I took my 1998 dodge caravan (83k miles)with the problem of gear slipping and the mechamnic pulled out the transmission and told me that he saw lot aluminium pieces on the pump told me that it is better to have a new transmission put in. The transmission has a big hole and cannot be rebuilt.
He quoted me $2600 including taxes.
Is this reasonable?. Is there any other alternative for lowering my transmission installation. Can I buy rebuilt transmission ?. Can you please suggest website where I can see the cost of new transmission or buy a rebuilt one.
Need help soon.
Can gurus help me !!!
That’s about what I paid for my Taurus tranny to be rebuilt 7-8 years ago.
You might want to check with Jasper. They sell remanufactured engines and transmisions. A quick search shows they get $2007.00 for your trans + $800.00 core charge. This price is delivered to you no installation included.
~Michael
It’s the norm, and many late model Front drive and electronically controlled transmissions are pricy.
The only other option would be to possibly find a low miles unit from a salvage yard. Some yards will even install the units they sell and guarantee them for 30 days or so.
Sound advice. Go new or go this route. The transmission is the weak link in all FWD/AWD cars. The money sounds reasonable, actually. Many FWD “re-builds” can go $3500-$3800…
I second Caddyman’s comment about transmissions being the weak link in modern cars. A tech article I read a few years back stated that the “average” life of a transmission 40-50 years ago was around 60k miles. It’s now down to around 30k miles. What an improvement.
Problematic and obscenely overpriced whenever a repair or replacement is needed and quite often the trans cost is more than the car is worth.
I remember back over 20 years ago when a new Subaru, at the time, sold for a shade over 9 grand. They had some automatic transmission problems that surfaced and often led to the destruction of the transmission.
The dealer COST on a replacement transmission was almost 4 grand! Add in 800 dollars markup on the trans, fluid, exhaust gaskets, labor, sales tax, and you’re looking at around 5500 dollars to put a trans in a car that new was only 9k.
You think that didn’t lead to some heated discussions!
(And I agreed with the customers, but there was nothing I could do about it except urge them to call the regional offices and raise xxxx with Subaru. I would be hot too.)
The only other comment I will make is to recommend a second opinion on the needed fix. A lot of issues with these trannies are electronic but the repair shops just throw in a new tranny BEFORE looking for anything else. Otherwise new/used or remanufactured they are all going to cost.
Thanks everybody. This is my 3rd mechanic i am showing. All the 3 say that the tranny needs to be replaced.
Well I have to as I cannot spend $$$$$ for buying a new car. Thanks for your input and help. This is an awesome foruma and on top of that more knowledgeable folks around.
i suggest you go with a rebuilt tranny, it should be alot cheaper
Quote: "A tech article I read a few years back stated that the “average” life of a transmission 40-50 years ago was around 60k miles. It’s now down to around 30k miles. What an improvement.
OK–I greatly respect your opinions and your diagnoses, but I question that figure of 30k average life for a transmission on modern cars. I have never had a transmission failure–even on the Volvo trans that leaked fluid like a sieve. If you are referring specifically to very contemporary cars, I can report the following odometer totals without transmission problems of any kind on my four most recent cars:
'86 Taurus sedan–72k
'92 Accord wagon–58k
'97 Outback Limited wagon–165k
'02 Outback VDC 3.0 H-6 wagon–74k
My brother has a '95 Camry with something like 95k on it, with no transmission problems. My best friend has an '01 Accord, and while the transmission on that model is a known weak point, even he has reached 76k without any transmission problems. And, even as a kid, none of our cars ('55 Plymouth, '59 Plymouth, '63 Plymouth, '66 Ford) ever had a transmission problem, even with a large number of miles on the odometer (certainly more than 60k stated as the transmission life for older cars).
I find it hard to believe that we have been unusually lucky, so I question that 30k figure for modern cars that was given by that article.
From what you are describing about the metal and the broken case, it sounds like the dreaded differential pin problem. These pins walk out of the differential and cut into the case until they completely destroy it. $2600 is what you are going to pay for a Chrysler reman. Thats where I would go. You get all the latest updates and a 3/36 warranty. I would stay away from Jasper and go with the Chrysler.
transman
Transman is our neighborhood transmision guru. If he says go with Chrysler and stay away from Jasper I would listen to his expert opinion.
~Michael
The reason for the 30k miles figure as compared to the 60k miles one is that a lot of this is going to be based on warranty claims, customer surveys, etc., both regular factory and good will, and will encompass even failures not related to a complete transmission roasting.
For every transmission that goes 200k without a problem, there are going to be a number of them hitting the dealers for repairs ranging from minor ot major, and a lot of them with less than 20k miles on them.
Subaru for instance, used to use a plastic govenor driven gear that was prone to stripping out. Many cars with less than 10k miles on them were towed in or driven in by their owners - in first gear only.
Kind of like a baseball team. Four or five of the guys with a great batting average and the others stinking up the joint. The end result is the team average as a whole is down.
Transmissions are much more complicated, there are a lot more variants out there, and the constant procession of electronically controlled, even 5 and 6 speed transmissions just add to the number of possible problems.
Also, many people will thrash the transmissions in their new cars due to their driving habits and warranty will probably repair it as if it were a factory fault.
I do not remember where I read that article. It was a tech publication about 7-8 years ago and a lot of water has been under the bridge.
OK4450, what about current automatic trannys on RWD cars and on manual trannys of any drive train?
Just curious.
Marnet
A tech article I read a few years back stated that the “average” life of a transmission 40-50 years ago was around 60k miles. It’s now down to around 30k miles. What an improvement.
30k…that’s absurd. Even American cars’ trannies last longer then that. I’ve yet to see ANY tranny on a fwd vehicle have problems with that few miles. I’ve seen MANY with well over 300k miles with NO probllems what-so-ever.
I don’t think you’re comprehending what I’m saying.
Many transmissions will go the life of the car with no problems.
However, what we’re talking about is the average life of a transmission figuring in all problems, large and small.
Dealers will see a lot of transmission complaints even on cars with only 5 or 10k on them, so if a 10k mile car has a shifter shaft leak that is repaired it still counts as a transmission problem when figuring the average.
I’m just relating what the tech magazine reported and I have no reason to doubt it.
You can pick just about any year and model of car, go to ALLDATA, and read through the TSB titles. You will find a high number of transmission related ones.
I could probably verify this by talking to a long time acquaintance of mine. Over the last 15+ years he has nearly quadrupled the size of his transmission shop. He’s in his early 50s and has been doing transmissions since he was 10 years old. (Helping his dad who originally started the shop.)
Marnet; normally a manual transmission is not as trouble prone as an automatic and a lot of manual trans problems are often caused by an aggressive driver or shifting one with a failing clutch or failing clutch hydraulics, driving with the weight of the hand resting on the shifter, etc.
Now and then you get into some like Subaru, which had poorly engineered synchronizers which in turn caused gear grinding.
FYI. A synchronizer is a brass, toothed ring with a cone on the inside. This cone fits over the cone on the gear.
The synchro is basically a brake shoe that stops the gear from spinning so the teeth will engage cleanly.
In Subaru’s case, one could take a brand new gear, brand new synchronizer, and even with the parts being bone dry one could not even attempt to lock the synchronizer onto the gear. It would spin no matter what.
Since you’ve stated you want to learn some mechanicals, that’s it in a nutshell about synchronizers. 
However, what we’re talking about is the average life of a transmission figuring in all problems, large and small.
Alright…Now I see what you’re saying…but I stil think 30k is too low. I’d like to see the raw data on that.
I think if you factor in everything including V.S.S., Input sensors, output sensors, PRNDL switches, etc. 30k is about right.
~Michael (dartman69 still logged out.)
I think you’ve made your decision, but perhaps one more piece of input. I’ve had to replace transmissions in two different Chrysler vehicles: four (yes FOUR!) in an '86 Voyager starting at about 55K, until I unloaded it at 110K - I now suspect undetected damage when the car was stolen, and one in my current '95 Cirrus, also at around 55K, about three years ago. I went with a reman from a reputable transmission shop (definitely not a Chrysler dealer, nor the one that starts with AA) - to the tune of about $1900, which I thought was not all that bad. I suspect that your $2600, although painful, is in the ballpark. I recommend also that before you commit to any repair shop, that you thoroughly check them out - BB, and so on. I eliminated at least one repair shop through that check.