I asked them this same question. Doesn't this make the most sense? He gave some blathering response starting with "we could talk about doing that" and ending with "let's see what happens with this first."


I had no intention of telling them about the Aamco. But the Aamco suggested that I not drive it to the dealership, so I had it towed. They left the Aamco mat on the driver's seat floor. If I take it to Nalley Infiniti, I don't plan on mentioning Aamco. I wasn't planning on mentioning the Roswell Infiniti, but now that they've replaced a part, at the very least I would expect it to be in the computer system and/or it would explain away any b.s. "scratches on the transmission" excuse the second dealership might try to pull (btw, the sales manager didn't mention any scratches).

I have no receipt because their work was free and they didn't actually get to the point of doing anything. When service dept. guy asked about this, I called the Aamco guys and they said that's normal, that it costs $1 per invoice, that they average between 5-8 free diagnostics a day, and that that would create an enormous amount of paperwork and filing. Which to me makes total sense - why would you give a receipt for a free service that's never even performed. At the next stage I guess I can go back to the Aamco and have them write something up saying they didn't add tranny fluid, but I doubt that would satisfy this guy.

By the way, I really appreciate everyone's input thusfar; even just reading responses and suggestions eases my nerves and gives me hope that something might be resolved.

 

Exactly Joker. Good advice.

Christ. It's not like they don't get paid for warranty work.

 

Basically your problem is this

Your tranny does not shift due to a hight oil level. Once you drain the oil it will shift just fine. (AT tranys do that. They only shift till 2nd gear if something is wrong........low oil, high oil or electrical problem)
It will cost dealership about 1k to replace the seal (if it's even leaking) and to drain the fluid.
You need to make them understand that if they don't do it you will take it further and it will cost them more. You need to present hard facts and explain it to them that there is another way to handle this issue but it is going to cost them more.

Deff call Aamco and get the receipt from them even if it's going to cost you. Have a service manager or shop manager sign off on it.

 

I just now realized that I've failed to ask the most obvious question up to this point: If the transmission and/or front seal pump is broken because it has too much transmission fluid, then how could it have been the Aamco that put the transmission fluid in, considering that I took it to them to figure out what was wrong with my transmission. Or else the problem was not caused by there being too much transmission fluid, meaning that the Aamco is not to blame for the broken transmission.

The totally illogical response I'm expecting: it doesn't matter whether the excess transmission fluid is what broke it; we don't know exactly what is wrong with your car, so once the Aamco [might have] put the transmission fluid in, they voided the warranty.

I can't imagine the problem was that there was too much oil - the 45K checkup, w/ oil change, was prob about 2K miles ago and done in April (I walked to work every day).

Anyway, still waiting to hear back from them, but I'm pretty much boxed into a corner as to what I tell them next. You have two options: I'm not giving you one single dime for repairs, so you tell the warranty people that the other dealership put in too much transmission fluid, which they clearly did, and that that broke the transmission, and then you replace it under warranty. Otherwise I take my car elsewhere, and they can expect a lawsuit for breach of contract (and I was considering fraud, as you can't get punitive damages for breach of contract, but I'm still not sure why they would be acting fraudulently when they get paid the same, either from me or from Infiniti under the warranty).

 

Once they replace the valve body they wil have to add fluid & should fill it correctly. Then if it drives right they need to fix the leak. THERE IS NO WAY that about 1qt too much will cause a leak.

 

If you can proove that the dealer is the LAST place your tranny was serviced and Infiniti found no problems at that point you have them, regardless of AMCO's position. if your car is an 03'-05' the fluid can't be checked without a special tool (THE DEALER) as they have no dipstick. I had my wifes 03 serviced at Tustin Infiniti and 1 month later it's shifting hard and jerking, I take it back to Tustin thinking the fluid was left low, Tustin said the fluid was at the right level but burnt "well guss who serviced it last" they replaced the tranny ,tranny cooler lines and flushed the tranny cooler since futher inspection showed metal fragments in the pan, my car was out of warranty. The new trans comes with a dipstick. If I were in your situation the first thing I would do is have the an Infinti dealer give you a copy of your cars service history and check the time line,then if you don't have one as of yet get a case # for your incident from the 1 800 #, someone posted a compleate list of Nissan corporate management in the forum that was discussing either CD problems or Oil consumption problems I can't recall which one, E-mail your problem to ALL of the people on this list - I did this after paying to get my CD fixed out of warranty, I got a call back from a manger and Nissan reimbursed me for the out of packet CD repair cost. Good luck

 

And now I'm on the verge of being sick. As you know, they called and said they were going to repair the body valve under warranty. Later they called back and said that they'd taken apart the transmission and that they firmly believed it had been tampered with - there were parts missing (which, I'm told by a neutral transmission specialist, if they weren't removed at some prior time, must have melted), a bolt was too tight, and the wire harness wasn't securely fastened (I'm also told that if the harness were not fastened, it would not have been switching to 2nd and 3rd like it was before I brought it to them). And so they say it's not covered under the warranty. At this point I was resigned to my fate, I was going to suck it up, pay the diagnostic fee, bring it somewhere else, and pay for a new transmission.

But that's not all. They call me back this morning and tell me they're charging me over $3000 for the work done so far. I am in absolute shock - it was clear from the start that something was wrong with the transmission, and having the entire thing replaced costs slightly more than $3000. They say that I have been fraudulent, that I haven't told them everything, and that because the warranty doesn't cover the transmission, everything up to that point is at my expense.

I was under the impression that $100+ for a diagnostic meant that if the car wasn't under warranty, it would cost me $100+, and if I wanted anything fixed, that I'd pay for that. They didn't tell me that everything before that point would also be charged to me (Infiniti consumer affairs agrees that that is standard operating procedure, however). They especially didn't tell me that they were going to be taking apart the transmission, and that they would be charging me for that if it wasn't under warranty. I didn't have any discussions as to the removal of the transmission, I didn't sign anything, and as far as I was concerned, once the body valve replacement didn't work, I was going to bring it somewhere that knew what they were doing.

Worst of all, I don't seem to have any recourse but the legal system. Consumer Affairs again says they have absolutely nothing to do with individual-dealership disputes. These dealerships report to absolutely no one. My only recourse is to tow it out of there (the car ran up to third gear when it went in there, but since they'll charge me to put it back together again and drive it out, I have to have it towed; furthermore, the head of service and parts had the audacity to say that the transmission wouldn't work without the missing parts, which is why I had it towed in, when I know it was switching up to third before I brought it in), pay them the $3000+, and hope to get it back in a lawsuit. Did I mention that I'm unemployed, 25, and that $7K-$8K will cripple me financially? I'm also going to have to sell the car and buy a junker.

 

Not really a practical car for an unemployed 25 year old but whatever.

Look, go talk to a litigation attorney. There's a good chance that a letter from him or her could resolve your issues. I've seen it work in similar situations like this. You're being bullied and you're backing down. Call an attorney right now!

 

The irony being that I am an attorney. I bought the car used midway through my last year of law school, with the expectation that I would have a cushy lawyer job when I got out. Had the warranty covering it through the end of law school, had plenty of money saved up to buy it and for incidental repairs should anything happen to it, and it would have hurt, but been all right to buy a new transmission. I don't think anyone expects to pay 1/3 of what he paid for the car originally to have it fixed less than two years later.

Went to work for a federal judge for 8 months, just moved back to Atlanta, was planning to spend the month of September looking for a job, figured I'd be hired soon after. As is, I haven't been able to even leave the house to go to firms for most of the month.

 

That's not right. They are supposed to INFORM you before they do anything other than what you agreed to.

Now that they have your car in pieces, they think they can blackmail you into a huge repair bill.

Gawd I hate dealers sometimes.

 

If you're an attorney than you know that what they're doing is illegal. You really should go find a good litigator. Did you tell them that you're an attorney?

 

I did, but they are convinced that I was trying to commit fraud and so they have the right to do what they're doing. That said, I'm well aware that even if I were committing fraud (and I assure you all that I was not), you can't take apart someone's transmission and then charge them for it. I'm just thankful they didn't disassemble the entire car and try to charge me for that also.

 

You need professional help in dealing with this. Now that the dealer has taken the transmission apart and tampered with whatever evidence they might have had, I think they've screwed themselves. Can they prove the transmission was overfilled? Can they prove there were parts missing? Can they prove that they didn't just take the parts out themselves? Can they prove the didn't loosen up the wiring harness themselves? Did they save the original fluid? Can they prove its the original fluid? By having taken the transmission apart I think they have virtually assured that you could win this fight, but you need to get someone in to argue for you that knows a) the law and b) how to deal with dealerships. Stop posting online and go get real help.

 

I agree with CAD and Ping, you need to go find a good attorney (or maybe a law school buddy of yours) and get this thing taken straight to court. Most dealers will stop at telling you "the problem with your vehicle is because of X and Y, and is therefore not covered under the warranty." But this dealer is taking it to the extreme to screw you; disassembling the transmission and telling you that you owe them $3000 for not even fixing anything!? WTF?? If you never signed a work order for them to take apart the tranny, then you are not legally responsible for the work they perform. You should be suing them for lost wages and sh*t (insert legal jargon here). Bro, for some reason they think you are an easy mark and that you will roll over and pay them. You need to prove them otherwise.

 

Small claims court. It's about $30 to get a court date, no need for lawyers, and I believe the higher dollar amount is $3,000 to $5,000. Your argument will be that they've started on work you did not approve and that you want the transmission restored to the condition it was before (ie operating up to 3rd gear). Most dealerships aren't going to want to mess with going to court nor do they like to see the local sheriff delivering a summons to their dealership (usually the GM or owner) to appear in court. It's far easier for them to eat the minimal flat labor cost and put the tranny back in and send you on your way. Flat out tell the service manager that this is what you're going to do and that you need the main legal contact for dealership because you are filing with the North Fulton small claims court.

My only concern is that if the car was used, then it is entirely possible it may have been fixed at another shop. I don't know why an independent shop would have messed with a car under warranty though.