Yes definitely. Monday morning I will be getting a quote from a reputable transmission repair shop in the city. Hopefully they can repair the one I have. But I won't know until Monday.

 

In my experience, very few shops know how to properly rebuild a transmission. I've noticed that many "rebuilt" transmissions tend to last about 1/3 the lifespan as the original.

Only rebuild I trust is the one coming from the factory. Unless you are willing to drop $$ on a big name builder or happen to know first hand of a very good shop (few and far between)

I would suggest you find an unmolested lower mileage trans from a reputable salvage dealer and have that installed along with a complete flush of the transmission lines / cooler to remove any debris.

 

In my experience that's wrong....^....we had a Vette that the trans went out at 60K. I had it rebuilt by a known qualified trans shop, the Vette
now has 180K miles and the trans works like new. If you have some cheap POS trans shop with dead beat mechanics put your AT togeather it won't last. It's all about quality parts and know how, along with having service done....they'll last!
Gary

 

In OP's case he is better off buying a used tranny for a couple hundred bucks.

 

yeah i agree.

 

If you do get a used tranny...as someone mentioned above the lines to the cooler need to be flushed and if it's not a remanufacture a complete flush and refill with genuine Nissan Fluid. Expensive but well worth it to insure the trans will last and you won't experience shifting problems. You may also want to make sure that the trans comes with the valve body. If your trans is trashed your valve body is probably also trashed.

 

just like anything, it all depends on the quality of the work

 

I'm going to talk to some transmission shops tomorrow morning.

The way I see it, If they can rebuild it for half the price as the dealership is quoting for a refurb (which is the ballpark I've been getting verbally on the phone), If it lasts only a year or two, it's still worth it. I could rebuild it again, and still be ahead of the dealerships price!

Either way, I'm going to wait until I get a formal quote from another shop before I make a decision.

Transmissions just seem so much more shady than all other repairs I've done on the car. Nobody seems to give a straight answer as to what will fix the problem, or even tell you exactly what's wrong with it for some reason.

 

You should be able to pick up a used tranny for around $400-$700.

 

Ended up finding a used one about 45 mins away for $700.00 with 6month parts+labour warranty. They're gonna deliver it to the stealership for me free.

I think that's probably the best I could find with the time I had.

Thanks for all the help and advice!

 

how did your tranny go ? what were the symptoms how did you find out EXPLAIN !

 

It started with the "AT Check" light coming on about 1-2 weeks ago... and about 1 month of HORRIBLE fuel economy. I normally get about 18MPG, lately my last 5 tanks were 11-12mpg.

Finally, last friday, the car wouldn't start. I suspected battery, plugged in my multimeter and saw 12.10v (Battery is relatively new, under 1 year)...

Then I put the parking brake on, put the tranny in neutral and the car started right away. I put it in drive pulled up the street, then noticed it wouldn't switch out of first... I put it in manual mode, and it would switch numbers on the gauge console, but wouldn't actually switch gears.

Then the "AT Check", "Check Engine Soon", "VDC OFF" and "SLIP" light all came on solid.

So after a few blocks, it started switching gears again. I parked it, and re-started the engine and the only light that was on was the "AT Check". That's when I took it to the dealership since the AT Check light was coming on sporadically all week.

They did their diagnosis, and said there were 3 major error codes coming up and that I needed a new transmission.

I also asked if that was the cause of the increased fuel economy and they said it was because the car was revving to high under normal conditions. (this I didn't notice) and the car was shifting smoothly.

One thing I did notice was that the VDC wasn't working properly. Even though it would say "SLIP" on the dash, it wouldn't cut power to the rear wheels. This light comes on a lot in Canada with the amount of snow and ice we get.

He then said that I needed a new tranny.

That's the story in a nutshell...

I did mention the issue in the "sticky" in this forum about the valve covers leaking oil into the cylinders and to check that to see if it was a contributing factor to the "check engine soon" light, but he said it all has to do with the tranny.

The only thing that's weird was that the tranny seemed smooth when it was switching gears (at all speeds) and wasn't clunky at all when putting it in and out of gear (forward or reverse).

 

How many miles were on the tranny before it went.. just curious i have 80K no problems....

 

143k KMS (88k miles approx)