We bought a 2008 Honda Accord for $9K when cars were hard to come by in November 2022. It has 181K miles but last weekend while driving 75 mph on the highway, the car just went wonky and wouldn’t go over 20 mph. Pulled over, restarted fine but wouldn’t go over 20 and RPMs would just rev. Mechanic says the transmission is blown and it would cost $2800 to fix it. I’m trying to assess whether it’s worth it to fix the car or if I will just face more costly expenses in the year or two to come. I don’t even know if you can sell a car with no transmission.
Thoughts? Thank you!
You can sell a car with bad transmission.
You list it as a mechanics special.
Have you considered installing a used transmission?
Tester
no, i haven’t. how do you do that?
Call your local auto recycler and ask if they have a transmission for your car and the price.
Tester
Ask around at various repair shops around town, which is the best independent transmission shop in town. Take your Accord there for another assessment. If they agree with the first shop, $3000 to repair , ask if there are any temporary work-a-rounds worth trying, fresh tranny fluid & filter, magic additives, etc. You might be able to bring it back to a working car, for a few thousands of miles anyway. Also ask if it would make sense, rather than repair this one, to install a used tranny from a wrecked Accord.
That said, if this were my Accord, and it was otherwise in good condition, I’d bite the bullet and have the tranny rebuilt, replacing all the wearing parts. I did that on my truck when it developed a similar symptom, brought the transmission back to like-new condition. Be sure to ask your mechanic to assess the engine condition before doing that.
thank you both so much. I would not at all know to ask those questions.
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This where I purchase my used engines/transmissions from.
The price of the component is based on the number miles on it.
Still much cheaper than a remanufactured/new transmission.
Tester
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ok my husband says the mechanic found a used transmission with 90K miles. It was $945 for the used transmission and then $1645 for labor. Thoughts?
I don’t know where you live.
Prices vary on auto repair depending on that.
Tester
The $950 parts cost for 90K used transmission seems a little more than I’d have guessed, but within reason. Probably on the order of a 10 hour job, so the labor fee may or may not be reasonable. So roughly $2500 vs $3000? hmmm … I’d still be leaning towards rebuilding the current transmission for $3k. If the job is done correctly, you’d have very close to a brand new transmission w/zero miles on it. If the prices were $1750 vs $3000, that would be a tougher call.
I would not even try to make a decision for you and your husband . Selling as it is now will not get you much money. Another used vehicle could have even more expensive problems . If you fix this one you will sell it for more than the repair cost or you just might be able to drive it until you can upgrade to a better vehicle. You just have to do what will let you sleep at night.
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That is the price to install a used transmission, a remanufactured transmission will cost $3,000 to $5000 plus labor. Repair the vehicle and drive it for 5 more years.
If they can match your price for rebuilding transmission, this would come to $5,000 with labor, fluid and additional parts.
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Another thing to think about would be buy a Jasper Transmission from jasperengines.com
they come with a 3 year/100,000 mile Nationwide Transferable Warranty — Parts and Labor.
Remember you can spend $2000.00 a year on your paid for vehicle and that is only $167.00 a month and $4000.00 a year is only $334.00 a month, waay less than a car payment and chances are you will not spend that every year… Plus every time you replace something you should get some kind of warranty with it so it will be cheaper next go around… Plus ins is normally cheaper on an older vehicle… Just something to think about…
Now if the repair exceeds around 75% of the value of the vehicle then it becomes how much you like it versus buying something else, cause if you wreck and total it you will not get your money out of it… Just something I always told my customers when they had to make a decision on any major repair…
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You paid a lot. And need to spend more to fix it. Tough choice.
I’d want the replacement to have a decent warranty. Honda transmissions are fragile, a used one might also fail.
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Find a reputable “Local” transmission specialist in your area. I live in a town of under 5,000 and we have at least 2. They can either find a rebuilt one and put it in. Or they can rebuild it themselves, or they can drop in a used one. The cost will vary on the option you choose.
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Thank you all for the help on this. REALLY helpful. I wish we hadn’t paid top dollar when we bought it last year. Really seemed like it was a winner at the time.
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