My maxima 1998 gxe has 150k miles on it.
The transmission needs to be rebuilt...there were metal parts all over the pan and the solenoid gave up first giving me trouble on traffic lights.

anywayz, what is your opinion ..... get a:

JUNKYARD TRANNY WITH 26k miles for $800 and $600 labor =$1400

get it rebuilt for $1600?

thanks

 

The problem with the junkyard transmission is you don't know the history and you have no recourse if it goes bad on you. No warranty expressed or implied, etc.

If you get it rebuilt by someone you know is good, and get them to warrant their work, you have some assurance things are going to be fixed and stay that way.

That said, I have put in a junkyard transmission on another car and it turned out OK. But it was an old car with a manual trans and the parts were really cheap.

IMHO, anyway, if the difference is only $200, you are better off rebuilding.

 

I have a rebuilt trans, it sucks *****. My 5th gear grinds every time. I have to double clutch 5th every time at 1000 rpm's and it still grinds 80% of the time. The place that rebuilt it 3 times cause they can't do good work wouldn't warrant there work cause they blamed it on my blower. How in the hell can you mess up 5th with a blower being responsible? Just get a used one. I spent $3k going through all of this and about 6 months. Then I got rear ended but that is a new story. GET USED ONE. The reason my trans went is because of improper clutch install (500 miles after break in)! 5th was the end result having issues. At first I completely stripped 3rd of all teeth, next time it was 3rd and 4th and a little bit of 2nd.

 

i got an 80k tranny for 450 at toms4n.com...put it in myself over a weekend

 

If you go to a good shop then rebuild. If it's a bad shop I'd take the chance on a junkyarder. I had my auto rebuilt 2 and a half years ago and shifts perfectly.

 

if you get the junker, inspect it very carefully for cracks in the mounts/case, damage to external ribs, careless removal, etc before paying for it.

26K on a max tranny is low....give it full fluid change after the install, and it should give you many miles of service. I would go with the used....rebuilts can suck, and generally don't last as long as OEM.

 

mine is an automatic, and the mechanic is giving me $1400 to rebuild it... does that sound right?

Honestly, with no hesitation, he IS good mechanic, been around for 35 years and good customer service at the same time.

So far I am getting the vibe to rebuild it since im not that good at recognizing the transmissions from the outside.

but one last question, does it make sorta sense for a trans to go bad at 151k miles?

 

My brother used to have a 92 Dodge Shadow, we chose to rebuild the tranny for $900, the car was never the same, it would shift late and sometimes only had 2 gears it seemed. The shop was so-so, and they tried to fix the problem for free, it was perfect for a week and then started acting up again. All I can say for auto trannies is make sure you get a warranty whatever you do, used or rebuilt, if i had to do it over again i would buy a used tranny in good condition, or even better convert to 5-spd.

 

I think any tranny could go at that number of miles. It can depend on how the car has been driven and maintained.

 

I would go with the junk yard tranny. Some online places even offer a warranty.

 

i still stick to my junk yard tranny recoomendation. That being said, $1400 for the mechanic to pull, rebuild, and replace your tranny is a fair price. My parents paid $1800-$2000 for each of the three front wheel drive tranny's they replaced in various cars. And like mentioned above...they were never quite as good as the original. If you want to keep your 151,000 mile Max to 200,000+K....go the junk yard route....if you plan to sell it immediately, rebuild is fine too.

Inquire about warranty/garantee of any kind with the salvage yard....at the very least they should guarantee it is useable at the time of sale.

151,000 out of an auto is respectable....even with perfect maintenance and no-abuse, i wouldn't expect more than 175K-200K out of any automatic. If that were a GM, Ford or Chrysler you would have done this long ago.

good luck,
JB

 

5speed conversion. Less complicated and for $1600 you can source all the parts and have enough left to pay a mechanic to install it.A manual tranny should be good as long as gear oil was changed regulary.

 

I was just checking ebay....there was even an engine tranny combo for under $1000. Lots of trannys for $350 and up. I didn't read through all the auction details....just glanced over the search results.

 

yea i contactd some of them , a lot of them "claim" not to have the VIN numbers which means they might be lieing on the miles.

 

Sounds like you went to AAMCO.

 

hehehe.....yea and some other places here in chicago.

 

My tranny gave out at 96k (bought car with less than 91k miles) and had it rebuilt for $1k even and it's working fine so far (at 114k now). Planning on get a VB mod and changing to synthetic ATF next year

 

i would also suggest the used route, unless the person you plan on having rebuilt the tranny is very highly recomended, and reputable and you know his work holds up. If you have someone thats a real good tranny guy go for it, if your unsure on the rebuilders rep go to the yard. I had the tranny rebuilt on my grand prix years ago and within 10k the tranny was shot and i was screwed.

 

when my tranny went out i got a rebuilt one for $900. after clutch and labor it all came out to $1500. and my rebuilt tranny is fine, no problems.