dude I've been there. I paid 2200 for mine and I drove it right after they fixed it, slipped, brought it back. They "fixed" it again and I got it back, 3 days later started slipping again, brought it back and asked wtf the problem was, and they gave me some bull**** issues. Fixed it again.... 8 months later it goes for good. I had a 12k 12month warranty, I was at 13k so no more warranty. I was so pissed, I finally just bought a rebuilt from Certified Transmission that was half the price and has a 3 year/50k miles warranty. I had to have it replaced after 4k miles cause the torque converter wasn't locking up in 4th. Was this independent shop called Cottman Transmission in Olathe, KS? Lol.
 
the icing on the cake for me was when they were rebuilding mine for the 3 time, they left the truck on the lift in the air for the weekend, and left a jack stand under my truck, and the lift slowly lowered itself down, and the jack stand smashed my oil pan! they replaced it and payed for it but i was not to happy about it. i so wanted to beat the living daylights out of this old guy who owned the shop!

but i did get to see my bottom end and how damn clean it was, and the pan was free of any sludge, so regular oil changes are well worth it, i had over 100,000 on the truck at the time. and it all looked like new!
 


Grow up... ok. I say that from the perspective of a guy who moonlights as a mechanic when possible.

Stuff happens in life and it does suck. Frequently though. It's not your mechanic building the trans. He takes it out, brings it to another place or guy and that guy is the one actually doing the rebuilding. Meanwhile..lemme tell you, the mechanic loses money each time he has to touch the trans. Therefore he wants it to be right the first time. Extra time spent on your car means he loses money on the next car in line.

That mechanic wants you to be happy and satisfied. If you think it's a pain to go back, it's worse from his end. Bad repuation to anyone you talk with about the experience. Lost money because time is money in that business Etc etc. Go back and be a good guy. Yell or get angry only if need be. Like I said.....you didn't like the answer from guy X. So go in and ask to talk to the guy that runs the shop or the owner. He's got a direct interest in you being taken care of properly.
 
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