Any local (N.C.) people been burnt by AAMCO?

[OneLethal87GN]

After paying 2 grand for a rebuild for a "bulletproof" tranny I have finally had it with these people. I've taken my car back several times because it has never been repaired correctly. After picking it up today I noticed a very weak shift, even though it has a shift kit installed, and I have to get the rpms past 4,000 under light throttle for it to shift to 3rd. This is every single time. Under half throttle the tranny is at the point where it is almsot slipping. The last time I test drove the car the guy who built it was bragging on how it will smoke the tires in 2nd gear. Wanting to see if the car would hold up on a WOT 1st to 2nd shift I tested it. It revved past 5 grand and finally slipped through 2nd gear until it finally went into 3rd. The band had burnt up after just one WOT test. The test didn't last 5 seconds. They have informed me after replacing the band that if it messes up again I'm on my own. I have a 3 year warranty on this tranny and have only had it a few weeks. Most of the time being back at their shop! They have also kept my BQ valve body and gave me a generic 200-4R valve body. I'm currently seeking a lawyer or just taking them to small claims court. I have several people at work who have shared the exact same story with me about their cars. I will be calling the BBB tomorrow to file a complaint. I was wondering if anyone else has had a problem with this particular AAMCO. It is located in Winterville, N.C.

 

[V6DVette]

Rule#1
Never take your car to any AAMCO!
Or anyone who hasn't worked on our cars before.
This includes the motor also..
Blew my TC back in 91 and figured I just take to a local shop and get the trans freshened up at the same time. I gave them a Art Carr shift kit to install at the same time. Well after 5 times back and forth for sloppy shifting, soft shifting NO shifting I ended up taking it to Pat Barrett of Level 10 fame (before he was Level 10) and never looked back. Same trans in my T now with over 130K. Still shifts crisp.
Sorry to hear of your problems. A lot of us have BTDT...

 

[GNVAIR]

I worked for a fleet/leasing company and we used to laugh at AAMCO. It was general knowledge that AAMCO = All Automatics Must Come Out

 

[Razor]

Guy that builds my tranny actually works as a lead builder for an Aamco 150 miles South.

Dont brand all builders as bad cuase they work at Aamco.. tho I wouldnt take my bicycle to any local Aamco's

If they dont know theses tranny's specifically.. they will toast it.

 

[JoeNational]

Oh i got a good one, although it isn't for a 2004r tranny it is for another auto that my friend took their. well after it being there multiple times my friend finally had enough and decided he wasn't going to leave until he looked at the car on the lift for himself, well the guys at AAMCO were trying very hard to stall so after 2 hours of my friend not leaving and just staying until he got his way they finally put the car on the lift and after carefull inspection my friend noticed a smell, that smell you ask was paint, all they did was paint his bad transmission with brand new paint and said they replaced it with a good transmission , well you can just imagine how that went. so i wouldn't even say it just our trannies i say they such no matter what.

 

[OneLethal87GN]

I forgot to mention that something is leaking from it now too. I haven't had a chance to see what it is due to rain but I let them know I had a leak. The tranny guy said "Yeah, you are leaking some oil". I have never seen it leak oil until I went to pick it up yesterday. I noticed the puddle before I even got out of my other car to go check on the GN. I didn't say anything because it could have come from another car. After driving it and parking it I noticed there was a puddle immediately after parking it in a new spot so I knew it was mine. They called me this morning to bring the car back to get it shifting right but when I told the guy about something leaking and he said it was already leaking I decided to save myself another arguement and go ahead and file a lawsuit against them. They can't do anything wrong in their eyes so legal action seems to be the only thing left to do. I don't trust them to work on my car anymore. They have already drained 2 tanks of alcohol from my alky kit. This proves they've been driving it hard and often. I also believe it is them that burnt the band up and not me. The car never shifted from first to second under WOT with me driving. It only slipped through second until it finally wnet into third. They put on the receipt that I turned the boost up and alcohol up and burnt the band up on my last test drive. That's kind of hard to do when you don't pop the hood. I have been getting witnesses to everything I've been noticing so when we go to court it should be an open and shut case. Enough is enough.

 

[boostmaster]

AAMCO!!!

Not to rub it in, but.... this board was created to help people, with that being said, in your firts posts everyone warned you to stayyyy away from AAmco. Did you take anyones advice? Nooo!!! Get ready to shell out some big bucks to get a real tranny rebuild. No one can help you now. See you in small claims court.

 

[87buick3825]

Re: AAMCO!!!

Originally posted by boostmaster
Not to rub it in, but.... this board was created to help people, with that being said, in your firts posts everyone warned you to stayyyy away from AAmco. Did you take anyones advice? Nooo!!! Get ready to shell out some big bucks to get a real tranny rebuild. No one can help you now. See you in small claims court.

sorry to say but he is right !

 

[OneLethal87GN]

Well, since you're such a great reader you should have also seen where I said I wanted to go somewhere else but the warranty made me end up going there. Everyone else only wanted to give a 6 month or one year warranty as AAMCO was giving a 3 year warranty. I was thinking long term and not just get it fixed and go. My last option was to go to them but they told me they could make the transmission right and it would hold up. Everyone else told me it was pretty much a hit or miss. I had AAMCO rebuild this exact transmission about 7 or 8 years ago and it held up fine for years. Of course this was when it was in my 85 GN and it only had a few mods. My first choice was to send it off to one of the vendors on this board to have it done right but the cost of removing it, shipping it, and having a built one shipped back was a bit more than the 2 grand I paid AAMCO. One last thing, I know this board is to help people. I have tried to help quite a few people myself but being rude and talking down to people doesn't fit the desciption of helping people.

 

[87buick3825]

Well didnt want to come off as a "meanie" BUT to me most warrentys are a joke . BUT I am old .....Been there an done it good luck ..Oh as far as a lawyer ??? To me thats throwin good $$$ after bad

 

[OneLethal87GN]

I wasn't really referring to you, I meant Boostmaster. His comment about "seeing me in court" led me to believe he works for AAMCO or knows someone who does. Maybe they all aren't alike, who knows? I was addressing this particular location and simply wanted to see if any other local people on this board has had this experience too. I'm not whining about what happened because i will take care of that myself. I've already got enough people willing to help me out in the case where it should be very hard for me not to win. After several times back and forth the thing is now leaking tranny fluid like crazy. They want me to bring it back. If the leak was the only thing wrong with it I would but the thing still doesn't shift right and will not hold any decent kind of power. I had better luck the last time this thing was rebuilt. I had a friend pull it, take it to a guy who rebuilt it with a shift kit and heavy duty second gear band and had the friend put it back in for $500. It lasted until the car sat for 9 months while the engine was being rebuilt and then quickly dies after the engine was put back in. Just goes to show you don't always get what you pay for.

 

[GNVAIR]

A warranty is only as good as the person or establishment offering it. If you come on here and ask for advice, there will be more than enough people willing to oblige. If you ask whether you should or shouldnt do something and people tell you to do one thing and you do something different, then who is the blame on? I'm not trying to come off the wrong way. I have been in the auto business since I was 15 so I have seen all kinds warranty issues. All that others were stating were people gave you free advice of which you were swayed by a warranty so you did the opposite.

 

[wayner]

I do hope AAMCO does right by you, whose parts did they use in the rebuild??? I also hope you get your valve body back, as your tranny may never shift hard again without it.

 

[OneLethal87GN]

Originally posted by GNVAIR
A warranty is only as good as the person or establishment offering it. If you come on here and ask for advice, there will be more than enough people willing to oblige. If you ask whether you should or shouldnt do something and people tell you to do one thing and you do something different, then who is the blame on? I'm not trying to come off the wrong way. I have been in the auto business since I was 15 so I have seen all kinds warranty issues. All that others were stating were people gave you free advice of which you were swayed by a warranty so you did the opposite.

Once again, I know people told me to stay clear of them. I had them do a rebuild for me years ago and it turned out fine. I made this post simply to see if any other local people have had this experience with this particular location. The advice is great, when it's good advice, but this has kinda turned into a "I told you so" post rather than what I intended it to be.

 

[87buick3825]

I would try and get the VB back .. then take in all the "favor's guy's are throwin at ya !!! good luck ...

 

[OneLethal87GN]

I thought I had mentioned it but i guess I forgot. I got the t.b. back. It was in the back seat the last time I went to pick up the car. The tranny still isn't right though and that's why I made this post. Everyone I ask at work has either had this shop screw them, or know someone who has been screwed by them. Maybe the moderator can move this thread to the Southeastern area of the regional section?

 

[benoitthegr8]

TRANNY

BROTHER I FEEL YOUR PAIN, HAD A SIMILIAR ISSUE WITH MY FIRST CAR BACK IN THE EARLY 1990's. I ATLEAST WAS HAPPY WITH THE PERFORMANCE OF THE TRANNY, I HOWEVER FOUND OUT THAT THE SHOP REPLACED THE CORE WITH A REGULAR TH200R. THIS WAS AFTER I HAD BEEN DRIVING THE CAR FOR ABOUT 2 YEARS. NEXT TRANNY I HAVE BUILT WILL BE BY ONE OF THE VENDORS OFF THIS BOARD, IT'S JUST NOT WORTH THE HASSEL TO TAKE CHANCES WITH BIG BUSSINESS CHAINS.

 

[turbot2496]

Geez... crap like this is why I rebuilt the damn thing myself.

 

[OneLethal87GN]

Originally posted by turbot2496
Geez... crap like this is why I rebuilt the damn thing myself.

Believe me, if I had the time and the tools I would have tried it myself. It seems to me to be a simple pressure related problem. They don't seem to want to take the time to pressure test it so I have quit bringing it back to them. I'm waiting for the BBB to do their thing and when they're through I'll print out what they tried and use it as more evidence that they don't care to try to resolve this. They were given an initial deadline of Nov. 30th to respond. They didn't so now they've been given another deadline of Dec. 11th. You would think a huge company like AAMCO would admit when they can't repair something properly and either send it somewhere to be fixed correctly, on them, or give a full refund so the customer can take it somewhere else. Business nowadays sure isn't like the old days.