Hey everyone, first post and new here so hi :) I'm not entirely empty handed though, I came with a question... (oh, and please try and work with me, as I'm mostly vehicle illiterate... but I'm learning)

For those more interested in what the autobody guys told me, scroll to the bottom where it's in bold.

The other day my transmission fluid sprang a leak, there's a little rubber tube that was connecting a metal tube to another metal tube. I lost a ton of that tranny fluid and it went everywhere, and thick white smoke was leaving my exhaust (that's what first tipped me off to something being wrong).

I had a guy come along and he helped me figure out what it was, it was about a $3.00 fix for the replacement tube and I filled up the trans fluid again thinking all would be well.

And all WAS well until yesterday when my truck began acting uncharacteristically sluggish and was refusing to accelerate the way I wanted it to. Applying a lot of gas to the peddle did not encourage my truck to accelerate any faster, if anything it only made my RPMs spike.

And at 60 MPH on the highway, my front-right area under the hood began to make a slight squealing sound. I pulled over again and thought that perhaps I didn't put as much trans fluid in as I had thought, so I put more in and figured I'd look for a leak when it was more convenient.

So I got back on the road and after about 20 MPH it started acting sluggish again. I got to 60 again (slowly) and managed to get it to the next town, where I parked it and had it towed to an autobody shop.

The autobody is telling me it's a transmission case problem, where the case is "slipping." The truck is a 2000 Ford Ranger, wrecked once (ironically, a year ago today), and was fixed last November. I wasn't aware that I needed to replace my trans fluid every 30,000 miles (this was a commuter truck), and I'm also told that the P-Gravel in the bed of my truck (used to weight it down under the winter) may also have contributed to this predicament.

They're saying a replacement w/warranty will run me about $3100, and a junkyard job will be about a grand less.

Is there a cheaper workaround than this? Can this slipping he's talking about be corrected with a Chilton's and some Googling? My brother is very good with his car, so I figured I could possibly take it to the auto hobby shop at the base out here with him, lift it up and see what could be done.

Or, is this a lost cause and am I totally up the creek without a paddle?

Thanks for your feedback!

-CA

 

Transmissions are not really serviceable by the average joe if it's an internal problem. However, double and triple check your fluid level. It can be hard to get right because like a half a pint can bring it from the bottom to the top of the crosshatch. The fluid also expands after the transmission gets fully warmed up, if you have the level at the top of the hatch when cold then there'll be too much fluid when the tranny's hot. Too much or too little fluid can make the tranny slip.

It's possible your tranny was damaged when you lost your fluid, but that's beyond the scope of my knowledge, hopefully someone else can help.

 

Well, I went to a few auto places today with my dad to see what else could possibly be done. It turns out that my transmission is just about cooked; needs a replacement or a rebuild. I was able to find a better deal with a place that works entirely with transmissions, for a rebuild of what I have it would cost me about $2600 w/ Military discount. Well, after that, I went to look at a junkyard to find out if I could just get one off of a salvage job. There's one with 64,000 miles on it and they want $900 for it. My current truck has 94,000 miles on it, so in terms of wear and tear the 64k should be much better.

I'm currently weighing my options, as the $900 transmission would still cost $600 in labor with the trans guys to fix it, so that runs about $1500.

If I brought my brother and a Chilton's along I could try to take out the old transmission case and let the Trans guys put in the new one, saving myself about $300 more. BUT the problem there is because the Trans guys didn't do all of the labor, I don't get the full warranty.

This is all very annoying.
And exciting :D

 

if it was me i would put it in myself, how long of a warranty

 

if you get the used one and take it to the auto hobby shop on base one of the workers there should help you put it in. go to talk to them about it. they have helped me alot in the past.

 

Hmm Im thinking if you get the Junkyard one I would defiantly let them do all the work so you can get the full warranty.

 

x2

 

Get the junk yard trans and have your brother help you with it. Replacing a transmission on a RWD is easy and you will learn even more about your truck.

 

my thoughts exactly.... you own a ford now, learn to fix it.....