Double A...M.C.O

[Delta Force79]

Well to make a long story short, two years ago I had a transmission fluid flush done on the Riviera at around 85K miles. At the time there was nothing "wrong" with it, I just wanted to treat my car to a bit of preventative care. Well I soon came to find that my decision to prevent possible transmission problems down the road was actually the cause of them. Soon after the car was serviced my smooth shifting transmission started slipping into overdrive. At first it was only when the car was cold and once it was at full operating temp it was fine. This went on for awhile until it became more and more frequent, and began to not go into overdrive at all. Finances have been lacking to have the car worked on so I just tried to baby the car as long as I could and hoped it would hang on till I could have it repaired. Now fast forward to now and the transmission has gotten to the point where I have to manually shift it from 2, 3, D. I don't even bother with 1. Yesterday I went in for my annual State Inspection and was told they would not even run the emissions test with a bad transmission. So I put in a call to a local AAMCO and drove the Riv over. As of right now they have pulled the tranny but have yet to open it up and really have a good look at it. But according to their scanner ( I'm assuming thats what they use) they have found 4 or 5 issues already and said dropping the tranny and looking at it's internals with cost $995. Not sure the condition of my torque converter but they hinted that it may need replacement as well. so this is fixing to cost me int he 3K area when it's all said and done. BTW it only has 109K miles on it.

I'm excited to finally be having the transmission fixed but my wallet sure isn't happy about it. Plus I still have the insecption to worry about after I get the car back, I'm just hoping no other problems pop up to cause it to fail. I've had one problem after another with this car since I've bought it, beginning ONE WEEK after buying it. I attribute it to lack of care from the previous owners and first year bugs. ('95's were the first year of the finally generation Riviera).

The Riv will be in the shop until at least Tuesday, maybe I should just tell them to drop a new 6 speed in it

[trinacriabob]

Probably what you don't want to hear - I've heard the flushes are not good. I use the drop/drain fluid/filter method. So what if they don't get all the fluid out? Just do it more often, with that same method.

Make damn sure you are vigilant about a warranty on this kind of work - 3 years is now the standard for overhauled transmissions.

Stick to the stock trans. Don't switch.

[Delta Force79]

Update:

Finally got the Riviera back on Wed, the final bill at AAMCO was $3,107.98 for a complete tranny rebuild plus refurbished torque converter and other various parts not covered under the flat rate. After picking up the Riv, i took it to have it inspected and have the oil changed and tires rotated. That was an additional $109 bucks. Finally at 5:30 PM I had the car back thinking everything was fine, and took her out for a drive to make sure she shifted good and such. About 45 minutes later I stopped for gas before my planned mini road trip ( 45 mins or so ) to a self service car wash I enjoy going to. I pull up to a pump, when my car begins making a loud clanking noise, suddenly smoke is coming from the engine bay, I back away from the pump and off to the side, shut it off and pop the hood. I get out and see a stream of coolant running down the pavement and pop the hood to see my belt shredded to bits and my water pump pouring out coolant.

Haven't even had the car back an hr and I'm broke down. So now the car is being worked on and the estimate is $650. So tack that on to what was already spent on it this week and I'm nearly 4 grand in the hole on repairs in one week.

At this point my friend's are suggesting I just go ahead and do whatever other repairs are needed in due time and basically do a full on restoration now. Not that the car needs to be restored in the sense it's an old beat up mess, but it is 15 years old and could use some tlc. Well all that is going to have to wait now, I just hope nothing else goes on it any time soon

[2005 EquinoxLS]

I was in the decision once wheather to flush the fluid on a 1979 Impala or leave it. My Dad and the local dealer told me to leave it alone. It still shifted perfectly at 146,000 when I sold it.

[Intrepidation]

Update:

Finally got the Riviera back on Wed, the final bill at AAMCO was $3,107.98 for a complete tranny rebuild plus refurbished torque converter and other various parts not covered under the flat rate. After picking up the Riv, i took it to have it inspected and have the oil changed and tires rotated. That was an additional $109 bucks. Finally at 5:30 PM I had the car back thinking everything was fine, and took her out for a drive to make sure she shifted good and such. About 45 minutes later I stopped for gas before my planned mini road trip ( 45 mins or so ) to a self service car wash I enjoy going to. I pull up to a pump, when my car begins making a loud clanking noise, suddenly smoke is coming from the engine bay, I back away from the pump and off to the side, shut it off and pop the hood. I get out and see a stream of coolant running down the pavement and pop the hood to see my belt shredded to bits and my water pump pouring out coolant.

Haven't even had the car back an hr and I'm broke down. So now the car is being worked on and the estimate is $650. So tack that on to what was already spent on it this week and I'm nearly 4 grand in the hole on repairs in one week.

At this point my friend's are suggesting I just go ahead and do whatever other repairs are needed in due time and basically do a full on restoration now. Not that the car needs to be restored in the sense it's an old beat up mess, but it is 15 years old and could use some tlc. Well all that is going to have to wait now, I just hope nothing else goes on it any time soon

Dude that sucks. The last thing you want to do after sinking thousands into the car is have it break down again.

[ShadowDog]

I feel your pain. Been there at merely 30,000 miles - the tranny internals turned into mince.

[Delta Force79]

Update:

Got the car back on Friday ad the bill was about $670 after tax. I gassed it up and got on the parkway and beat the $h! out of it to make sure my 4 grand wasn't a waste. Nothing broke and I made it home alright, save for my service engine light coming on. I plugged in my scanner and pulled a code for the EGR Pintle Position?? One for the boost solenoid, both of these codes have been ongoing issues I just haven't had the time and money to really get into, especially now. But another code was for the torque converter clutch. But I'm thinking it was a code that wasn't erased after the rebuild, we shall see...