Transmission - What Should I Do?

[gunbarrelvx]

Just took my VX in for a transmission service. They told me the seals are leaking where the transmission connects to the engine. To fix it, I am looking at $1,100.00. This is a gut wrenching thing to come to terms with considering I have owned this car for less than 8 months and dumped a ton of cash into it to make it perfect. It has 128k miles on the clock currently and it has been babied to date.

So my question is this.

Is $1,100 a fair price for this job?
What is the likelihood of this happening again 40,000 miles down the road?

Thoughts?

[Y33TREKker]

Get a 2nd opinion before making any decision to spend that much.

[Vendetta]

Few things. First, get a second opinion like Trekker suggests before you do anything. Second, what symptoms brought you in for the service to begin with? Third, 40K is a lot miles on top of a car with already a lot of miles (not too many, or meant in a bad way of course), and getting there will take a few years I'm guessing. If spending a thousand or two on miscellaneous stuff during that time to keep her going is not right for you, then you might want to consider other options.

Fingers crossed for ya!
-V

[gunbarrelvx]

Thanks guys. I intend to keep the VX so I plan to go through with it after I get another quote to compare. I have 10k invested easily in this car at this point and I am fine with it. (Beats a car payment) I keep my vehicles until about 180,000 miles and don't rely on them for DD duties anyway. Just have this fear or revisiting this problem after fixing it, a few years down the road. Took me 13 years to drive to 200k on my Cherokee and I plan to keep the VX for almost as long.

[Y33TREKker]

I'm curious what symptoms you saw or what the shop told you that they saw too. Had you actually noticed leaked fluids underneath your VX before you took it to that shop?

[gunbarrelvx]

Yes. Small spots started showing up a week or two ago. That's why I wanted to get it looked at. They said it was very low on transmission fluid. When they filled it, the leak became evident from the leak between the transmission and the engine.

[Y33TREKker]

Maybe you could get together with a few of the other Denver area VX owners for a driveway repair party and do the repair yourself? The instructions from the factory repair manual don't look all that involved anyway.

[gunbarrelvx]

Called three places and had some quotes worked up. I am going through with the transmission seal and rebuild. Definitely a setback on my budget for the summer but such is life.

I drove the VX out of the garage yesterday and knew that instant that the investment was worth the work. Just love this little buggy of mine too much.

[Y33TREKker]

...I drove the VX out of the garage yesterday and knew that instant that the investment was worth the work. Just love this little buggy of mine too much.

Yeah, it's definitely too late. From the sound of it, you're already a VX goner.

Hope the repair goes smoothly.

[HeckaTrebeka]

I'm kind of in the same boat as you are, gunbarrelvx. I just put $1600 in it at the shop for it's 100k service and to have some seals replaced. Now my trans is slipping. I wanted to take it to CO in August, but now I'm thinking that it's going to have to stay home. I'm so disappointed. I'd like to do a manual trans swap in it, though. That'll get rid of many problems.

[Y33TREKker]

I'm kind of in the same boat as you are, gunbarrelvx. I just put $1600 in it at the shop for it's 100k service and to have some seals replaced. Now my trans is slipping. I wanted to take it to CO in August, but now I'm thinking that it's going to have to stay home. I'm so disappointed. I'd like to do a manual trans swap in it, though. That'll get rid of many problems.

With this thread and Jeeperkate's, it's starting to sound like a person with trans shifting problems would be better of just finding a low(ish) mileage transmission at a U-Pull yard for a swap than to have any kind of repairs attempted.

[gunbarrelvx]

I am taking the gamble rebuilding it this week. If it doesn't work, I am going to really consider doing the manual swap.

[gunbarrelvx]

Update: Got off the phone with the transmission shop. During the $1100 seal replacement, they discovered a lot of things wrong.

Looks like it needs a complete rebuild at a total for everything at $2700. The mechanic seems very fond of the 430L transmission. He said he can rebuild it with updated, stronger, and better spec'd quality parts than what came from the factory. Also, it will come backed with a 20,000 mile warranty.

So is it worth it? I am going to be broke the rest of the summer if I go forward. Sitting on the fence with this predicament. I have owned this car 8 months and sunk close to $3k on top of the already $6k price tag.

Half convinced to just sell the damn thing at this point. It is nearly perfect outside of the transmission.

Just needed to vent.

[evillecutter]

Update: Got off the phone with the transmission shop. During the $1100 seal replacement, they discovered a lot of things wrong.

Looks like it needs a complete rebuild at a total for everything at $2700. The mechanic seems very fond of the 430L transmission. He said he can rebuild it with updated, stronger, and better spec'd quality parts than what came from the factory. Also, it will come backed with a 20,000 mile warranty.

So is it worth it? I am going to be broke the rest of the summer if I go forward. Sitting on the fence with this predicament. I have owned this car 8 months and sunk close to $3k on top of the already $6k price tag.

Half convinced to just sell the damn thing at this point. It is nearly perfect outside of the transmission.

Just needed to vent.

im in the same boat gunbarrel ($9k in on a $6k car) - noone is going to want to buy a vx with a bad transfer case or transmission they will have to put $3k into to fix so there is almost no other option than paying for a rebuild - the real question is will you keep it after its fixed or drive it until the next major catastrophe? i still have not decided...

[Mile High VX]

So is it worth it? I am going to be broke the rest of the summer if I go forward. Sitting on the fence with this predicament. I have owned this car 8 months and sunk close to $3k on top of the already $6k price tag.

Half convinced to just sell the damn thing at this point. It is nearly perfect outside of the transmission.

Just needed to vent.

So for an additional $1,600 you get a complete rebuild instead of just a new seal. It would be worth it for me even if I were just going to have the work done and then sell it. Seems like the return on that investment is the best thing to do. Plus, you'll just fall in love with it again on the way home and keep it anyway!