I recently had the transmission rebuilt on my Mazda Tribute. I took it to a shop that had great reviews. Ten weeks after they rebuilt the transmission, the transmission failed in exactly the same way it failed the first time (speaking from a driver’s perspective, not a mechanic’s). The shop has its own warranty, so I took it back, and they honored the warranty with no questions. Unfortunately it took two and a half weeks to repair this time. They said the torque converted went out, and busted up a bunch of the rebuilt transmission. But they fixed it. When i picked it up, the owner mentioned that there was a ‘flair’ going in to 3rd gear: a delay, followed by a ‘jerk.’ He said it might work itself out in a week, but if it doesn’t and it bothers me, I could bring it back and he would adjust it. The flair is pretty annoying, but I’m concerned how long it will take before I get my car back this time. Is a flair like this damaging to the transmission? Or is it just an annoyance?
Any time it’s jerking, that’s not good, so they should make it work correctly. Also, it’s ‘flare’, referring to the extended time for changing gears.
It sounds to me like the shop doesn’t know what it’s doing when it comes to transmissions and your transmission is going to meet its doom sooner rather than later.
Just like engines, the word “rebuild” has several interpretations; some good and some bad.
Yes, a “flare” could damage the transmission but its going to depend on what the flare actually is. Now that I have confused you let me explain what I mean by that. The flare that you are feeling is either the transmission coming out of second and delaying 3rd apply then the “jerk” you are feeling is 3rd gear applying. This would not damage the transmission since 2nd gear is disengaging fully, you have delay then you have 3rd apply. This is also called “Neutraling”. Another type of flare is where 2nd gear doesnt drop out quick enough and the friction elements start to slip before 3rd applies. This flare damages the 2nd gear friction elements. The problem could be in the valve body. Either way, you have a flare, its not right and it needs to be fixed.
transman