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stew47's avatar
stew47
Explorer
Dec 07, 2016

Transmission woes

Well my ford needed its tranny rebuilt. Swallowed hard and had it done. With almost 700 miles on it since it's had multiple episodes of brief grinding type noises. When it first happened the shop said drive it and let things break in. Ok so kept driving. Then I called again and they said bring it in. After a week there they haven't been able to replicate noise. So now it's time to either drive till something breaks or take to another tranny shop. Ugh. I've considered then giving bill to first shop and say pay up or I'm getting a lawyer ..... who knows how that will work out.

I'll be honest. This whole camping thing is starting to suck.

20 Replies

  • The day before I took it up I just started driving it. I knew I had to figure out how to recreate things. So I drove. It had a rough upshift and I gave it gas right after. I think I was trying to beat red light lol. It made the grinding noise. So I kept doing that and was able to recreate 6 more times. All after. Rough upshift and all between 35 Nd 55 mph. Warm vehicle. So I wrote all that down and gave to shop. They couldn't recreate it. I should've wrote down mileage. Bet they haven't driven it.

    Yea my plan right now is take it to another shop that was recommended by a friend. Pay to have tore down and see what happened. Then take the other shop to small claims. They offer a mediation service as a first step.
  • Like kamping guru said the BTS transmission is tough to beat. I paid about $4000 for an E40D 6 years ago, and love the difference in how it shifts. Not sure what transmission you have, but he does also customize the 5R110. It's not just a rebuild, but he upgrades many of the internal hard pieces to handle the stresses of towing.

    BTS
  • Can you get it to start making the noise? If so, then take it out driving until you hear it, then go directly to the shop, leave it running, and go get the mechanic to ride with you and hear it himself.

    It is near impossible for someone to fix a problem that they can't hear for themselves.
  • I think I would have them drop the pan and see what's there. If there isn't any metal or clutch band residue in there and it is shifting OK then it is probably good to go. Good luck.
  • My experience with rebuilt tranny. I had a chevy Blazer rebuilt 3 times by 2 different shops. ( yes I was a slow learner ). They always made it past the local warrany. The engine and body were good so I hated to give up on it.

    I convinced myself that I agree with the above advice. Never would use a local shop again. If my f150 tranny goes out I would bite the bullet and get a Ford reman tranny with a 3 yr warranty.

    I know that does not help you now. My advice would be pursue it hard and document with the shop before warranty expires. This will help if you have to sue them.
  • It costs a little more but a BTS transmission is the only one you will ever need. Done by a guy out of Lead Hill Arkansas named Brian. Brians Truck Shop is the name of the place. He builds transmissions that can handle 1000HP. They specialize in Ford and they build race trucks in their spare time to race.
  • This website promotes the Good Sam towing assistance insurance. I sure would at least consider getting it. Let it break in is an incredibly sarcastic dump on common sense. If the shop is ATRA automatic transmission rebuilders association member you are covered at any other ATRA shop. If not pleasantly explain to your shop management that if the transmission breaks your next trip it means pursuing a criminal charge of fraud with your local District Attorney.

    As a note - factory remanufactured transmissions are light years better than most independent reman units.

    Uh gee your rebuilt engine has a connecting rod sticking out of the side of the engine block...

    Oh, give it time, it'll get sucked back in...
  • My Ford E450's (Class C MH) V10 5R110 5-speed tranny bit the dust at just over 60K miles.

    I had a remanufactured one installed instead of having them rebuild the one that failed and I specified a heavy duty version to hopefully prevent it from ever happening again. The remanufactured HD tranny now shifts and responds considerably better then the OEM tranny every did. It wasn't inexpensive, though.
  • Hindsight being. 2020 I might've gone with that option. However I was getting rough estimates of over 4000 from most places. This ones estimate was 2700. Lol now I see why
  • Not sure about other car companies, but you can buy a re-manufactured Ford transmission from any Ford dealer. These come with a 3 year warranty from Ford that is good at any Ford Dealer.

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