If you trust your mechanic, ask him what he thinks is best seeing how you want to keep it for four more years.
My guess would be to have him put a rebuild in figuring your car should most likely make it to 200,000 miles. He can determine if the rest of the car will make it for four more years without killing you financially.
Yes, good point. It is my mom's mechanic and I trust the guy. But the other dude doing the transmission, I don't know him. So I don't know if he is really an expert or not. I heard some bad reviews on work the transmission guy did for someone else last year.
At this point I think I would check to see how everything else is looking with the car as you suggested.
I would not go along with peacnic's place for the trans.
This looks as though it has been taken from a junk yard and just cleaned up.
It has a 30 day warrenty,htis is the amount of time a junk yard gives for a trans,and engine or rear.
I would ask you to look into "Jasper" engine and transmissions.
This place 'ACTUALLY' rebuilds the transmission,or engine.
They use the original transmission bell housing from a car,then they use new parts with which to rebuild the transmission.
This company gives a three (3) year 100,000 mile 'NATIONWIDE' warranty.
If anything goes wrong within the warranty time they will either fix the problem,or 'REPLACE' the transmission.
The same goes for their engines.
Cost varies,depending upon the shop which installs the trans. or engine.
http://www.jasperengines.com/index.php
TRANSMISSIONS
3 YEAR/100,000 MILE WARRANTY
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I don't know how much use my info will be as I'm in the UK, but your transmission is what we call the gearbox. Over here, we favour manual trannys due to their relative simplicity, long-life and better fuel economy, however, manuals have a clutch which does wear out and need replacing anywhere from 50-100K miles.
Back in the 'States, you seem much keener on automatics which give a smooth ride and easier town driving, but tend to require overhaul after around 100k miles and this can be very expensive.
Ironically, both autos and manuals use clutches - the manual simply has one large one between it and the engine which the driver disconnects whilst changing gear, whereas the auto has several smaller ones which are usually hydraulically operated by the gearbox's control system. It's these clutch(es) which wear out, rather than the actual gears themselves.
The reason auto trannys are so expensive to overhaul is because the clutch packs (usually 3 or 4 depending on how many gears the tranny has) are within the gearbox itself and each is made up of several friction plates which all need renewing. That and the fact that the worn friction material from the old clutches will contaminate the hydraulic fluid in the gearbox, meaning the whole lot will need to be flushed out, and possibly even need a new torque converter. In comparison, the clutch on a manual isn't in the gearbox itself but sandwiched between it and the engine - the gearbox itself doesn't need to be dismantled, and clutch problems remain isolated.
Of course, none of this helps your current problem, but if you do decide to replace the car, it's something to consider...
