Any opinions on used vs rebuild? I found a used transmission with 78K for $975 or I can have one rebuilt for around $1300.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Take the rebuild

 

where are you finding your parts? 975 is high:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/95-97...12701761QQrdZ1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/95-99...18932128QQrdZ1

i have never bought one for the millenia, but i did get an engine for my mitsubishi. in japan, it is illegal to put used parts on a car. also, every year, the taxes go up so much that after a few years, it is cheaper to just buy another car. japanese people take much better care of their stuff than here in the us. plus, they just dont drive like we do. so, a 3 year old car can easily have less than 20k miles on it. most of these places will also give you a warranty, i got a 6 month one for the engine. which, i might add, looked so clean that we all thought it was brand new.

now, why do you think your car needs a transmission? they dont seem to break on these cars.

 

hooray... impartial advice!

why do i think it needs a transmission? cause that's what the mechanic said? my mechanic flushed the transmission fluid back in february and it hasn't really run the same since. the shop told me that the new fluid just needed to break itself in. so, naturally when my car stopped running, i just figured...

i was driving around on saturday afternoon, running errands and whatnot, when my car began acting up: it started revving up to 6000RPM to shift gears from a stop. so i went home and when i tried to reverse to park my car, it would not go in to reverse.

i called my mechanic, who recently left the shop where he used to work on my car to work at a transmission shop. what luck, i thought! i had my car towed to him monday. he told me tuesday that i am looking at $23-2500 for the rebuild. i started googling and calling different part places looking for options under two thousand dollars. i was then advised to get a second opinion. i called my local aamco on the advice of a friend (a cop who takes all of his cars to this place). they told me that they would like the option to take a look, at no charge, cause it might not be the transmission. they towed my car from place #1 and i will hear back from aamco tomorrow.

this really blows because i love love my car, but it is starting to cost too much to maintain. the aforementioned mechanic replaced my supercharger a couple of years back to the tune of $3000. plus it only takes premuim. plus it is a 10 year old car that is probably not worth the cost of replacing the tranny...

thanks so much for the advice. i am so glad i found this message board.

 

i dont think revving to 6k is a transmission fault. while the supercharger is a high maintenance problem, some of them last a good while. before you had this replaced, what was the car doing?

there is no such thing as transmission fluid "breaking in". i am not saying you got hosed, but it sure sounds like you need to find another place to take the car to. also, these cars are a bit on the high maintenance side. most shops, including the dealer, have not seen these cars enough to be really experienced on them. most independent shops have never even seen a millenia before, let alone work on them. your car, the 2.3, represents less than 1/3 of all the millenias sold in the us. dealers and shops are businesses, they need to sell work. dealers have higher overhead, so their prices are higher. most independents are not trained on the cars they work on, and late model cars need VERY special equipment to diagnose. a lot of special tools are also needed. imho, most of the time that an independent does work on a millenia, you are paying for them to learn about the car.

 

i was actually out of town when my supercharger went. a friend was driving my car and said the car just stopped running. my mechanic told me that he had to scrape what looked like silicone out of several parts of the engine. he said that whomever replaced the starter a month or so prior (Firestone) used silicone to reseal a gasket and that it had traveled thru my engine and caused the supercharger to die.

really? no such thing as breaking in fluid? i am an idiot. or just a dumb girl (which, i guess to some mechanics, is the same thing). aamco said it was the transmission (something about not being able to override and crank the gears manually) and that he would not be able to tell me exactly how much it's going to cost til he tears it apart and can see what actually needs to be fixed. he also said that the rebuild is waranteed for a year and that it is 100% transferrable.

why, oh why, are you not in Austin?

 

You need to RUN from any shop that told you ATF needs a break in period, this is pure BS. They may have even put the wrong type or amount into your transmission that could be part of your problems.

 

In that case, everyone in the greater Austin, TX area should run as fast and as far away as they can from Groovy Automotive. They are theives and (clearly) liars.

 

You know, I had the same problem with my '99. It would rev up very high to shift from first to second and lag. And eventually, I parked at a gas station and turned my car off, and when i went to get back in to back up and leave, it wouldn't go into reverse. It would go into drive, but not reverse. I eventually had the transmission rebuilt at a place called Cottman Transmissions and they specialized in foreign cars. Had nearly every transmission-related part replaced to the tune of $2500. It took everything i had to stay out of bankruptcy, but it runs like a champ now. Said every part of the transmission was burnt up and finally something went seriousl wrong. Not a driver error though... Just something that happened.

Blah... I still love my '99 Millenia. It's so cool...

 

i considered cottman butwent withthe aamco in north austin. they gave me a better warranty. plus they do general repairs (my car is in the shop a lot, but it's still cheaper that a car payment). all said and done it cost me $2000.56. not cheap, but when my car runs well, it all seems worth it...

and once again, Texans should stay away from Groovy!