Transmission woes

I agree about getting the original shop to drop the pan. If they cannot hear any grinding, and it shifts fine and there is no debris in the pan- I wouldn't worry.

I just talked to them. They did encounter some hard shifts and they are going to drop the pan.

Hopefully, they give your tranny to the ace in that shop. I know enough about transmissions to keep my hands away from them. Typically, there are wear parts and failure points intrinsic to models of transmissions. An "ace" knows this and plans accordingly.

Noise is not going to break in and go away. There is a problem with a thrust bearing or something. I'd like to be there when they drop the pan to see if there is any metallic material or bits and pieces of brass or torrington thrust bearing.

I had a trans rebuilt in a much older FORD and it made some odd noises during the first week. They could be described as metallic but the shop said it could be air.
That was more than 20 years ago and the trans still works great.

In the early 70's I bought into an automatic transmission shop. Joined ATRA. When I discovered the durability nightmares like badly machined shaft bores, porous valve bodies and cases and tap dance grade liners for servo bores I got the hell out. How much does a transmission dynomometer and adapter fixtures cost? With my alternators I full-load tested them for several minutes. NOBODY ELSE DID THIS AND DOES THIS TEST. Only factory remanufacturers can afford transmission dynos. Induce a 200 HP load and pass/fail by Delta T transmission fluid temp as well as pressures and shift points. In 1990 I opened a Mr Goodwrench plastic shipping case. There was a note inside. INCLUDES NEW POROSITY CHECKED VALVE BODY AND HEAT TREATED CLUTCH DRUMS. If a transmission shop does not possess an electric fluid pump flush cleaner to flush debris from the cooler the shop is not worth snot. There are far too few automatic transmission gurus out there. It is EXACTLY THE SAME with rebuilt alternator and starter rebuilders. With the latter a huge percentage turn out garbage.

In a lot of cases the only thing you can do is keep driving until it gets bad enough that they can figure out the problem. They're not going to rebuild the transmission for a second time for free on your say-so, and they are not going to pay another shop to rebuild the transmission for a second time on your say-so.

You don't realize how many kooks come into these repair shops with imagined problems, demanding free this or free that. If they gave in on every one they would be broke in no time. It's understandable when a shop won't fix your problem because they can't recreate the symptoms or find something obviously wrong.

I've just learned to drive it until the noise is so bad they can't deny it's there.

I bought a 09 Dodge last year, and they said the trans had just been re-built, but they did a crappy job. I got 14 months, and 5K miles out of it. Just dropped $5400 for complete rebuild, and new Suncoast TC.

Brian (the OP),

When my E450 5R110 transmission failed, the transmission shop technician rode right along with me in the motorhome as I demonstrated what it was doing. He also had a portable diagnostic machine with him plugged into the underdash plug while I drove. He could see the various error codes pop up in real time as we went down the road with the rough transmission jerking and jolting us as we went.

Luckily this happened close to home just before a 10,000 mile RV trip across the U.S.. I wouldn't have wanted to go through this a long way from home.

So three months later shop replaced torque converter. Month and half before that they replaced valve bodies. It's good now lol. At least I hope. I want to pull camper to glacier this summer so I hope all is well.