Which Transmission Suits my Needs?
It was running great, never had a problem with it before, and then all of a sudden it started to smoke and puttered out. After limping off the road, from what my customer could see, all of the automatic transmission fluid was gone. Transmissions can’t smoke like an engine, but when a transmission leaks three or four quarts of fluid on the red hot exhaust pipe, it smokes and can even catch fire. It also spreads all over the bottom and back of the vehicle. With that in mind, it is time to call AAA or a tow truck and have your vehicle towed to a reliable transmission shop for a diagnosis.
Let’s say it is a 1999 Ford F-350 pick up truck with the 7.3L diesel engine and a 4R100 automatic transmission that you were using. The 4R100 is a Ford transmission and is known for puking automatic transmission fluid out the front pump seal when it’s working hard in the hot weather. Simply put, the cooling system is the enemy in this situation. This article is not about cooling system repairs or updates, though, which is the cure for the front pump leakage problem, but it is about choices.
When a transmission dumps the fluid in an unceremonious manner all over the road, it means that the front pump seal broke and no longer is ‘holding fluid’. This is because the transmission loses most of its cooling ability under heavy loads and eventually, usually at the wrong time, the seal starts to leak transmission fluid just like a screen-door in a submarine would leak water. The problem is correctable with a good update kit and some added cooling.
The transmission has to be removed to fix a front pump leak and then the transmission shop must remove the transmission to fix the leak as well as inspect the transmission for damage. There is a good chance that the transmission has some significant wear in it, or enough wear to justify a remanufactured transmission. With that in mind, depending on how much wear and what is worn, a choice has to be made on how you want to fix your truck. You can fix the current transmission, buy a used transmission or have a rebuilt transmission installed in the vehicle. Everything depends on what your plans for the vehicle are. My advice is don’t cheapen out here by buying the cheapest transmission available.
My recommendation will revolve around the fact that most of the time this happens when: A) It is a work truck carrying lots of weight B) The fluid is damaged from getting too hot all the time, taking the elasticity out of the front seal C) The pump failed. It is made of aluminum, which is a soft metal.The bottom line is that, if you do nothing other than regular errands and drive in a normal manner, at least make sure you buy a rebuilt transmission that is updated not to overheat under heavy load conditions. If this is a commercial vehicle, which is usually overloaded with just the tools and equipment on the truck, it is time to get serious. Also, the pumps we use in our shop were rebuilt with a metal sleeve where the gears wear the aluminum pump body, thus preventing a repeat problem.
Getting serious involves purchasing a rebuilt transmission with the most effective update kit installed and add a couple of external auxiliary transmission coolers to the transmission cooling system. Finally, request full synthetic automatic transmission fluid as a refill. Synthetic transmission fluid is like an added plus. It allows your rebuilt transmission to last its longest and function at its best. Don’t forget to ask about the warranty because it is usually a good indicator of how much confidence the transmission supplier has in his merchandise. Meaning, a short-term one year warranty does not mean much when you can get a long- term three or five year guarantee on it.
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Frankly, the idea that any car should “fall apart” is, to me, ridiculous. Electric or gas, a car should be able to last a very long time, and the maintenance costs should not be very great (i.e. much much lower than the cost of acquiring a new vehicle). The current social idea that cars are disposable just seems absurd to me.
For perspective, the newest vehicle I own is 12 years old. The next newest is 19 years old, and the remaining one is 21 years old.
Only the 19-year-old car has required significant major service unique to a gas vehicle. About 15 years into its life, we rebuilt the transmission, replaced a bunch of hoses, put in a new head gasket, and some other stuff. Total bill was under $10K (i.e. comparable to the cost of replacing an hybrid or EV's battery pack) and the work included a bunch of stuff that would fall under regular maintenance (brakes, plugs, oil change, coolant, etc.).
On-going maintenance costs for all three vehicles unique to a gas car include regular oil changes and of course fuel. Relatively low expenses, but these expenses do help in the pro-electric argument.
Electric vehicles are somewhat simpler to be sure, but even a 1-speed has a transmission of _some_ kind. Lacking multiple gears, it's simpler of course and should require less maintenance, but it's not a zero-cost item. EVs also have many of the same costs a gas vehicle does, including brakes, tires, wiper blades, lights, etc. And an EV does have equipment none of my gas vehicles do, such as the super-sophisticated computer required to manage the whole thing, and a battery cooling system (for the Roadster…I assume not all EVs have that).
Suppose gas will in fact be up to $5 (again) in five years. But should we expect electricity isn't going to go up in price either? I'd love to think that battery prices will come down, but a laptop battery has remained solidly in the $100 ballpark for years. It's not clear to me that it's a foregone conclusion the economics are going to work out as expected.
I sure hope that some day, and hopefully in the near future, EV will be a no-brainer. But for now, it's not and I think it will be a complicated question for some time to come.
150 is not enough range for a utility vehicle, which many of us need (heck, even 250 is borderline…our vehicles have ranges of 250, 400, and 600-700 and we've pushed the limits on each), even the marginally practical EVs don't come large enough for families with kids, and the current price premium can't be made up in fuel cost savings, even if electricity were completely free. And of course, there is the question of discarding a vehicle that works perfectly well to replace it with a brand new one (there's also the environmental effects of that, but since this is an “econ” topic, we'll leave that question alone
).
Of course, if we were really paying all the embedded costs of all of these various competing technologies, I think that EV would come out ahead _today_. There are a lot of hidden costs associated with oil-based vehicles, and even alternative fuel ones. If we were actually incorporating those costs into the economics, I doubt any of this would even be open for question. But we're not, and so from a strictly current economics point of view, I think the jury will be out for some time.
Do you have a warranty? Do you have anything in writing from the dealer stating that it had a new trans in it?
If it's under warranty just have the dealer fix it. If you have something in writing from the dealer saying the trans is new, then sue sue sue.
yeah, its slipping, or the valvebody is clogged
try lucas transmission fix, it helped with the slipping of my honda transmission
Rebuilt Transmission| Differential Repair Service (415) 543-9789 Sav #craigslist #services #professional #SFO