92 Buick LeSaber tranny question

My father in-law took in his 1992 buick lesaber and had the tranny fluid changed. It has 132,000 miles on it.

Now , when he puts it in reverse it takes about 20 seconds to engage. if he puts it in drive and rolls forward a few inches, then puts it in reverse it backs up right away. He went back to the repair shop to see if they damaged it, but they said the tranny was worn, thats why with new fluid it is hesitating. it worked perfectly before he had the fluid changed. Is he being told the truth? Or did the repair shop goof up?

Thanks for any help!

Has anyone double-checked the fluid level since it was changed? You should also ask/verify that the right fluid was, in fact, used.

Tranny fluid change can refer to different things. Do you know exactly what was done? One bad idea is to take a transmission with this many miles on it - especially if it has not gotten regular service - and “flush” it without first pulling the pan, checking its contents, and changing the filter. This can cause problems. In the world of what is right it should be the responsibility of a shop to do things that way. In the what the world really works, the interpretation is murky, and at least partly dependent on what a customer asked for/agreed to.

If the only thing that was done was a drop of the pan and change of the filter then the odds that this would cause a problem are slim.

Why was the transmission serviced? Has it been regularly serviced up to this time? If not you should be expecting that anything can go wrong at any time (of course that more or less applies anyway). What kind of a shop did this service? Was it a big corporate chain?

Thanks for the reply cigroller. I will get exact details tomorrow. I am pretty sure it was a fluid change and not a “flush”. My father-in-law is 82 years old, and I believe the service shop said he should change fluid due to the milage on the car. I think it was a “local” repair shop, not a chain.

He did take it back to the repair shop and questioned the manager if the service tech somehow made a mistake, and the manager said no. It is now slipping because it is worn out (worked fine right up to the time they changed fluid).

I will post exact details tomorrow. Thanks.

not familiar with this particular car, but some cars, like BMW have two tranny pans or a strut through one and it doesn’t get filled properly or drained properly. This often gets BMW drivers who think their tranny is no good when the front pan may just be low.