Is the Transmission shop screwing me?

[FiveOhSlow]

My 86 T was leaking tranny fluid from the front of the transmission. It wasn't very much, and I wouldn't have bothered with it except it was leaking onto the crossover pipe and causing it to smoke. The car had absolutley no driveability problems.

I recently moved so I picked a tranny shop out of the phone book and took it in to fix the leak. After spending two weeks "diagnosing" it, they told me the torque converter (an Art Carr 9" non-lockup) was "burned up" and needed to be rebuilt. When I tried to ask what specifically was "burned up" the guy said he personally didn't know what exactly was wrong and the converter specialist wasn't available right then.

I don't know that much about these transmissions, and am hoping that somebody here can put my mind at ease and explain what might have failed. This seems odd since the car drove fine before I took it in.

 

[olds443]

Get your car back and run!!!
I think the first sign was letting them keep your car that long.
Whenever I have had to take any of my cars anywhere for Trans inspection the longest I ever had to wait was until the end of the day. Hope you checked your mileage before dropping it off in case they helped screw anything up. Good luck and like I said get your car outta there and find a good shop.

 

[Otto J]

Post were you are located,Maybe someone knows a good local guy

 

[phillyturbosix]

wow. I've learned never use the phone book for anything! It's a heavin for scammors! They pay hundreds of dollars a month to put those ads in that phone book and need to make it up one way or another! Go there get the car back asap!! Post your location. I'm sure someone around you has someone you can trust and use. These cars can not be worked on by just anyone.. From what you describe just sounds like the pan gasket might have been dripping. Then again they might have told you the torque converter is burned up because they have been beating the ballz off your car for the last 2 weeks! Check the milage whenever you drop your car off!

 

[Firechicken]

Sounds to me like they are trying to screw you. How do you 'burn up' a non lock-up convertor? Had the car 2 weeks and this is the diagnosis? It was probably something silly like a loose cooler line, leaking pan gasket or torque convertor seal.

Collect your car right now and hope they didn't already screw it up! Find a shop near you to check over the tranny. (use this message board to find a reputable shop as many many reputable shop owners lurk around here)

 

[FiveOhSlow]

I live in Novato, CA, about a half hour north of San Francisco. Anybody knows a good shop in Sonoma county maybe I can avoid this in the future.


My mileage was recorded on my estimate, so I don't think they'd be stupid enough to put a bunch of miles on the car. Is there ANY way leaking fluid can be a sign of a bad torque converter? I've already authorized the repair, so at this point I've gotta just chalk this up to experience.

2 Days: called and told me it was leaking (thats what I get for $100 estimate???), but they couldn't tell where. Wanted $700 to pull the transmission out to inspect (this is where I should have taken the car back).

7 Days: called and said transmission was fine, must be torque converter. wanted $300 to "ship out" converter to thier specialist for inspection.

7 Days: converter specialist said converter needed to be rebuilt, $800. At this point I'm just disgusted with the whole thing and want it done. I told them to go ahead. Been pissed ever since...

That was 5 Days ago... I might get it back friday.

 

[phillyturbosix]

Damn! That's ashame. This shop must have known you did'nt know much on the car and just took you over the coals! A entire trans rebuild is only around 1200 for a basic rebuild and that usually will include a converter! The best converters around IMO are from here http://www.patsperformanceconverters.com/ and as you can see they are only around 300 bucks! Even if it was 200 to drop and install it! Sad part is these transmissions usually all go at once and for just the converted to be "burned" up either means they are just taking you for the money or there will be a major rebuid in your near future! I think I'd would have to blow the windows out of this place about a week after you got your car back! Nothing in this world pisses me off then a bussiness that is there just to ripp people off. I can see making a fair buck on something but this kinda sh!t people do gets me nuts!

 

[Firechicken]

Well make sure they put your real GN transmission back in befoire you pay them! On the back tailhousing is a tag which should have the following letters on it: BRF If the paint on the tag is worn off, the BRF will be stamped in at the bottom of the tag along with a bunch of other numbers.

Make sure...the brf GN tranny is special and not the same as a regular 200r4.

It is still possible that they switched out the valvebody ( it really is the valvebody, which also will have BR# painted on it, governor and servo which makes this trans different from a regular 200r4) but at the very least stick your head under the car and check the tag.

 

[FiveOhSlow]

They are not doing anything with the trans. They pulled the pan off and said it looked fine, so they will be reinstalling it with the new converter. I'm not sure what to do about it at this point other than take my lumps and move on. Can anybody give me some specific questions I could ask them to see if they at least had good intentions and just didn't know much about what they are doing?

These guys are either clueless or really good at screwing people. After I told them to go ahead and rebuild it, they said the converter guy needed to know how much horsepower the car had. The guy thought it had 150-200 before I corrected him, I don't think they even know what a TR is. Or they're messing with me. Who knows.

 

[phillyturbosix]

Have them show you the old converter if they replaced it. First thing I would do is crawl under the car and make sure it looks like they did something! There was a place near me that would rebuild your transmission for 1500 and all they would so it change the fluid and send it on it's way and tell you to sue them once you found out they did nothing. There is some good trans guys out there but the experience I've had with them is most are no good and rip you off anyway they can.
If they have good intentions they will show you what they replaced. Unless they just point you to some junk laying around their shop! From the questions they asked sounds like they are both cluess and rip offs. I would be driving by the place 50 times a day at this point checking on your car making sure they are not out beating the hell out of it!

 

[olds443]

Novato, that's practically my home town!
My brother works at the Chevy dealer in town, if you want to take it there or want me to ask anyone that they recommend let me know and I will ask him. PM or e-mail me.
I guess that is if anything is wrong in the first place I remeber you said it seemed fine when you dropped it off.
Good luck man!

 

[turbojimmy]

Originally posted by FiveOhSlow
These guys are either clueless or really good at screwing people.

I went through something similar a few years ago. The trans was behaving very strangely - like it was 'locked up' - direct connection between engine and wheels. I took it to the local guy. He replaced the converter. Didn't fix it. Rebuilt the trans. Didn't fix it. Replaced the case. Didn't fix it. $1,200 later I was still at square one but he kept trying different things at his cost. The guy was really nice and I've had good luck with him since then with other cars. I pretended the car was okay and moved on. He would've continued to work on it for free 'til the cows came home. I brought it to Level10 who did it right for around $2k if memory serves. I've put thousands of VERY hard miles on the car and it continues to take the abuse.

I don't know why these transmissions are so magical but when people say you gotta take them to someone who knows what they are, they're not kiddin'. Sorry you're learning the hard way. Hopefully you'll get it back leak-free and working fine.

Jim