Transmission shot, next steps...

[Lester Flatts]

2003 Envoy XL, 4.2, 2wd, 209,000 miles. We bought this truck new; up until a month or so ago it was my wife's daily driver. I've lurked on the OS for several years and recently got the hint and joined here, I've found the info here to be very valuable as I do most of the work on our cars myself. Now the truck's mine, and I was planning on installing my radios and doing some mods to really own it, but last week I lost 3-4 and nursed it home while trying to keep it in 2nd.

I'm 99% sure I want to keep this truck a long time, it's been a good one and we've taken good care of it. I think it's still got another 200k miles left, if I do my part.

I'm not going to have the time to do this job myself, I own a BBQ trailer and I'm the CEO and dishwasher, so I'll have to find a shop here in NW Florida to do the job. I've been seeing prices for remans from $1900 to $2500, plus core, shipping, and rebuilts from $900 (including the guy in Jacksonville, FL on craigslist who claims his are bulletproof.) From what I've read, reman is the best way to go. Jasper is what the local shop uses, complete with a 3 year/100k mile warranty. I'm not sure how Jasper stacks up with the other remans out there.

So I'm looking for advice, direction and general encouragement (or even some reality- am I wrong to think I should spend essentially 50%+ of the truck's value on this?)

Thanks

 

[Texan]

I have a 2003 TB that I bought new. 134k trouble free miles and has been the best vehicle I have owned. Changed transmission oil
and filter every year and keep my fingers crossed. If it was mine, I would have it repaired or replaced.
The Jasper name has been around a long time. Good luck.

 

[Ed H]

My trans rebuild will be $1800 out the door with a few upgraded parts, new torque converter (obviously), etc.. Just a datapoint for you. This is in ultra-expensive Chicagoland area.

 

[KNBlazer]

just make sure it's a written nationwide warranty....

 

[Lester Flatts]

I have a 2003 TB that I bought new. 134k trouble free miles and has been the best vehicle I have owned. Changed transmission oil
and filter every year and keep my fingers crossed. If it was mine, I would have it repaired or replaced.
The Jasper name has been around a long time. Good luck.

I'm definitely leaning toward putting the money into this truck, no way I'll find another as reliable for the same cost as a remanufactured transmission.

My trans rebuild will be $1800 out the door with a few upgraded parts, new torque converter (obviously), etc.. Just a datapoint for you. This is in ultra-expensive Chicagoland area.

Right in line with what I'm finding. Thanks for your input.

just make sure it's a written nationwide warranty....

The Jasper site is pretty thorough, but yeah, that's a must-have.

 

[glfredrick]

I've used Phoenix Transmissions rebuild (currently running one in my 03) with success. They sold on eBay and I took my chances because the price point was decent. VERY pleased with the results as I now have over 75K on the unit. My original trans burned up with a rusted out fluid line that I didn't catch on time, plus a LOT of abuse towing an 8000# trailer with my off-road rig all over the US.

http://www.phoenixtrans.com/GM_Transmissions.html

 

[Sparky]

If it were mine I'd be doing the same. If the rest is in good shape I'd replace the whole powertrain if it came to it because that beats a car payment.

 

[seanpooh]

I shopped around for the best price and the nicest people to work with.
I did find a shop which is a father son business 5 years ago. He keeps keeps telling me when I smile, it reminds him of his beer drinking buddy in his HS years.

Regardless, he rebuilt mine 3 times. First time was the sun shell which came out to be ~$850.

The second time was this winter 100K miles later. I added on a small spin on filter with a HDD magnet after the tranny cooler last summer and never thought to change the filter. Because of that, the fluid stopped flowing and burned up and melted most of the stuff after the sun gear including the 5-Pinion Rear Planetary gear... It was my fault. The tranny would have have lasted longer.

I went ahead and told them to change the check balls and the plate they rest on along with adding the Sonnax HP shift kit and the Sonnax 2 & 4 super hold servo at a cost of ~$1,200 since it was more involved work with the kit.

A month after the rebuild it broke again, had it towed to him which he reimbursed me. Come to find out I cracked apart the vane pump. Too much burn outs and WOT launches to impress the fiends. It was covered under his warranty though.

You just gotta find the right guy.

 

[Lester Flatts]

The dealership we purchased the truck from (and the only shop to work on the truck besides me, they did some recall work way back) has the GM remanufactured tranny in stock and will pay for the tow. After speaking to a half dozen shops, this dealer was right in the middle price-wise. More than I want to spend, but they have the part and will tow. The local shop mentioned above with the Jasper connection never returned my calls, and I was surprised that the dealers and the independent shops were so close in price. All the others I would have to wait for a unit to be shipped.

So the truck leaves here tomorrow and the work should be done Monday or Tuesday. I've never spent this much on a repair, but I know that it's cheaper than getting another car, and I know the history of this one.

Does anyone know if the ATFSpeed.com shifter cable repair pin is reusable? I did that repair a couple years back, kept me from having to buy and install a new shift cable. I imagine the dealer will try to push a new cable on me, if the pin isn't reusable I'll order another and take it up to them.

 

[glfredrick]

I have a good core transmission with almost all new parts inside if anyone is looking for one to build. It was a rebuild that I attempted at home and it did not work. LOTS of good value, all soft and consumable parts replaced, clutch disks,. etc. First $150 + shipping gets it.

 

[Texan]

The shift lever that the repair pin goes into can be removed from the shifter shaft that goes into
the existing transmission, and swapped with the one on the other (remanufactured) transmission.
Had a friend that had to do this.

 

[triz]

The dealership we purchased the truck from (and the only shop to work on the truck besides me, they did some recall work way back) has the GM remanufactured tranny in stock and will pay for the tow. After speaking to a half dozen shops, this dealer was right in the middle price-wise. More than I want to spend, but they have the part and will tow. The local shop mentioned above with the Jasper connection never returned my calls, and I was surprised that the dealers and the independent shops were so close in price. All the others I would have to wait for a unit to be shipped.

So the truck leaves here tomorrow and the work should be done Monday or Tuesday. I've never spent this much on a repair, but I know that it's cheaper than getting another car, and I know the history of this one.

Does anyone know if the ATFSpeed.com shifter cable repair pin is reusable? I did that repair a couple years back, kept me from having to buy and install a new shift cable. I imagine the dealer will try to push a new cable on me, if the pin isn't reusable I'll order another and take it up to them.

Yes the ATF pin is reusable and I definitely would reuse it since the OEM piece is pretty much crap. Its a nice solid piece of metal vs having a piece of plastic.

 

[Lester Flatts]

Yeah, i figured the c clip would just pop off and be reusable. Beats the oem replacement.

 

[rmsg0040]

If you can get 100K out of the "new transmission", what's $2000. That's the way I look at it. Plus you got a vehicle that you know and you don't have to worry about new car payments.

Short term pain, long term gain.

 

[Lester Flatts]

Picked up the Envoy today and all is as new. I thought I sensed a delay in the shift from 2-3 when I pulled off the lot, but never duplicated it. Total bill was a bit higher than I wanted, but it's good for 3 years/100k miles. Now I can get back to what I wanted to do with this truck, although on a slower timeline due to low funds.

Thanks to all for your help.

 

[KNBlazer]

Picked up the Envoy today and all is as new. I thought I sensed a delay in the shift from 2-3 when I pulled off the lot, but never duplicated it. Total bill was a bit higher than I wanted, but it's good for 3 years/100k miles. Now I can get back to what I wanted to do with this truck, although on a slower timeline due to low funds.

Thanks to all for your help.

how much was the total? And what parts were shot?

On mine, sun shell and pump were shot..

 

[Lester Flatts]

3-4 clutch, sunshell and pump.

I first changed the fluid/filter at 75k, then again at 160k. When it started to fail a couple of weeks ago, I did a hail-mary change at 209k, but it was too late. All of these were the pan-drop, filter and 5 qts, not a flush.

I'll be a little more proactive on the fluid/filter changes with this one, maybe as often as 25k. Going to buy the Dorman pan to make the job easier, and probably use the Wix filters.

 

[KNBlazer]

3-4 clutch, sunshell and pump.

I first changed the fluid/filter at 75k, then again at 160k. When it started to fail a couple of weeks ago, I did a hail-mary change at 209k, but it was too late. All of these were the pan-drop, filter and 5 qts, not a flush.

I'll be a little more proactive on the fluid/filter changes with this one, maybe as often as 25k. Going to buy the Dorman pan to make the job easier, and probably use the Wix filters.

3-4 clutch was also shot on mine...