Trans loses 3rd and 4th gear (Need built trans provider info)

[Mr Johnson]

Coming home a couple nights ago I turn a corner and get a thunk and then revving engine. Turns out I lost 3rd and 4th gear at that point. I'm 1 1/2 months out of warranty (just turned 30K miles). Long story short my local dealer has had the car for 3 days now and told me today that Ford apparently will do nothing to help cover the costs of a repair.

They still haven't opened up the trans to figure out what was wrong but they supposedly don't see metal fragments and the fluid looks good. I suppose it is possible that nothing hard broke but I find that difficult to believe under the circumstances. I'm thinking if I need to repair the thing just go with a built trans but I'm not sure what recommendations folks would have and what sort of timeframe to get one. Thinking about Gearstar or Art Carr obviously but any other info welcome. I'm *NOT* paying $3K for a rebuilt stock trans!

Suggestions/Comments/Help welcome.

[Dennis Reinhart]

Coming home a couple nights ago I turn a corner and get a thunk and then revving engine. Turns out I lost 3rd and 4th gear at that point. I'm 1 1/2 months out of warranty (just turned 30K miles). Long story short my local dealer has had the car for 3 days now and told me today that Ford apparently will do nothing to help cover the costs of a repair.

They still haven't opened up the trans to figure out what was wrong but they supposedly don't see metal fragments and the fluid looks good. I suppose it is possible that nothing hard broke but I find that difficult to believe under the circumstances. I'm thinking if I need to repair the thing just go with a built trans but I'm not sure what recommendations folks would have and what sort of timeframe to get one. Thinking about Gearstar or Art Carr obviously but any other info welcome. I'm *NOT* paying $3K for a rebuilt stock trans!

Suggestions/Comments/Help welcome.

Call me tomorrow, I will try and help

[Mach1]

I think you should try to contact Ford directly. Especially if you are only 1.5 months out of warrenty. My ex had a Ford Contour with the V6. She had the extended warrenty to 75,000 miles and the trans failed at a bit over 80,000 miles. The dealer took it apart and found one of the planetary gears split, and they said that because that was a mfg. defect, they replaced the entire transmission under warrenty. Your dealer may not be trying very hard for you.

[Mr Johnson]

I think you should try to contact Ford directly.

I hope to have a conversation with the Zone Rep who denied any help tomorrow. Let's see what he has to say. But, sad to say, I have a feeling that I'll be calling trans vendors in the near future.

[MarauderMark]

Call me tomorrow, I will try and help

Yepperz Dennis is da man

[Marauderjack]

Most "Reputable Dealers" have something they call "PWA" (Post Warranty Assistance....I think??) where you pay a percentage (10% to 20% or so) and Ford picks up the rest!! My dealer has this program and I actually get 2 or 3 "Claims" after warranty expiration and was advised not to use it for small things such as trim or low price items.....Save it for "Disasters" like drive train problems?? Of course the drive train thing is void now since I have the blower!!

I think it is very "Dealer Specific" but worth a try if you are a GOOD customer or perhaps a GOOD potential customer??

Otherwise get an upgraded trans from Dennis or another vendor near you (Lidio??)!!

Good Luck!!

Marauderjack

[Zack]

I can give you one of my Vin #'s with the extended warranty if your dealer will accept it.

[ckadiddle]

Man that sucks. Reminds me I am overdue for oil change and check to see if it's time for trans service again yet.

[magindat]

Call me tomorrow, I will try and help

You want that. Trust me. That's exactly what you want.

I took the Art Carr Level II pill. Now I'm a junkie.

[Mr Johnson]

Got to talk to the zone rep late today. He's saying inclined to not help but a final decision on Tuesday when he has a chance to get some more info from another dealer I had service at.

It was a very friendly conversation but I don't have high hopes. I hate waiting until Tuesday because it means a full week of the snow tired daily driver MIA with snow predicted. But I'm not ready to just go pull it out yet either.

I'll keep you informed.

Zack: Thanks for the offer but I'm too "by the book" for that (for better or in this case worse).

[N40GL]

You want that. Trust me. That's exactly what you want.

I took the Art Carr Level II pill. Now I'm a junkie.

Even better - I took the Art Carr "Extreme Street" pill to manage 460HP on the ground and I'm an addict! Dennis and I will tell you Ronnie and Alan Hartmann are GREAT people. They don't get much better'n my book. Neither does Dennis.

One more thing: Take your car to Sessler Ford in Libertyville. As for Joe Anderson (Service Director). Mention my name. Joe has had my transmission in and out of my car on more than one occasion as I've done various upgrades (including installing the latest version, the Extreme Street). If there's any way he can get you at least some part of the warranty to cover it, he will - he really knows the Ford insides and outsides. He also knows all about the snap ring that holds on the overdrive band and 3d gear, having suffered through it with me. I only wish I was still in Chicago to avail myself of Joe's abilities. Jeremy and Dave (the technicians) know my car backwards, so the shop time you'll spend is substantially reduced.

There are minor upgrades you can do to get your car back on the road again and covered by Ford's warranty (the spiral, instead of the snap, ring for the OD band). There's also the Art Carr solution, which'll result in a bulletproof transmission as long as you stay under the power limits (I didn't do that - I went to 460HP without upgrading the tranny and snapped that ole input shaft right off). As I know from experience, Alan Hartmann (Ronnie's son and the VP of the whole shebang) built me the Extreme Street his-own-self and shipped it to me the next day for Joe to install. It doesn't get much better than that.

Dennis has got a great deal as well; he takes your tranny, ships in at the start of the week to Art Carr, and gets it back at the end of the week completely rebuilt at their factory to your standards. Beautiful!

Let me know how it works out.

Mark

[Mr Johnson]

Mark,

Thanks much for great info. I'll let you know if I end up going that route.

[Mr Johnson]

Good.. Now that *that* is out of the way. Let's just say that it has been a long, long road to getting the Marauder back on the road. Not much of the traveled road was fun but here is the culprit:



After finding out that Ford originally wouldn't do anything to help with the repair they came back and offered $500. I said thanks but I didn't think so. I'll go with a new trans.

Then to cut a long story short let's just say I went through thinking I'd be getting an Art Carr trans, then putting the Reinhart stage II in mine, and finally a Finish Line Trans in but all to naught because of timeframes (this is my daily driver and the only one with snow tires) and various miscommunication none of those panned out. In the end, luckily?!?, I decided to just take it apart and see what was wrong. Since I didn't burn any bridges with FoMoCo they "helped" with $500 on a repair of the trans.

When they opened it up the direct clutch drum was in the condition you see. Of course I'm still convinced that this should *not* happen with a stock car at 30K but here I am with a trans in the essentially the same condition as before but me very, very much unhappy with FoMoCo.

To all those that offered advice and help

When the timing is right this thing will get some major upgrades but for now the daily driver is back on the road.

Thanks again.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

Wow that is really bad with only 30k miles. I hope mine holds up a lot longer than that. I sold a 2003 Acura Tl type S because it had 4 transmissions installed by the dealer by the time it had 46k miles. I hope this car is not as bad!! Crossed fingers!! Who rebuilt the trans, the dealer, or did you farm it out? Hopefully it holds up for you!

[Mr Johnson]

Who rebuilt the trans, the dealer, or did you farm it out? Hopefully it holds up for you!

I had the dealer do it. The only folks I would trust to upgrade the trans were way too far out on timeframes to get the daily driver back up and running. FWIW: It's a $68 part with > $1200 in labor.

I'm pretty sure the trans will hold up until I get around to upgrading everything or getting rid of the car.