Transmission Repair

Car: 1999 LX Town and Country. 3.8L engine. 120K miles. Transmission
place pulled pan. Showed me the magnet in pan. It had metal slush and
metal pins that looked like 1 inch long needles. FLuid was still rose
colored with no obvious odor other than transmission oil smell.
Transmission fluid and filter have never been serviced. American Service
Station says I need to replace transmission. The only symptom I had was
at high speeds in going up a hill or cresting the hill the front end would
bounce (when changin gears) like you were running over bumps in the road.
Do I really need a transmission or is this guy jerking me around?

 

Car: 1999 LX Town and Country. 3.8L engine. 120K miles. Transmission

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The slush is normal and to be expected as long as the whole pan wasn't
full of it. That's mostly worn friction material from the clutches.
The metal pins are not normal and would be a cause for concearn. I
think I would take those pins around to a few good independant
transmission shops and see if they have any idea what they are from.
It isn't unheard of in the transmission industry for the shop to have
added the pins after they pulled the pan in order to scare you and
sell a new transmission. Hopefully that isn't the case here but I
would be a bit skeptical until an independant third party identified
the parts.

Steve B.

 

If your serious, then you need to really think about this, your tranny is
falling apart, theres metal inside just destroying it, and you wonder if it
needs to be fixed?

thats your call, do you enjoy walking miles on end?

 

Of course not. How on earth could you even ask the question? You're supposed
to tell them when your transmission goes out. They don't tell you. That's
the driver's job.

The shaking is probably a clutch slipping, so it may not last too long. You
gotta remember the transmission knows that it's slipping. If it thinks its
excessive, it'll go to limp mode. Times sure do change. I can't believe I'm
typing this.

 

Sounds like you can drive it OK, although something about the behavior of
the car urged you to bring it in for service. For the difference in price,
you might consider changing the fluid and filter then taking a "wait and
see" attitude. One of three things will happen: it will get better, worse
or stay the same.

If this is a reputable shop, then they might be giving you good advice. If
it is some sort of chain transmission shop, I would be suspicious. Fine
filings on the magnet are normal. That's why the magnet is there in the
first place: to keep these guys contained where they will not recirculate
and cause harm.

The poster who mentioned the "limp in" feature was correct. From personal
experience with a Chrysler transmission: when it dumped it's guts into the
pan, it also went into this mode. It allows you to drive the car, but the
transmission never shifts out of some lower gear. That part worked OK. It's
probably worth mentioning that this tranny failed at around 30K miles. You
have gone 120K, so it appears that whatever was ailing mine likely isn't
ailing yours.

Good luck.

Ken