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CRCs Reality
05-06-2013, 09:31 AM
OK folks, looking for some advice/input in dealing with the shop that recently rebuilt the transmission on my wife's DD.

A little over 12 months ago (within a week of my I6 cracking a piston skirt :mad: and needing a rebuild), the wife's '04 Altima dropped first and reverse gears at around 125,000. We paid a local shop (well respected among the folks I've asked) just shy of $2500 for a full rebuild with a 18 month/18,000 mile warranty.

Here's the issue.. My wife is a stay-at-home mom for the kids and doesn't put many miles on anything, mostly just short trips around town. She didn't really notice any problems at first, but 3 months (and less than 300 miles) after the rebuild she drove out to the West Mifflin area to visit family and called me mid trip to tell me it was shifting rough once it warmed up. On her way home it broke down completely (loss of all ability to move, every gear acted like neutral), leaving her and the 3 kids stranded while I had it towed to the transmission shop and picked them up.

The shop repaired it under warranty, no questions asked but took almost 3 weeks to do it... Which is a serious PITA as I had to adjust my schedule to get the kids where they needed to be (soccer, etc)..

Now last month she noticed it shift hard one afternoon on the way home, and the next day it broke down again (loss of 1st and reverse again).. Still under 2000 miles since the rebuild.
I took it into the shop where they rebuilt it again under warranty, but took 2 weeks to do it (leaving the wife carless for 2 weeks and not happy).. When we picked it up on Friday it seemed to drive well for the short trip home, but Saturday we made a point of taking it instead of my Jeep for a trip to the south hills to be sure it was really OK.. And once it was fully warmed up it began shifting so badly I half expected to need it towed home.

So, tomorrow morning I'm taking it back in again to the same shop as it's still under warranty..

Anyone out there with transmission experience have any insight on this?

What would you do in the same situation? I'm not naming the shop yet, he's been really helpful (although not quickly) each time, and has a good reputation from others I know around here, but this is starting to get ridiculous. Is it too much to ask that it shift normally both cold and hot after a rebuild?

Anyhow, looking for input/advice as to how to deal with this shop.. I don't want to be a dick to the guy, but it's getting harder to be nice about it with over a month of 'down time' in under 2000 miles after their rebuild..

Wrecker
05-06-2013, 09:51 AM
Get it fixed and trade it in.

Super Scout
05-06-2013, 10:41 AM
Seems to me that every auto I have had rebuilt shifted a little on the hard side. I was always told the harder the shift, the longer it will last. But who knows.

CRCs Reality
05-06-2013, 11:13 AM
Get it fixed and trade it in.

Good plan, but having just sunk $2500 into it and the wife not working, taking on the car payment isn't something I'd like to do if it can be avoided.. Otherwise we'd have traded it in broken last year and put the $2500 down towards something else then :-)

Shifting 'a little hard' but otherwise working well wouldn't bother me that much, this was missing shifts completely on Saturday under normal driving, shifting very hard when it did shift, etc, etc.. But only once it was warmed up, cold it shifted reasonably OK.