OK... I see what you all say about aamco. I really hope this guy oversold what is wrong, and I appreciate all the input from you guys to help me not waste time/money. Anyhow went to pick up the car, and his explanation was the - and I may be using the wrong words - clutch pack is destroyed/worn. Its all those little bands that 'normal wear'. He even said he felt bad giving me the keys back because it was like giving the keys to a drunk driver. As far as the dealer, still havnt heard back from then what the $1300 estimate in labor really meant. She did say the problem was 'internal' and I am supposed to call back to her about what that means.
Anyhow, this all got me thinking about how easy it would be for anyone to scam. Basically just say the tranny is shot and pull the old put in the new. No way for the consumer to inspect the old. Having read all the forums and such it does seem that there is a solid pattern of bad solenoids - which should be a reasonable 'low cost' fix. Thus why I initially posted I felt from reading and my inexperience that was what it was.
To help us all debunk what is going on, let me try to be a little more specific, and please ask any questions of make any comments - I need the ammo to avoid any scams.
- Definite slow to engage into reverse, could be a couple seconds, could be as much as 10.
- Usually, the longer the wait, the more likely I get the wham, did someone just hit me engagement in reverse.
- About 1 in 15 times, I will get that wham, the rest of the time it will either be normal, or a small clunk.
- I don't believe its slipping in reverse, but most of the time I am backing up small incline into my carport. I am being REAL careful on the accelerator as not to slam into the next car, or wall but once in awhile when I press it wont go, but on those times I feel it hadn't engaged yet, due to no clunk. Putting it in park and back in reverse then works. AAmco guy says he feels lots of slipping even some in forward.
- Also says the forward rings are just as bad and are going next, but to me the car going forward has been real smooth for the most part, and if anything 2-3 shift seems a little slow, higher revs to 2500 or 2700, never beyond 3000. Occasionally it will bump a little then, but certainly no hard wham like the reverse.
- 3 to 4 I cant think I ever felt an issue.
- I haven't done much highway driving yet, tomorrow I will do more about 50 mile round trip to VA. So 4 to 5 I may have felt a little stutter once or twice, but I am so far from certain of that on the half dozen short 5 mile highway hops I really cant say I know an issue is there, just saying to help.
Anyway, the history of the car is the son of an 80 ish old woman sold it to me, grandpa kept all of the receipts for work and I have them. They match carfax and more. They lived in a coastal farm town above santa barbara, and advertised it as highway miles and garage kept - and I believe both it is so pristine in the engine and interior. Grandpa even went so far as to write down mileage monthly, any notes on work on standard sheet paper - which I have and that all matches to receipts. As far as the family goes, the son lives in the rich side of town, has a pristine Cobra in his garage that I sat by for an hour while doing all the papers, works for a major car company. My point here is I cant buy that they simply neglected the transmission as to have major internal damage done. But you tell me.
As far as neglect, the AAmco guy said the fluid was full and good, the constant receipts from 3k to 4k miles on lube services tell me it likely never leaked, as stated no transmission receipts, just one comment from a last receipt for valve gasket about service tranny for hard shift - probably the reverse. Neither dealer nor aamco has mentioned seeing any evidence of leak on the tranny.
Ultimately, my gut tells me the internals should NOT have gone bad in the less than 100k miles (I just turned it 100k last week) with this cars history. Oh and the aamco guy says the solenoid is working great, which from what I can tell if it goes too long will help destroy the interior, but if it is working great, how did that happen. What do you all think?
^)
