Transmission issues older car = time to get rid of?

[Anonymous]

So the mechanic tells me my third is slipping little bit (he said very little). He said keep driving it and when it gets bad bring it back. Rebuild is $2250. He said oil is clean and changing it won’t change anything. What do you think?

-OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So the mechanic tells me my third is slipping little bit (he said very little). He said keep driving it and when it gets bad bring it back. Rebuild is $2250. He said oil is clean and changing it won’t change anything. What do you think?

-OP

Sounds like you got a nice mechanic who is not trying to rip you off. Well like he said, just drive it. Did he say it would get worse gradually so you would have plenty of time to react? You don’t want it failing suddenly and stranding you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So the mechanic tells me my third is slipping little bit (he said very little). He said keep driving it and when it gets bad bring it back. Rebuild is $2250. He said oil is clean and changing it won’t change anything. What do you think?

-OP

Sounds like you got a nice mechanic who is not trying to rip you off. Well like he said, just drive it. Did he say it would get worse gradually so you would have plenty of time to react? You don’t want it failing suddenly and stranding you.

I actually asked him that question and he said “I don’t think so”… he also said drive gently. Yeah pretty nice guy I think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So the mechanic tells me my third is slipping little bit (he said very little). He said keep driving it and when it gets bad bring it back. Rebuild is $2250. He said oil is clean and changing it won’t change anything. What do you think?

-OP

Sounds like you got a nice mechanic who is not trying to rip you off. Well like he said, just drive it. Did he say it would get worse gradually so you would have plenty of time to react? You don’t want it failing suddenly and stranding you.

I actually asked him that question and he said “I don’t think so”… he also said drive gently. Yeah pretty nice guy I think.

Who is your mechanic? I’d like to use him too

[Anonymous]

I had a trustworthy mechanic who was on the fence about my 2004 car, whether to replace the transmission or sell. I ended up replacing because my mom had an emergency that put her in (temporary) rehab, I was visiting her every day, and I simply had no time to car shop. Car ended up being good for another 5 years before the repairs finally got out of hand. I realize that’s not every car, though.

[Anonymous]

Honda automatics tend to be dog sh!t, so take that into consideration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So the mechanic tells me my third is slipping little bit (he said very little). He said keep driving it and when it gets bad bring it back. Rebuild is $2250. He said oil is clean and changing it won’t change anything. What do you think?

-OP

Well, keep driving it then. I still don't think you should get the transmission fixed. $2,500 is a lot of money into a 20 year old car. I drive cars until they start having problems like this. For me, saving money by not replacing a working vehicle is important but reliability is much more important. I've only had three cars in my life. My first one had transmission problems and left me stranded in an awful situation. I learned a lot from that and decided that I didn't need to wring every single ounce of life from a car before replacing it. My life is more important than making sure I can get every operational hour out of a vehicle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So the mechanic tells me my third is slipping little bit (he said very little). He said keep driving it and when it gets bad bring it back. Rebuild is $2250. He said oil is clean and changing it won’t change anything. What do you think?

-OP

Well, keep driving it then. I still don't think you should get the transmission fixed. $2,500 is a lot of money into a 20 year old car. I drive cars until they start having problems like this. For me, saving money by not replacing a working vehicle is important but reliability is much more important. I've only had three cars in my life. My first one had transmission problems and left me stranded in an awful situation. I learned a lot from that and decided that I didn't need to wring every single ounce of life from a car before replacing it. My life is more important than making sure I can get every operational hour out of a vehicle.

I guess I'll be a little less vague. So apparently the transmission does a thing called "locking" when it's in overdrive at highway speeds. My car's transmission, once it entered overdrive, could not disengage it. This meant that every time I went to highway speeds then slowed down, the car transmission would jerk and stall out and the car would have to sit for -10-20 minutes before starting again. This caused my car to stall out on the freeway when I go into traffic or anytime I exited. I could either have it fixed or never use the drive option on the shifter. Having your car breakdown on the Interstate in traffic isn't exactly the safest thing you can experience obviously. Nor is it fun. At first when I went to get it looked at, the shop lied to me and told me it was something else and charged me $300. I didn't know anything then. They basically stole from me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So the mechanic tells me my third is slipping little bit (he said very little). He said keep driving it and when it gets bad bring it back. Rebuild is $2250. He said oil is clean and changing it won’t change anything. What do you think?

-OP

Sounds like you got a nice mechanic who is not trying to rip you off. Well like he said, just drive it. Did he say it would get worse gradually so you would have plenty of time to react? You don’t want it failing suddenly and stranding you.

+1. And Honestly $2250 sounds like a good deal to keep a car going. Have you looked at new (or used) car prices lately?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So the mechanic tells me my third is slipping little bit (he said very little). He said keep driving it and when it gets bad bring it back. Rebuild is $2250. He said oil is clean and changing it won’t change anything. What do you think?

-OP

Well, keep driving it then. I still don't think you should get the transmission fixed. $2,500 is a lot of money into a 20 year old car. I drive cars until they start having problems like this. For me, saving money by not replacing a working vehicle is important but reliability is much more important. I've only had three cars in my life. My first one had transmission problems and left me stranded in an awful situation. I learned a lot from that and decided that I didn't need to wring every single ounce of life from a car before replacing it. My life is more important than making sure I can get every operational hour out of a vehicle.

I guess I'll be a little less vague. So apparently the transmission does a thing called "locking" when it's in overdrive at highway speeds. My car's transmission, once it entered overdrive, could not disengage it. This meant that every time I went to highway speeds then slowed down, the car transmission would jerk and stall out and the car would have to sit for -10-20 minutes before starting again. This caused my car to stall out on the freeway when I go into traffic or anytime I exited. I could either have it fixed or never use the drive option on the shifter. Having your car breakdown on the Interstate in traffic isn't exactly the safest thing you can experience obviously. Nor is it fun. At first when I went to get it looked at, the shop lied to me and told me it was something else and charged me $300. I didn't know anything then. They basically stole from me.

OP here. That sounds really dangerous. Mine is nowhere close to that yet. I lost my last car when it broke down on ICC middle of night so I am very sensitive to being stranded somewhere too. Another complicating factor is we just bought a new car last July so I want to avoid two car payments if we can. I plan to drive next two months or so and see how it plays out. If it gets worse, I'll probably go ahead and fix it.

Thanks all. I enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts and suggestions.

OP