Advice on transmission repair and replacement

By Brian Klaubert and Brian Warbington

Atlantan’s put a lot of miles on their vehicles. It is quite common to see 3 year old vehicles with over 100,000 miles on them. In past columns we have mentioned repeatedly the value of a transmission fluid flush. However, with as infrequently as this service is performed we see a lot of vehicles that have never done this. Without this service, 100,000 to 120,000 miles is pretty good life for a transmission.

When your transmission fails, there are several questions you should ask – both yourself and your repair shop. First, is your vehicle worth repairing? If the vehicle has not generally been well maintained or if it is already 10 years old, it may not be worth investing in a new transmission. You may be better off putting the money that the repair would have cost towards a new car.

However, you may have sticker shock when you go to look at that new car. If your car is only 3-5 years old, you may get a new lease on its life by replacing the transmission.

Hopefully, the situation may be that you only need a repair and not a replacement. The best equipped repair facilities will have computerized diagnostic equipment that can both look at the commands coming from the vehicle’s control computer and separately equipment that can measure and test the performance of the transmission. If you are told that your transmission is “toast”, ask specifically what is wrong.

An early stage failure that is not too expensive to deal with is replacement of some of the solenoids that control transmission shifting.

All too frequently the transmission is beyond simple repair. If the transmission fluid is very brown or very burnt smelling, frequently the internal damage is already too great to be fixed with a simple repair.

The next question to be answered is what source of transmission to put in. A junk yard transmission is usually a bad choice. You are installing a transmission that is probably only a short time away from being in the same condition as your current transmission.

The next level of repair is a locally rebuilt transmission. These transmissions will usually have a 12 month/12,000 mile warranty, but may only be valid locally. If your transmission fails in Daytona Beach, it may be covered, but will undoubtedly be a hassle. If, however, your car is only driven locally and you are only looking for one more year, this may be a good option. Keep in mind that you are likely to only get 12,000 miles of additional transmission life. This repair should be between $1200 and $1800, depending on the size of your vehicle.

The upper end of the spectrum is the nationally remanufactured transmission. These are offered by all domestic car manufacturers and by a few nationally distributed independent remanufacturers. Any qualified independent repair shop has equal access to manufacturer transmissions. These transmissions are frequently processed in the same factory where new transmissions are made. These transmissions will have a nationwide 3 year/36,000 mile warranty at a minimum. Some warranties are 3 year/50,000 miles or even 3 year/75,000 miles. The warranty is valid either at all dealers for your vehicle and or qualified full service repair facilities. You will receive a 1-800 number for support in the event of problems. This repair will be between $1800 to $3000 depending upon the size of your vehicle.

Brian Klaubert and Brian Warbington are with Christian Brothers Automotive – Hamilton Mill, in Dacula.