Hostgator

Sorry for the delay but I’ve been away for a few days and I’ve just put my reading glasses back on (you know you reach a certain age and then, well, that’s another topic). Anyway, I have to think that it really isn’t worth the investment. Let’s face it, no matter how much you like your Explorer, it is 14 years old (three years older than the national average) and it does have 225,000 miles on it, which, come to think of it, isn’t really that much mileage if you drive normally, but again, that’s beside the point. The point is this: when you hit the piece of truck tire, you likely caused a couple of issues — fact is, you identified one yourself — the line, quite likely one of the cooler lines, was disconnected and sprayed fluid all over the place. And, the other issue is that depending on the size of the tire piece, it is quite likely that it smacked the tranny housing hard enough to cause a crack in the pan. In either case, you lost a considerable amount of fluid that you did replace.

However, your replacement apparently came too late. You see, transmissions run at very high temperatures — 200-degrees-plus — and if the fluid, that also acts as a cooling agent, is drained away, there’s nothing left to cool the transmission. At that point it cooked itself to the point where it isn’t working anymore. You might try replacing it piece by piece but you will only be throwing good money into a rather large wormhole. I’d keep the money and look around for a replacement. The $3,000 you will spend for a new transmission on a truck with a frame problem, as well, would be a good downpayment on a newer vehicle (you can find relatively late-model Explorers that will give you great service, not to say better mileage as well, quite reasonably priced or better if you look at auctions).

I am assuming, from your description, that your Buick is equipped with an automatic transmission. Since that’s the case, your transmission has a major internal problem that has forced it into limp-home mode. When that happens, you usually have one forward gear and, maybe, reverse. This is why it will only go into first and reverse. Like as not, the clutches, bands, possibly the torque converter, and gears are shot. I also suspect that your transmission has a major leak somewhere — check along the gasketing on the pan and check any external cooler lines — since the fluid is gone. That said, the burning smell tells me that your transmission is overheating in a big way and burning the organic transmission fluid. By the way, you only put in one quart of tranny fluid. That’s a problem because most automatics take between five and six quarts. Add more fluid and you may have better results.

I am assuming that you are asking for sources of a rebuilt or used transmission for your Chevy Trailblazer. If that’s the case, you have some options. Let me suggest the following:

Rebuilt transmission

Used transmission

Transmission rebuild

A rebuilt transmission is the way most transmission specialty or independent repair shops go when they need to replace a transmission. The reason is simple. When a transmission is rebuilt, the manufacturer takes the old case, strips out all of the old pieces and replaces those pieces with new parts. What you have when the manufacturer is finished is a new transmission in an old case. Generally, rebuilt transmissions cost, depending on your location, between $2,800 and $3,200.

A used transmission is one that is usually removed from a vehicle in a salvage yard and sold to a customer with the same vehicle. In other words, to obtain a used or salvage transmission you will have to visit a salvage or car-parts yard and find a vehicle that matches your Trailblazer. If you find it, you will have to have the transmission removed and either take it to the repair shop or have it shipped. If you have found the right transmission from the right model of your SUV, be sure that it has the same or fewer (preferably fewer) miles on it than you currently have. It makes little sense to install a used transmission in your vehicle if it has the same or similar mileage to the one that you have just had removed. One other thing, since the same vehicle model can have varying transmission requirements, depending on the way the vehicle was manufactured and its features, be sure you find the right transmission. One that is similar to your vehicle’s transmission and not an exact match, won’t work, or, if it does function, it will likely be poorly. A used transmission will generally cost about half a rebuilt or about $1,600.

A transmission rebuilt is not the same thing as a rebuilt transmission. With a transmission rebuild, you are making use of your vehicle’s transmission housing and of those systems that are still in working order. The only systems that you replace are those that need replacement. For example, if your current transmission’s clutches and bands are failing, you would first start off with the clutch/band replacement kits and possibly with new solenoids to make sure everything worked correctly. If this first repair solves things, then you have saved lots of money because new clutches and bands will generally cost about $1,200 installed. You can see that potentially, using a transmission rebuild will save you money. The one caveat is that if you go beyond one or two replacement kits, your costs are climbing to the point where it isn’t economical to do the rebuild. And, if you rebuild, you are looking at the very real chance of later transmission failure as the newer parts exert more pressure on the older parts that are slowing down. </p>

To answer your question, when you pop open the hood, or have it popped open, as you stand in front of the van, look the the left rear for a dipstick. That’s the transmission fuel dipstick and you use it to indicate how much fuel is in the transmission.

That said, it is possible that your van is suffering from low transmission fluid. I would have it checked out thoroughly first. If you are game, start the van and let it run for about 20 minutes so that the transmission fluid has a chance to get hot. During the time you are waiting, put your foot on the brake and shift into each gear so that the fluid has a chance to reach all parts of the transmission. After stopping the engine, carefully reach in and pull out the dipstick, wipe it clean and carefully reinsert it. Then, after pulling it out again, look at the mark the transmission fluid makes on the dipstick. If it is in the normal “hot” range, then it is not the fluid. However, if it is way down on the dipstick so as to be almost invisible, then I would suggest that your van may be down on transmission fluid so that there’s not enough fluid internally to force the reverse clutch pack/band combination to engage. The solution is to purchase a can of the proper transmission fluid and replace it little by little until your next warm transmission fluid reading. The mark should be between the hot marks on the dipstick. If it is, put the transmission dipstick back in and try the transmission. It will likely work, now.

If it doesn’t shift at all it could indicate the torque converter isn’t producing sufficient pressure internally to get the transmission’s rear clutch pack to activate. It is possible that the problem could also be in the solenoid that fires reverse.

Use the AAA to tow your van to a repair facility and once it is there have a trained technician look at your vehicle.

While I am more familiar with prices in the Northeast, the price you have been quoted seems within reason. Yes, replacing a transmission is costly, but without the replacement what have you got, a Ford Expedition that is not worth very much. Unless you get your vehicle towed to a dealer — if you are thinking of replacing it with a new one because you think replacing the transmission isn’t worth it — there’s no way you can use it as a trade. If you do manage to use it as a trade, the value will be reduced by at least $3,800 to pay for the replacement transmission. You can be sure that if you are trading it — and it is in nice condition — that the dealer will fix it up and resell it for a large profit. The dealer may even just wholesale it out for cost and still make money.

And, if you are thinking of selling it yourself because of the cost of the transmission replacement, remember that you are going to have to disclose the problem to anyone and that may make it pretty much worthless to a buyer, unless you are willing to take scrappage costs for payment. Yes, it is a hard truth, but a non-rolling vehicle isn’t worth very much to buyers or dealers, unless the buyer is a scrapyard.

With that said, you will find that you need not get several quotes for the replacement because in every area of the country transmission replacements are within a couple of hundred dollars. In other words, you may get a quote of $3,200 and another of $3,700, possibly, a third of $3,000. My suggestion would be to go with the lowest, if you choose the quote root, with the understanding that the shop where you received the quote is also within the ballpark.

Good luck.

Here’s what happened the first time your Mustang Pony acted up: your transmission threw a soft code that wasn’t captured by your vehicles main electronic control module — soft errors are not meant to be captured in the first place. The problem that generated the soft effort then put your Pony into limp-home mode.

Limp-home mode deactivates most of the features of a transmission leaving only forward gearing so that your vehicle can “limp” home or to a repair facility. In this instance, though, the soft error also meant that the limp-home mode was activated so that you could get home. Since it was a soft error, the transmission reset which is why it was okay when you went in for the inspection.

Unfortunately, your transmission then went back into limp-home mode because the soft-code became a hard-code that was flashed and sent to the main electronic control module. In this case, though, there is a problem. It is likely with the one-way direct clutch. The one-way direct clutch helps to keep your transmission shifting smoothly and correctly.

If you think of the one-way direct clutch as “master” clutch in the transmission you can see its importance and why the dealer said that you need a new transmission. For you it is bad news, for the dealer it is good news because just by saying you need a new transmission they are going to whack your credit card for lots and lots of money and they are going to make a tidy sum as well. As it is always less expensive for a dealer to “diagnose and repair” a transmission by swapping in a rebuilt. Yes, it does take time to do this, but not nearly as long as it would take the dealer to do things correctly.

You see, the one-way direct clutch, which slows the overall transmission gearing so that the tranny can shift smoothly from one gear to the next, can be replaced. There are repair kits available for it. The thing of it is that there are so many other potential causes of the P1700 series code that it is much easier for the dealer to do the swap, as well.

You do have to diagnose and check each of the potential problems before you go ahead and swap out the one-way direct clutch and that does take time. To diagnose this problem correctly, the technician has to step through a series of tests to both of the transmission solenoids. They solenoids control the sequence of shifting as their action determines the order that specific clutches are activated. The problem might either be mechanical or electrical so each potentiality must be looked into. There are as many as eight different specific tests that have to be made.

In general, though, it is quite likely that once your technician has gone through the numbers, that it will turn out the one-way direct clutch that has to be replaced. You can certainly save a ton of money if you have your tech swap that particular part because it should cost about $1,400 to complete this repair. Or, you can listen to the dealer and swiftly replace the transmission and pay the $4,000 demanded by the dealer. What move would you make? I’s rather save $2,600 any day, wouldn’t you. Have the one-way direct clutch replaced and you should be all set.

Here are a couple of things to check:

1. Check the torque converter to make sure that it is functioning correctly. It might be hanging up slightly.

2. Check the clutch pack for second — some transmissions share this with reverse. It might be that due to wear and tear it is beginning to slip. If that is the case, it is a sure bet that the band associated with the clutch pack is also slipping and bingo there’s your problem.

3. Have the transmission fluid filter checked. It is possible that the filter is stuffed and the flow of transmission fluid through the device is being slowed.

4. Check the alignment of the input shaft. If it is slightly misaligned it could be causing your problem.

There is a belt inside Honda’s engines, the timing belt. On your Civic, the replacement should be done between 85,000 and 105,000 miles. It’s a must replacement item on your Honda as your car’s engine needs the timing belt to make sure that all of the engine synchronize correctly. If they don’t then things tend to smack into one another. For example, if the timing belt fails then input and output valves could run into one another, causing lots of damage — very expensive damage.

The moral of that story is to follow the manufacturer’s recommendation and have the belt replaced. The cost will be about $1,200.

The timing belt has nothing to do with the transmission, though.

The tranny, in fact, is another story. There was a flurry of transmission problems that impacted 2002 Honda Civics and it sounds as if yours might be one of the ones involved. The good thing is that if your Civic is involved, then your repairs will be covered because there was a recall issued. And, when a recall is issued, the repairs are done by Honda dealers for free.

Here’s what you have to do. You do have to contact a local Honda dealer and ask if your vehicle is involved in the 2004 recall program. They do have to tell you about the issue, although they may not be that forthcoming with the information. There have even been some reports of downright rudeness on this whole thing. If there is rudeness, then it likely means you have touched a nerve somewhere in a dealership that the dealership didn’t want touched. In other words, they are telling you, in a way, that your Civic is covered by the recall.

If they still are reluctant to help you, then you can check to see if your vehicle is involved in a recall by going to http://www.safercar.gov and poking around the site until you find the VIN search tool. This tool tells you whether your Civic is involved in a recall. If it is then you are in luck because the repair is free, as noted.

Just one word on the price, the $3,600 is pretty average for a Honda transmission, although if you can find a replacement tranny in a salvage yard and have it swapped in for the failed unit, you will spend about half that amount.

Here’s a thought, have they looked at the input shaft and output shaft? It is quite possible that when then they buttoned things up that one of the shafts may have been slightly misaligned. There’s nothing to indicate when you button things up that the shaft is out of alignment. Let’s suppose that one of the shafts is misaligned, what happens then?

If the input shaft is out of alignment, then, the splined gearing at the head of the shaft itself is not mating up correctly with the transmission’s gearing. In this instance, since it is the input shaft and it helps to drive, among other things, the torque converter, the torque converter output may be off the mark and the steady flow of transmission fluid that is expected by the transmission is off. The result is the type of slippage you are describing.

By the same token, if it is on the output shaft, a similar process is going on. They key difference here is that your transmission is working correctly, it is the output that is off. I would suspect that it might be on the output side since you have already had just about everything else replaced.

A misaligned output shaft will behave as you describe so.

Here’s one more thought, why not have the transmission fluid level checked, one more time? I know this could be a long-shot, but think about it. It was late in the day when you picked up your Toyo and it is quite possible that someone, in rushing, could have forgotten to put in the right amount of transmission fluid. Again, this is just another possibility in a wide range of items.

One more thing to think about is this was the control module that was used in this work salvaged from the original transmission? You note the vehicle has a “new transmission, ecm, solenoids …” but do you know for a fact that the control module — the master module for the entire tranny — was swapped out for a new one? I could be reaching here in looking for your answer, but it never hurts to ask the question. Sometimes, mechanics will pull parts and hold onto them, using them, if they seem to be in good shape, instead of swapping in a new part that could either be more expensive or that may delay the repair even further. Please ask the questions and you will probably find the answer.

If your Mini Cooper has lost fourth, you can be certain that first through third are just waiting in the wings to go. Here’s a suggestion before we get to the costly stuff: take a look at the transmission fluid. It is quite possible that it could be down a pint of fluid or a little more. If this is the case, fourth may be literally high and dry as there may not be enough transmission fluid to fill the entire housing.

Since an automatic depends on a full load of fluid to work properly, if it is low on fluid and if one of the gears is literally out of fluid, then it will not go into gear no matter what you do. Now, since your Mini is going into overdrive and is able to increase its speed to 100 kph, then it lends credence to the thinking that it could just be a low fluid condition.

Overdrive is a direct connect or lockup gear that physically hooks the transmission, torque converter and engine in a locked up-straight through state. Since it is straight through and is based on the final gearing of the transmission (fourth) then it seems logical to assume that your fluid needs to be checked.

Do this first and please do share the results.

Here are some possible causes to the problem you describe and some potential cures.

The first involves a question for you and it is when was the last time you had the transmission fluid changed or even checked? It isn’t necessary to change or check the transmission fluid when you swap out an engine because each unit is distinct and separate. Although they depend on each other for proper operation, the engine and transmission are connected through a series of clutches and bands and the torque converter. Their proper operation depends on the level of the automatic transmission fluid. If there isn’t enough automatic transmisson fluid (ATF) available for the torque converter to spin correctly as it tries to initiate the connection between the engine and the transmission, then it will take some time for pressure to build to the proper level so that there is some semblance of proper operation. Even with the pressure built up, if the actual level of ATF is low, there will still be slippage and stalled or no activity.

You will have to make sure that the transmission fluid level is correct to eliminate this as a cause. To do this, park your SUV on a level surface and set the parking brake. Leave the vehicle in N(eutral) — you can use P(ark), however, this isn’t recommended as you will see. Let the engine run for about 20 minutes or until it reaches the proper operating temperature. Then, when it hits the right temp successively put run your transmission through each gear, keeping your foot on the brake as an extra measure of safety. Hold each gear for a minute or so to be sure that fluid has circulated correctly throughout the tranny. Then, pull the transmission dipstick out of its tube, clean it and reinsert it. Note the level of the fluid, using the HOT scale. Be sure that the transmission fluid is between the low mark and the top mark. It is below the low mark, your transmission needs fluid. Purchase a couple of bottles of the proper ATF for your vehicle (most likely Dexron) and then, while the vehicle is still warm and running, carefully add the fluid a bottle at a time. When you have finished the filling with the first bottle, check the level again and, if it is still low, add enough from a second or third bottle to complete the filling. DO NOT OVERFILL the transmission as this can cause problems.

If the transmission is still causing problems after you have added the new fluid, it may be one of two issues: the first is a worn tranny fluid pump and the second is a plugged transmission filter. Since the transmission pump is key to proper operation, if it is worn and not generating proper internal pressure for proper operation, you will have to have the transmission torn down and rebuilt. The reason a rebuild is necessary is that the pump is so integral to the transmission, it is likely that there are other problems hiding, as well, so it will probably need a rebuild. It is best to do the rebuild to ensure that the problem is fixed.

On the other hand, though, it may be just a plugged filter which is easy to replace. Simply have your vehicle raised either on a lift or a pneumatic jack and when it is clear and you can work underneath, place a basin under the vehicle to catch the fluid when you drain it, remove the filler plug and drain the tranny. Next, remove the 14 bolts from the transmission cover and carefully drop it into the basin and let any remaining fluid drip into it, as well. Removing the pan cover will reveal the filter. Take a look at it and you will find that it is likely plugged. Simply remove the filter and replace it with the proper filter. Then, reverse the steps to button the pan up. Last, slowly fill up the transmission with fluid — yes it will be cold right now — and when you reach the number mentioned in either a service manual or your owner’s manual, stop, fire up the engine and let it warm for 20 minutes. Then check the transmission fluid level properly.

Finally, it is possible that there might be a problem with either the pressure regulator or pressure control solenoids. On your Blazer, it might be possible to read the problem on a diagnostic scan tool. If not, you will need to have a pressure gauge attached to each point in the transmission (find them in the service manual) and see when particular circuits have low pressure. Since the regulator and/or solenoids are central to proper transmission operation and since they are also within the transmission, replacing them will likely require a transmission rebuild.

If the problem continues, then you are looking at a total transmission replacement which can add between $2,500 and $3,200 to your total cost.

Have your engine checked because there is something going on.

Let’s look at just how your throttle works with a little history to start. About 30 years ago, a switch started in the auto industry. Slowly, as digital electronics became more and more robust, “drive-by-wire” began to replace mechanical linkages. Before “drive-by-wire,” a throttle system was fairly straightforward. The accelerator was linked to either the carburetion or fuel-injection system by a series of linkages. You pressed on the accelerator and the linkages opened up performance as more air entered the fuel system and as the transmission kick-down activated.

This changed with full “drive-by-wire.” Instead of relying on mechanical linkages, the system uses a series of sensors such as the throttle position sensor and control modules (essentially microcomputers) to maintain, increase or reduce your speed. The system monitors a series of voltages that whose basics are stored in non-volatile memory. In its monitoring, it watches for major differences between sensors and modules. If the range is too far out of whack, the car is placed into either a safety mode where the engine shuts down or limp-home where the engine and transmission go into second or third gear and remain there so that your car can move until you can get it to a service area.

If things get too far out of whack, the throttle control motor cuts in and physically moves things about until the engine shuts down.

So, you asked what I would recommend to be checked. The answer is relatively simple. Take an OBD-II reader, plug it in and look at throttle-specifid error codes, if they have accumulated. If they have accumulated, narrow down the problem and have it fixed. If, on the other hand, there are no codes for the specific problem, see if there are any codes relating to the fuel system as it may be that an outboard system is impacting the throttle.

In any event, the throttle system needs work.

It certainly can. You see, today’s transmission is an electronically sophisticated device. You’d think otherwise, but it is just not so. The transmission is controlled by or “listens” to as many as a 17 sensors and computers. In this case, though, the microcomputers that control various transmission systems are called control modules.

With that being said, though, the sensors that throttle systems that directly affect or are affected by the automatic transmission include the throttle position sensor (TPS), the mass airflow sensor (MAS) and others are affected by the throttle.

In action, when the throttle is pressed, the throttle cable puts more pressure at the bottom of the throttle valve. This, in turn, increases the line pressure that is coming from the primary regulator valve. If the pressure does not continue increasing when the throttle is pushed, it means that the line pressure keeps increasing ultimately building up more pressure in the engine which can result in a downshift.

The interplay between the line pressure, the primary regulator valve and the throttle position sensor, as well as the master control module, determines the shift points for your automatic transmission, especially under hard acceleration.