Rifraff's Transmission Catastrophe

[riffraff]

Yeah - when I first rolled into town I needed some work done (was amazed the van made it all the way from Minnesota - was a gamble that paid off).

I thought I'd be clever and google "best mechanic in san jose" and got hits on a place called Akin's. They had a great track record on Yelp! and lots of testimonials.

Brought it in after scheduling it 4 days in advance.. told him I needed 3 things. 1, the transmission was acting up.. can you check on it? 2, my headlights randomly go dark.. not fun finding this out on a highway going 75 in pitch black darkness. 3, the vent blower only is working on the highest level. I couldn't leave it there so I sat in his waiting room the entire day watching maury povich and judge judy.

As for the transmission, he said I needed to take that to a specialist to know what's up.
As for the headlights going out, it was intermittent and he couldn't get it to happen.
As for the blower, he changed one part but then determined it was the other part. Told me to go to the "pick 'n pull" to try and find it.. what the?

He did a tune up which I guess was harder than usual as the spark plugs were rusted into place. He said he was sorry but was shorthanded (fired a guy the other day and another didn't show up for work).

At the end of the day of the 3 things I brought the van in for, 0 were addressed and instead got a $400 tune up (which it needed badly).

So much for trying to be clever.

 

[LeeRevell]

Yep. I'm out $975 for work on my 1988 conversion van.
1) Engine overheats. System flushed, water pump replaced, and needed new timing chain and cover and bolts all broke. Drilled them out and replaced.
2) Told them to do full tune up. They said plugs were good. Oil was changed during 1) above. No sign any filters were changed.
3) Told them to adjust headlights -they shine down and to right. Cannot see objects in road. This wss not done. I tried adjusting them but haven't got it correct yet, but it is better.

So now, engine still overheats. Need all filters changed. Need headlights adjusted properly. So much for the shop everbody raved about........
Heater and AC don't work. AC isn't a problem yet. Be nice to have working heater...... Maybe related to ovrrheat problem?

 

[Donedirtcheap]

How old is the radiator? It doesn't matter if its not leaking as that's not the issue. The issue may be that it's not able to transfer heat to the passing air. The heat is carried by the coolant into the radiator tubes. The fins are bonded to the tubes. The heat dissipates through the fins to the air. If the fins are flaky or have a poor bond to the tube it will not transfer heat. It can look perfect but not function properly. Sometimes you can pull on the fins and zip them right off the tubes. Very common on older radiators.

If heater core is plugged it may have had stop leak installed at some time and also plugging radiator.

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Stop leak or commonly called rabbit turds.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Lee, re: your heater issue . . .

Step one is to determine if coolant is flowing through it. All cars with ac have what's called a heater control valve in the feed line between the waterpump and the heater core. Usually controlled by a vacuum hose, but sometimes by a cable. It's there because they don't want hot coolant flowing through the heater core at the same time they are trying to cool the car with the ac.

When you get the engine hot and the heater turned on, try putting your hands on each of the radiator hoses. They should feel equally hot. If the one before the heater control valve is hot and the one after it isn't, you know the valve isn't opening. If the input hose into the core is hot, and the output one out isn't, you know the core is plugged.

If you think it's the valve, you can temporarily bypass it by unhooking the heater hoses from it and clamping them over a bit of copper tubing the right size. If the heater starts working, either the valve itself needs replacing, or there is a problem with the controls.

In the past, I've had luck unplugging heater cores by backflushing it - that is, unhooking the heater hoses and hooking a garden hose up to the return outlet and forcing water under pressure to flow backwards through it. That will often blast the plug out.

But if they put stop leak in because the heater core was leaking, backflushing will cause it to start leaking again.

Regards
John

 

[anm]

...
I paid 500 for transmission, transfer case, front and rear drive shafts, and thats labor included.
...

That's a good deal!

 

[riffraff]

Got to storage again today to deal with all the auctions that ended last night. The vast majority of winners paid up so I was there the whole day packing items up to be shipped out (tomorrow, if the post office is open on Columbus day). The "check transmission" light came on again.. that didn't take long. The transmission was getting me around tho without too much trouble. I don't know how much it has left. I keep checking underneath the van for signs of a leak but don't see any.

The auctions did well (combined with savings and other sales, I am floating around what was quoted for a used transmission + labor w/warranty). As long as I'm not damaging anything else on the car I may just continue to ride it out, since it's eventually going to be replaced anyway. Not sure what the right strategy is but seems like the crisis may be averted, now just have to raise $ for my ebay fees due in less than a month.

Always something!

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er, van

 

[PastTense]

What were you quoted for the total price?

Suppose you keep on riding it out and it suddenly breaks down. What happens? For example: 1. You may have to pay for a long tow (where now you can drive it there). 2. It might be several days before the shop can do the work. 3. Your van is parked for a long time and the police come and ticket you... Basically planned maintenance is better than dealing with breakdowns. But obviously you need the money first...

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I'm not sure about these newer, computerized transmissions, but on the older ones, if you keep getting low on transmission fluid, it's your transmission modulator.

That's (usually) a little doohickey attached to the transmission case with a vacuum hose running up to the engine. There's a membrane in there that keeps the fluid separate from the vacuum. If it fails, the vacuum starts sucking the fluid up to the engine and the engine burns it.

If I remember right, there was one Chrysler tranny where the modulator was internal, but for most trannys it was an easy and cheap thing to fix.

You diagnose it by checking the vacuum hose from it for tranny fluid. If you find any in it, that's your problem

Regards
John

 

[riffraff]

What were you quoted for the total price?

Suppose you keep on riding it out and it suddenly breaks down. What happens? For example: 1. You may have to pay for a long tow (where now you can drive it there). 2. It might be several days before the shop can do the work. 3. Your van is parked for a long time and the police come and ticket you... Basically planned maintenance is better than dealing with breakdowns. But obviously you need the money first...

The quotes I got from both the first mechanic and AAMCO guy were about the same. $1600-$2000 for a used transmission to be put in. (AAMCO had the upper limit around $2200 but their warranty might be better)

It could suddenly break down for other reasons too right? As far as I understand it, driving it on the janky transmission isn't damaging anything else. Of course I don't know much about cars and the advice I've had from mechanics recently hasn't seemed to be in my best interest so I dunno about this. I'd rather keep driving on it, get to the gym, get to storage and keep getting stuff done that just park and worry about it. I am just short of the funds needed to fix it. I just had to pay my storage bill today ($120). If I ever cannot pay this bill I lose my only source of income.

AAMCO will give a free tow within 30 miles on any major transmission work. I'm never more than 30 miles away from the location I visisted so if something really broke down on it I could take them up on that... but this means I'll have to go with them to do the big fix. I'm not entirely thrilled about this prospect but it's at least an option. Their quote was $100-$200 higher than the other guys which is about the same as a tow. I figured in most cases I would be able to putt-putt it somewhere in 1st gear on side streets if it ever failed 100%.

I definitely don't want my van parked anywhere for a long time (the place where I sleep would be okay for a little bit). Unlikely to be bothered by the police there.

I agree about the planned maintenance in general but as long as I'm not messing up other parts of the van by driving on it, I will keep doing so. (again, I might be off base here)

"check transmission" light is off again. I swear it's just f'ing with my head.

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There's a membrane in there that keeps the fluid separate from the vacuum. If it fails, the vacuum starts sucking the fluid up to the engine and the engine burns it.

Hmm something to think about. Been smelling radiator fluid type burning lately but not strong. I can't tell if it's my imagination or not. The temperature gauge seems to be functioning correctly and there are no other signs of overheating.

I wonder if it might be transmission fluid?

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Hmm something to think about. Been smelling radiator fluid type burning lately but not strong. I can't tell if it's my imagination or not. The temperature gauge seems to be functioning correctly and there are no other signs of overheating.

I wonder if it might be transmission fluid?

You need to pull the dipstick and check the transmission fluid level every day before you start driving it, at least until you are sure you are not losing fluid.

If you are always low on tranny fluid, it's either leaking somewhere ( which you should be able to easily find - it should be obvious ) or it's being burned by the engine.

Low transmission fluid will not only cause shifting problems, it can also cause transmission damage if you keep driving with it.

Regards
John

 

[SternWake]

Dodge s check fluid engine idling.transmission in neutral. Cant check level in park or engine off

 

[riffraff]

Yep I've been checking it while in neutral. Supposed to be warmed up a bit too from what I understand.

 

[LeeRevell]

I had always been told also to run it through the gears first to distribute the fluid in the tranny, to make sure the level check is correct. Maybe an "old mechanic's tale".......?

 

[riffraff]

checked it after driving it to storage (it was warmed up!) and put in neutral.. it's very very low. Going to head back to O'riley's and grab some more transmission fluid to see if I can keep it going for a couple more days. Not sure what's going on at this point. I'll keep looking for leaks... where's the transmission anyway? I am just kind of looking underneath the van in general for puddles.

If not for this Columbus guy I would have been able to ship out the majority of auction winnings today. What a jerk

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

checked it after driving it to storage (it was warmed up!) and put in neutral.. it's very very low. Going to head back to O'riley's and grab some more transmission fluid to see if I can keep it going for a couple more days. Not sure what's going on at this point. I'll keep looking for leaks... where's the transmission anyway? I am just kind of looking underneath the van in general for puddles.

You're not kidding, are you? The driveshaft runs from the rear end to the back of the transmission.

If you're losing fluid, and you're not finding any puddles underneath when it's running, I'm more and more convinced it's your transmission modulator.

It shouldn't be that expensive to fix, assuming you don't have a transmission with it internal. Most weren't.

Ask Amco for a price just to replace that, and see what they say.

It's possible you haven't ruined the transmission yet, but the longer you go before you get it fixed, the greater the likelihood you will.

Regards
John

 

[highdesertranger]

so it keeps losing fluid without any visible signs of leaks. could be the modulator as has been mentioned before. it could also be the cooler leaking into the radiator. seeing how you don't even know where the trans is, I think you need some help. I think aamco(I am not a big fan) gives free estimates as most tranny places will. I would take it to a few places tell them what it is doing and ask them how much to fix. they should be able to pinpoint the problem. if it runs fine with the fluid full you more than likely don't need a new tranny. highdesertranger

 

[riffraff]

You're not kidding, are you? The driveshaft runs from the rear end to the back of the transmission.

Nope. I know how to drive, that's about it.

I program videogames (or at least I used to). In return I get other people to fix my car, cut my hair, and prepare my food. Its worked out so far. Ya, ya.. everyone should know how to maintain their vehicle. I make sure the tires are inflated.

If you're losing fluid, and you're not finding any puddles underneath when it's running, I'm more and more convinced it's your transmission modulator.

I'll be checking the fluid level every day now. It's right in the middle of the "normal" line so I'll be able to see if it changes. I'm not even convinced I was checking the fluid level properly. I may have been confused about how much fluid was in there. Perhaps I've been driving it with low fluid all this time? Will find out soon enough. It's taken 2 quarts over the last 3 days.

It shouldn't be that expensive to fix, assuming you don't have a transmission with it internal. Most weren't.

Ask Amco for a price just to replace that, and see what they say.

It's possible you haven't ruined the transmission yet, but the longer you go before you get it fixed, the greater the likelihood you will.

It would be nice if the whole transmission didn't need to be replaced. I'm getting more and more miffed at the original mechanic I took it to who said "nah you won't cause any more damage by driving on it til it gives out."

I'll see if I can drive it around some without switching out of "D" tonight or tomorrow. I'll also keep a close eye on the fluid level to see if it drops again.

Thanks for the help!