Thanks for the heads up Steve.

Hi everyone,

This transmission ordeal has been a very strange and unusuall for me. Here's why...

Very often people on the forum vent negatively about dealers and mechanics while trying to second guess them.At times I'm sure for good reason. I have probably ventured into that frustrating territory myself. However -
The shop I use is very good and I have had nothing but good things to say about them in the past.They are not cheap by any means, are very credible and They do their own transmission work. I was in the "clean room" and saw mine amongst other dismantled ones BEFORE they took it apart.
What was strange was that when I showed up after the weekend to find out the verdict on my old transmission, the owner wasn't there, but the car was jacked up with a new shinning looking transmission on it. not mine...
I could only get him on the phone the next morning when he explained in detail all that I wrote about in earlier posts.
When I Told him how upset I was about not being notified in advance - he immediately offered to remove the tranny,and call me a tow truck to take my car away.
Now this car is a daily drive , the shop owner thinks he is helping me out with a "speedy recovery" and my work schedule that week unfortunately could not afford me the time just then to drive around with a tow truck and a broken down tranny looking for help...not to mention the position I'd be in with that new shop I did not even know.
I felt taken, no doubt, but in capable hands. So I Made the decision to stay with the shop and the rebuilt tranny. Did I make a good call ? I hope so.

From the sound of things you can very well be a real winner.

My concern about unit replacement was based upon a shop who diagnoses by unit exchange. I pointed out that reverse clutch job should also include all seals and other clutches - often known as a rebuild! if your shop does enough of these that they have one in a more efficient point for installation in your car I have absolutely no problem with that.

Anyone doing these things regularly will only have one problem with them. That is small shift irregularities. These can require valve bodies and even a case can get warpage or internal leaks. This is very rare and everything else is staright nuts and bolts to get it mechanically right. If he fails he will notice it and maybe in some cases not notice till driven a while. This second set of conditions is the real risk in tranny repair and if the thing accepts adjustment it will last forever (which is 100,000 miles according to lifetime tranny oil requirements).

A shop doing that amount of tranny work should give the best value. As long as the basic tranny numbers are right don't worry about which tranny you got. If its working good you're a winner!

__________________
Steve Brotherton
Continental Imports
Gainesville FL
Bosch Master, ASE Master, L1
33 years MB technician

Hi Steve

Just realized it has been almost a week now with this "new" tranny.
So far so good..I am keeping my fingers crossed.