# Transmissions diagnosis costs **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** caravan, dodge\ **Created:** [January 14, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/transmissions-diagnosis-costs/59937 "2011-01-14T14:43:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jeffdriveonly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jeffdriveonly](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jeffdriveonly)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/transmissions-diagnosis-costs/59937/1 "2011-01-14T14:43:04Z")
93 Dodge caravan se transmission stops working fluid levels normal trans only engadges if engine is rived then trans then releases had towed to shop who had replaced seals and axles year before. says trans is gone hes says that the diagnosis costs $500.00 the car needed seals air was escaping from manifold seals had on order mechanic had raised idel car was stalling when u come to a stop , as to prevent stalling untill part arrives on way to work aquarter of mile from work my right front wheel starts to bounce like it had gone off balance then i lost power the car coasted into my work then started to roll back from the slight incline so i put it park cut it off started gave it gas it engaged enough for me to park . ive put a lot of new parts and wheels brakes fan and assembly brakes had it tuned filters the trns was running fine and then " pow ." ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/transmissions-diagnosis-costs/59937/2 "2011-01-14T14:48:26Z")
Can you try re-posting your question with punctuation? As it is, I find it very difficult to follow what you are trying to tell us. ---
**Author:** ![UncleTurbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9a140/32.png) [@UncleTurbo](https://community.cartalk.com/u/UncleTurbo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 2:49pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/transmissions-diagnosis-costs/59937/3 "2011-01-14T14:49:17Z")
Jeff, your post has too much unrelated info. It sounds like you have put money in this van and now have another problem, this time the trans. It is a '93 with likely 100K and more miles. If the trans was serviced every 30K miles since new it might still be OK. Likely the trans has been service less frequently or perhaps not at all. Diagnosing a trans problem isn’t going to be too much money, many places would diagnose for free. However your van has multiple problems so diagnosing all of them might take some work. $500 is 6 or 7 hours of labor for a diagnosis - that sounds excessive. ---
**Author:** ![lion9car](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/59ef9b/32.png) [@lion9car](https://community.cartalk.com/u/lion9car)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/transmissions-diagnosis-costs/59937/4 "2011-01-14T15:59:35Z")
I’m always amazed when people who want help from the largest audience possible will post something so hard to read that at least half of that audience will just skip it and move on. ---
**Author:** ![jeffdriveonly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jeffdriveonly](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jeffdriveonly)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 6:13pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/transmissions-diagnosis-costs/59937/5 "2011-01-14T18:13:56Z")
I apologize, guess im a little excited. my question is , $500.00 EXCESSIVE for a diagnosis on a transmission . In the future I promise to be more controlled and punctuated in my delivery, thank you . ---
**Author:** ![cigroller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@cigroller](https://community.cartalk.com/u/cigroller)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/transmissions-diagnosis-costs/59937/6 "2011-01-14T18:23:33Z")
Right - well it was just too much info and hard to tell where one thought ended and another began. But anyway - for $500 they must be planning to remove the tranny and tear it down. This could loosely be called “diagnosis” because when you do that you can probably figure out what is wrong with it. But basically it would be fairly nuts to do a teardown for “diagnosis” - you decide whether or not you’re not you’re going to have it rebuilt. If you aren’t going to get a full rebuild then you spend $0. But a good trans tech with the right scanner should be able to give you a really good educated guess on diagnosis without having to tear anything down. For this you shouldn’t have to spend more than $100 - on the very highest end. What kind of shop is this? ---
**Author:** ![jeffdriveonly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jeffdriveonly](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jeffdriveonly)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/transmissions-diagnosis-costs/59937/7 "2011-01-14T18:27:12Z")
Thanks for responding , i have put money into this vehicle , and it has served me well, especially at the gas pumps ,over 635 miles for under $90.00 dollars on trips to N.C. ---
**Author:** ![jeffdriveonly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jeffdriveonly](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jeffdriveonly)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/transmissions-diagnosis-costs/59937/8 "2011-01-14T18:45:04Z")
A Transmission shop specializing in Manual/Automatic , Light and Heavy Trucks and they claim to do Electric Diagnostics. In Belleville N.J. thank you for your reply. ---
**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/transmissions-diagnosis-costs/59937/9 "2011-01-14T19:01:02Z")
For a 500 dollar diagnosis this sounds like someone is going to remove the transmission and go on a fishing expedition inside of it. With an aged, high miles transmission this means it will be in pieces and they will then tell you they need to rebuild it. This should be sorted out without tearing it apart but odds are the transmission is on the way out. ---
**Author:** ![oldtimer-11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e79b87/32.png) [@oldtimer-11](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oldtimer-11)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 4:31am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/transmissions-diagnosis-costs/59937/10 "2011-03-14T04:31:07Z")
It sounds like you took your van to a transmission shop that claimed to have to remove the trans to diagnose it, you authorized that and now they want $500 for trans removal and re-installation. Is that what happened? ---
**Author:** ![transman618](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/transman618/32/24_2.png) [@transman618](https://community.cartalk.com/u/transman618)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 4:45am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/transmissions-diagnosis-costs/59937/11 "2011-03-14T04:45:02Z")
Before you tell them to go ahead and do anything, you need to decide on what you are going to do with the van. Are you going to fix it no matter what??? Would you consider putting a used, junk yard transmission in it or do you definitely want yours rebuilt?? Reason being, jeff is that if you do not want to spend the money to rebuild it and you would rather get a used trans then dont let them do a diagnosis because thats $500 you will never see again. Will they find and install a good used trans for you?? transman