Tapps33
Full Access Member
Good luck! Hopefully it's something simple! (It never is, but I keep hoping!)
Let us know what the new shop says.
Let us know what the new shop says.
Zip kit and fluid change, now won't go past 5th
- Thread starter greiswig
- Start date
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Well, I guess it's time for an update. The transmission shop first test drove the vehicle after I had it towed there, and determined that "something is very, very wrong." They scanned the performance, and from what they could tell, the transmission was trying to use adjacent gears simultaneously. When they pulled the pan, they said it looked like a bass lure from all the non-ferrous metal in the fluid. Keep in mind that this is after two fluid changes from the prior shop, and with very little mileage on it other than the shops' test drives and my short drive to a tow.
Digging into the valve body, they found that at least one check ball was missing from a location where it should have been, and present in a place where it shouldn't have been. This was causing unregulated hydraulic pressure in several areas, but particularly in the B clutch. The result was that the clutches were fighting one another when it was being driven. The mechanic assures me that it would only take a fraction of a mile under those circumstances to do the damage that he saw.
All of the hard parts of the transmission looked "like new," but every soft part (seals, etc.) and all the clutches had been pretty well cooked by the test drives. So it's a transmission rebuild, with a nearly $8k bill attached to it. Now I have to go back to the original shop with this and try to get them to do the right thing. If not, I'll end up in court, which I really don't want to do but I will.
Digging into the valve body, they found that at least one check ball was missing from a location where it should have been, and present in a place where it shouldn't have been. This was causing unregulated hydraulic pressure in several areas, but particularly in the B clutch. The result was that the clutches were fighting one another when it was being driven. The mechanic assures me that it would only take a fraction of a mile under those circumstances to do the damage that he saw.
All of the hard parts of the transmission looked "like new," but every soft part (seals, etc.) and all the clutches had been pretty well cooked by the test drives. So it's a transmission rebuild, with a nearly $8k bill attached to it. Now I have to go back to the original shop with this and try to get them to do the right thing. If not, I'll end up in court, which I really don't want to do but I will.
Almost cheaper to buy a whole lr4 with a blown engine or crash damage and part it out to recoup. Will this new shop go on the record with their findings in case you end up in court?
scapistron
Full Access Member
Last I looked a salvage yard transmission is around a thousand bucks.
Tapps33
Full Access Member
I’ll second that! I bought one that had 70K on it, and while I did go in and rebuild it as a precaution, the internals were in impeccable shape. These ZF gearboxes really do last.
Tapps33
Full Access Member
Hopefully the original shop will do the right thing. On a good note, once the mechanic is correctly reassembled…with yet another new separator plate, it should be fine and able to transplant to any new transmission, be it a rebuilt one of a used one.
FYI, I just rebuilt one for my SCV8 LR4 project, and I want to say, new frictions, steels, seals and bushings ran me around $2K. But getting the transmission in and out is a giant pain, then tearing it all down and building it back up is time consuming.
I’m sorry this ended up this way. Hopefully the first shop will at a minimum correct their mistake…although at this point I don’t know that I’d want them to touch it anymore….getting them to pay the other shop sounds is most likely a trip to court.
itsaguything
Full Access Member
Yes… but who knows what condition it will be in…
Out of interest, what is the best price LR would supply a new or certified rebuilt one?? (Yes, my experience is JLR will barter as will the dealer)
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itsaguything
Full Access Member
OMG! sorry you experienced that.
Unfortunately, its a case of “he said, she said”. Then as you put it “… the test drives…” And unless you have undisputed proof of the health prior to this fiasco…
And I will just put this out loud, once: is the zipkit necessary…
Best of luck, @greiswig !!
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Yes, the new shop will go on record, and the evidence they gathered will be admissible.
The first shop offered to install a “good, used” transmission pulled from a vehicle with 15k more miles than mine. And yeah, I could have done that or pulled a used one, but as was pointed out, I don’t want something with questionable reliability.
The first shop offered to install a “good, used” transmission pulled from a vehicle with 15k more miles than mine. And yeah, I could have done that or pulled a used one, but as was pointed out, I don’t want something with questionable reliability.
scapistron
Full Access Member
From memory, a rebuilt unit is 4000.
