Without the SDS reader he might as well be blind and tie his arms behind his back when working on a 722.6XX tranny.

Apparently it's water over the dam now but I never, ever would let them pull the tranny before at least having the codes read at the dealer and doing a fluid and filter change first. What can he see from removing the transmission that could not be seen from dropping the pan?

IMHO He's soaking you for $500 and knows it is just putting the foot in the door because I would bet you that you will be looking at $3,000-$4,000 for replacement with them. You should have posted earlier with the symptoms and we'd have told you that these electronic transmissions are not the same as the old style ones. So much of them is controlled by the electronics which have known flaws that the dealers can remedy relatively cheaply. You can always seek a second opinion if the dealer said it was unrepairable but once this guy has it out are you going to have him replace it broken and pay him $500 for nothing? No, he's going to sell you a rebuilt...period - I'd bet that was his plan all along. AAMCO...we call them scamco around here.

I know I sound like I'm scolding you...I don't mean to do that, I just want to warn others who might read this in the future...when you are having trouble with a 722.6XX, get the codes read first - pay the dealer or a specialty indi who has the proper scanner to diagnose it, usually it is about $100 if you don't have them fix it...once the codes are read you can see where to go from there.

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz