I purchased a '94 GXE about 10 months ago or so. Put in my stereo and I've been loving the thing. It's not perfect by any means, I bought it with 165,000 miles, but it worked well for what I needed it for. Of course buying a car with that many miles comes with some inherent risk.

A couple weeks ago my car stopped going in reverse and would only go about 25 mph in drive, so, of course, I figure it's the transmission. Take it to the local transmission shop and I'm told it's completely broke and I need a new one, quote on new one is $2500. Considering I paid the same for the whole car I'm probably not going to go that route. Local auto shop says they can probably get me a used one installed for $1000. I still owe approximately $800 on the loan.

What do you guys think I should do? Would it be worth trying to part out? Should I get the used transmission? Should I get the used transmission and then try to sell it? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Mike

 

Depends on how dedicated you are to your car. My tranny just went out but I'm buying a new maxima. I had many other problems as well. But I think that for a tranny to be found and installed for 1000 is good considering how much tranny's go for.

 

In my opinion, it's a toss-up. The used tranny is definitely cheaper, but it will also be at least 10 years old, probably not have low mileage, and you most likely will not know how it was taken care of. On the other hand, a rebuilt one is only as good as the shop that does the work, and it's obviously a lot more expensive. It will probably have at least a 12 mo warranty, though.

I had mine rebuilt on my 90 GXE with 175K on it. Cost me $1800 total, but the car has been im my family basically since new, so I know all the oil changes, timing belt changes, etc. So I was pretty certain that I wasn't going to spend the money on the tranny and end up having the engine die the next day.

I think if I were you, I'd see if I could find a used tranny that you know something about. I don't think you'll get the money out of it by parting it. All this is just my (long) opinion.