I was having trouble accelerating normally and as quickly as usual at about 40 mph (with rpms on the V-8 unaffected). Then it suddenly got very very bad and I had a scary ride on the freeway barely able to get it past 25. Two independent repair shops have told me my 3rd and OD gears are shot. (I’ve had the car more than 20 years, it has 100,000 miles and tho i’m not sure if i’ve had a replace/rebuild before, if i did it was at least 10 years ago.) Two shops quoted me about $1500 to $1600 and offer warranties of 1 yr/12000 miles that apply only at the same shop. A trusted mechanic I’ve used before 1000 miles away can ship me a Jasper with a
3 yr/100000 nationwide warranty but would cost me about $300 more installed and I’d have to wait for ground delivery. The car and I travel a lot and I’ll probably be living out of the area very soon. (Yes, I know the car’s old but I’ve kept it in good shape and want to hold onto it as long as I can.) Does it make sense to get the Jasper with the better warranty? Thank you!
If the car were mine and I was planning on keeping it for a while I’d probably go with the Jasper unit.
One year/12k miles will roll around very quickly and it would easily be worth the 300 bucks extra to have that longer warranty period and also to possibly have someone in the new area that can stand behind any problem that may crop up.
One thing I would advise that you do with a reman transmission is at least change the fluid/filter every 30k miles or so. It’s cheap transmission insurance.
If you wanted to spring for a few bucks extra, adding an aftermarket trans fluid cooler is worth its weight in gold. You can get a cooler from the local parts house for 50-75 bucks and they’re very simple to install.
In the future if you go to sell or trade the car you can remove the cooler, reconnect the radiator fluid cooler, and keep the cooler for use on your next vehicle.
I’m so grateful for your sensible advice and I’m taking it. Just to be thorough, I’ve also asked a Ford dealer here how many millions they’d charge for putting in their own 3 yr nationwide warrantied part. but barring a miracle quote, I’ll go with the Jasper. Thank you so much!
The Ford remans have a great warranty, but I don’t know the price. That might be your best bet since you are moving. You could probably buy one from Ford and have your mechanic put it in.
The Ford/Motorcraft transmission #F1ZZ-7V000-BARM has a list price of $ 1321.44 , (trans only) plus fluid, freight(maybe) and, of course, the labor. Ford’s nationwide warranty is now 36m/100,000 miles. A Ford dealer does not need to install it, a private shop can too.
Very interesting–my local Ford dealer seemed very helpful but said that after investigation they couldn’t get a Ford transmission that would be right for my car. I think I’ve read on this board that dealers don’t handle a lot of older models, so maybe this is the problem. Thank you all for the guidance!
But if you’re patient a Ford one can be had.
ex; Ordering from Gallup NM, my Albuquerque warehouse would get one from a Seattle warehouse to ship to me. A 3 - 5 day trip.
Some parts counter staff are very, very good. OTOH, there are a fair number of slugs too.