Tranny Trouble, need advice

[SYS7EMATIC]

I'm hoping someone can give me some advice as to what I should do. I've got a 97 SHO with about 135k miles on it.

Yesterday I was driving to work when for some reason it wouldnt really go into gear. It was acting like it was stuck in neutral or something. I turned the car off, turned it back on, put it in drive and it started driving fine. About a mile or two down the road as I was trying to accelerate it got stuck in neutral again. I had to pull over, turn the car off, restart it for it to go again. The fluid level was fine (although leaking a bit because I need a new oil pan gasket).

Long and short of it is, apparently (at least the shop has told me) I need a new transmission. The one in it now works fine once you get it up to highway speed (I drove it back with no problem).

My question to you all is, A) are you able to REBUILD rather than replace these transmissions? The shop hasn't mentioned anything about being able to rebuild the transmission. I've got them looking for a used one for now

Thank you all very much for your time. Any assistance you can provide me would be greatly appreciated.

-Alex

 

[Vnuk1]

Yes you can rebuild them hopefully you have some Forum members that are near you to possibly give you a hand or advice.

 

[38SHO]

you mention 2,000 bucks, then talk about a shop not wanting to rebuild it and looking for a used junkyard transmission... which could be on its last legs itself.... you are getting ripped off

a transmission shop can rebuild that, and remove it reinstall it for you, for less then that.... and you get one thats been gone through and all the bad parts fixed... and all new seals and gaskets... and all the debris cleaned out of it... that sounds a **** of a lot better then a 2k dollar used transmission deal...

another thing to question about the value of the car, is it worth such a repair and money put into it...

how is the body? is it all rusted to shit underneath it? have you ever had the cam sprockets welded to the camshafts? are the tires good, brakes/suspension/steering in good working order?

basically if its a solid car its defintely worth putting a rebuilt transmission into it.... if its falling apart and all rusty and lots of stuff needs to be replaced... it just turns into a money pit at that point

 

[SHO#7]

Drop the pan and change the fluid and filter. It will buy you some time.


Ok.... Why. Because you have something coming apart in the transmission. Right now its contents live in the pan. When they are sucked up into the filter, it blocks the fluid flow. Making the car neutralize. You shut it off, the slime ooozes out. Now you have fluid flow again and the car moves for a little, until the process starts again.

So, do that fluid and filter change. And save up fast, as it will only buy a small window of time.

Mike

 

[Huntervf]

Moved to the V8 section

Transmissions like this can most definitely be rebuilt, and by the time the shop locates a used trans, checks it out, and does the install, you'll most likely be near the same price then if they rebuilt your existing one.

Don't just talk to one shop though... call around, get some estimates. Tell them you're a poor college student; some may offer you some discounts. $1500-$2000 is the going rate for a general trans rebuild, so don't let anyone tell you it's going to be more than that.

Realistically, a car like yours in good shape is worth anywhere between $2500-$3500, though if you haven't had the cams welded you'll struggle to even reach $2500. If you decide to just get out of it w/o taking care of the trans, it's pretty much a paperweight unless you can find a mechanic who'll buy it cheap to fix it.

In the end though, it's not necessarily about the value of the car versus the cost of the repair. If you drop a new trans in car that's otherwise in great shape, I don't care if its book value is $1000 or $10,000; it's a good car that can continue to be a good car for you, and that kind of vehicle is always worth repairing.

 

[SHOZ123]

Valve body is my bet if you aren't getting the TCC codes.

 

[SYS7EMATIC]

Thanks for the responses everybody. I'll give the shop a call tomorrow and ask about A) replacing the filter and changing the fluid, and B) having the tranny rebuilt.

Aside from that though, if it ends up being more of an investment than I'm able to make, the car is pretty much worthless? Give it to me honestly because it will help me make my decision as to what to do.

Thanks!

-Alex:thankyou:

 

[luigisho]

135k on a well maintained motor is not that high and should give you many years of good running life. As a sale item with a bad tranny..no. Not worth very much. So can you get a comparable car for 2k or do you want to spend more money and get something else? I think that is what it boils down to.

 

[rubydist]

I have just done a few transmission repairs on 97 and 98 SHOs, and my trans shop would charge $500 to r/r the trans, and around $1100 to rebuild one. My trans guy says that he can no longer buy individual internal parts for these trans, so you need the master rebuild kit, plus some solenoids and gaskets, and a torque converter. So, for less than $2k you should have your car back w/ a 'new' trans, good for many more miles.

If you put in a used one, you are really gambling, since the one you put in may only last a month, and you will still spend around $1k to get the used one installed.

The first thing to do is to go to the auto parts store, have them pull the codes for you - it should report something with the trans, which will help us understand more specifically what might be wrong with yours. The reason this is important is that the 97s do have a couple of valve body issues, and you will want to rule those out before you have the trans pulled out of the car, because the valve body can be removed and replaced with the trans in the car at a much less expensive cost than pulling the whole trans.

fyi, I picked up a 97 with a trans problem for $650, and a 98 w/ a trans problem for $300 (both w/ lower miles that yours), so selling it with the current problem will be about like giving it away.

 

[Huntervf]

Thanks for the responses everybody. I'll give the shop a call tomorrow and ask about A) replacing the filter and changing the fluid, and B) having the tranny rebuilt.

Aside from that though, if it ends up being more of an investment than I'm able to make, the car is pretty much worthless? Give it to me honestly because it will help me make my decision as to what to do.

Thanks!

-Alex:thankyou:

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