H-E-E-L-L-P!!! BLOWN STICK TRANNY ON 4x4!!!!

2003silverado wrote:
Was there any oil spot in the garage/driveway after you parked it after the drive home from the dealer? If the plug fell out on the way home it seems like it would still leave a few drops after being parked for a time. I'm just trying to figure out if its possible the plug was missing during your test drive and while it was sitting on the dealers lot, which seems to me to be the most likely scenario. Otherwise as I said earlier, if the plug fell out on the drive home it seems there would be enough residual fluid in the transmission to leave a spot where you parked it.

A manual transmission, if I am not mistaken, can function without oil because the oil is only there to lubricate and cool the bearings and gears, whereas a vehicle with an automatic transmission wouldn't so much as budge without oil because the oil is vital to the torque converter to pump and transfer the power from the engine to the transmission. I believe a manual transmission will function without oil until it self destructs.

If I am correct, and I hope someone more knowledgeable than me will correct me if I am wrong, you took delivery of the vehicle without oil in the transmission and the dealer should be on the hook for replacement or allow you to return the vehicle and reimburse you for any expenses incurred.

Just my $.02

"Oil spot" occurred to me, too- it was parked on gravel so it'd be a little harder to see, but I couldn't detect any there.

We got it into the shop, and Hubby and his buddy spent an hour trying to figure out what on earth was going on. Had them completely flummoxed, so Jack called his son, who owns an auto repair biz, and asked him to stop by on the way home. He found the gone-plug right away...last thing on earth that would have occurred to any of us amateurs to check for. Word is it wasn't dripping at that point, either.

Interesting to learn that a manual tranny might run, at least for a while, without fluid. Guess I can at least say how far a first-gen Kia Sportage will go before self-destructing: exactly 193 miles.

Bids so far for repairs exceeding a grand- sent them off to the dealer and no word back yet.

We really feel sorta bad for the dealer- no suspicion on this end that he did anything wrong on purpose. Not that we intend to pay the consequences of his oversight! But rather than pay for this fix, which is bound to use up much of the profit he made on the sale, it seems to me he'd be better off taking the car back, putting a good rebuilt transmission in it, and selling it again with the new tranny as an upfit he could collect on.

We'll see what happens...