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Transmission Shop

2K views 14 replies 4 participants last post by  mxfrank 
#1 ·
I'm looking for a Mercedes friendly transmission shop in the NY metro area. Has anyone here ever used Trans Solutions in Wayne, NJ?

(And price matters....I have no intention of spending $3K on a car that's worth $2K)
 
#3 ·
It's not going to work for me...with that many miles, I'd have to rebuild it before it goes in. The weather is getting bad up here, and I'm not sure I'd want to tackle an R&R in my driveway, even in good weather. So by the time I buy a core, rebuild it, and have a shop install it, a junkyard pull barely makes sense.
 
#5 ·
I rolled the dice over two and a half years ago when my tranny went out at 225,000 miles. I put $3800 into a $2500 car, only to have the head gasket go a month after I got it back.
Same deal, cold time of the year, and (with me) at 58, working underneath a car is past tense anymore.
I did the head gasket myself, and now going almost 3 additional years on driving my 190, I did ok. 258,500 miles now.
My local shop refused to look at my old tranny and put in a genuine rebuilt MB unit. They said they had bad luck with rebuilds from Adsit and they didn't want to pull the unit out twice and eat the labor cost from a bad rebuild.
You know your car better than us, and your other option is to walk away at this point.
I hope everything work out.

And I threw almost 3 grand at my wife's 98 Volvo S70T5 this year. Koni's and new springs were a big part, but a bunch of other stuff craped out needing repairs.
Some years it's just basic maintenance, sometimes its more.
Again, wish you luck and Happy Thanksgiving. Rob
 
#11 ·
The entire K2 clutch was fershitzen. Nylon supports crushed, seals worn, friction material done. They had to wait for a part. While it was on the lift, I had them change the rear main seal on the motor. I should have it this week. So far, the shop has been wonderful. The weather this morning was ice, with snow due tomorrow. Glad I'm not under the car.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Back from the shop today. All I can say is WOW! The job included removing and replacing the transmission, replacement of all seals and friction elements, rebuilding the valve body, installing a complete new K2 drum assembly, and replacing fluids. The K2 drum itself was worn beyond salvage, and they supplied a replacement at no additional charge. In addition, I also had them install some extra parts I had purchased in anticipation of doing the job myself: flex disks, transmission hoses, shifter bushings and rear main seal. All of this for just under $2K, and it comes with a 12 month unlimited mileage warranty.

After a 100 mile test drive, I can report that the transmission shifts, in a word, perfectly. No harshness, no slippage, just a sweet transition from gear to gear. I'm a very happy camper. If you've decided to take the plunge on a transmission, I can't say enough good stuff about these guys: TRANS SPECIALTIES : Remanufactured and rebuilt automatic transmissions, transmission parts and torque converters

(I can also say that I'm very happy that I didn't attempt this myself. I went over the old parts with technician, and he showed me the things that were worn out. I'm sure I would have missed the scored K2 drum if I was doing it myself. I'd be struggling to get the transmission back in the car about now, with a blizzard coming over the weekend. And when I was done, the transmission still wouldn't be right. So again, thumbs up for a great shop. I know it's nuts to spend this kind of money on a 27 year old car, but I'm insanely happy at the moment.)
 
#13 ·
That is great I am really happy for you. Might be a lot of money, but you are happy and don't have a car payment :thumbsup:

Can you describe the K2 drum failure a little more? I want to learn about these transmission, you know, for the future. :cool:
 
#14 ·
It's not insane; people spend too much time worrying about how much the car is worth.

Think of the money you've spent on gas, registration, insurance, etc., after you've owned a car for several years. In most cases you're already beyond what the car is presently worth.

A lot of these old cars succumb to early deaths just because they're deemed too worthless to fix. You can buy a car with a bad box for $1000, spend $2000 to get a new gearbox thrown in, and it'll still be cheaper and likely last longer than going out and getting a cheap $12,000 car, which you'll be taking the big depreciation hit for being the first owner.

My favorite quote is "it's not worth fixing", because then they go out and buy a new car and end up paying more than they would have just fixing what they thought wasn't worth it. Taking that example above, $2500 to fix a $1000 car certainly seems worth saving $9000 over a $12,000 new car which will inherently have issues of it's own someday.

Just my .02, YMMV, of course.
 
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