In the middle of a rebuild for the 4eat

[Bane]

got a nice price (after a LOT of bitching), and it was cheaper then the swap (which i gave serious consideration to)

went with the rebuild for one other main reason... my subaru is my only car, and i can't afford to keep renting. The shop that was going to do the swap, i have absolute faith in the job getting done right, but they wouldn't be able to start until the end of next week.

While the shop i'm at is waiting for parts this weekend... does anyone have any tips or modifications that i can suggest to the shop for added life to the rebuilt transmission, or to maybe handle a little more power?

In the next week or 2, I should be around 15psi with TMIC, FCD,DSBC and 3" TBE (currently without the TMIC i'm at 8/11psi on the DSBC). The next big mod after that might be equal length headers, nicer up-pipe, bigger injectors and a bigger turbo from deadbolt (probably after Christmas).

3/4th's of my driving is done on the highway, and i don't "usually" push it TOO hard in the city.

If such a post already exists, could somebody post a link? I have no idea what words to use in the search... lol and typing 4eat and/ or auto transmission, brings up way too many results

Thanks in advance for any advice.

James

[Subtle]

Synthetic tranny lube.

Do you still have the original rad with the tranny cooler tank

You might check IPT Transmissions about stronger parts, higher shifting
pressures and a performance torque converter.

[Bane]

nice stuff!

at this point it's a little out of my price range, but more importantly, would take too long to get back... but i will check for optional stuff up here though!

Thanks for pointing this stuff out.

[Subtle]

You will have to buy new parts for the rebuild----might just
as well compare prices on the performance stuff.

The IPT or Level Ten builds include reworking of some passages for more
flow, and hardening some gears, but I think your local tranny shop could do the higher pressure solenoids etc..

You might phone John at IPT

[91White-T]

Just a quick piece of advice if you're getting a rebuild. MAKE SURE THEY GIVE YOU A WARRANTY. I had my old SS 4eat rebuilt by aamco, at a hefty price I might add, six months later it was dead again(destroyed front diff). They barely agreed to rebuild again free under warranty, six months later it had no 3rd or 4th gears. The rear wheels NEVER worked right either. So make sure they do it right...

[Bane]

shit... aamco is the one doing mine... thanks for the advice!
they were including a 1 year or 20000km warranty as part of the package... this sort of scares me, because other shops (i already had it at aamco, so i didn't really want to have it moved after already having spent some money there for diagnosis) include unlimited 1 year warranties.

20000 kms for me, is like... 4 months or less.

i can buy a 3 year/60000 warranty for an additional $500 which i pretty much figured i was going to do, just to play it safe.

The aamco by me is at least giving me the option of making 2 installments on the repair.

When i asked about a lifetime warranty (which should be optional) they told me that because the car had a turbo... they couldn't warranty it for that . I'm thinking isn't that like saying... we won't give you a warranty for the house, because people might use it.

lol, i know how i drive... but at the same time... they neccessarily don't, what a joke.

anyway, they were originally going to charge me $3200 + tax when i told them to take it and shove it, as i could get a 5 speed installed for around $2500. They told me that they didn't believe me, and when i told them, i couldn't care less what they believed, they called me back the next day, and dropped the price to $2400.

Since I had already paid them $500 to drop the !@#$ thing, i didn't really want to start all over at some other place and go through the same process.

[91White-T]

shit... aamco is the one doing mine...

Well, I'm not sayin they're necessarily gonna screw it up, its possible that the aamco I went to just didnt know what they were doin. Just wanted to give you a heads-up.

[magicmike]

yeah aamco blows, they screwed up my friends golf tranny years ago. on the other hand how easy would it be to rebuild a tranny yourself with the rebuilt kit from IPT? is it just a matter of pulling it apart and replacing worn stuff with new stuff or is there any "fitting"involved or special tools?

-Mike

[Bane]

oh, time for the update.

yeah they officially screwed it up and i am disgusted with the service, the repair, and the "billing". I am considering legal action and am researching my options.

got the car back last week.

price grew from 2400 -> 2650 + 110 for a cv boot repair
so $2750 (after giving me a "discount" of nearly $800 in credits for various things)

add $550 for 3year warranty (good for about 1 year with my mileage)
add taxes
then subtract the $460 i had already spent.

then add about $500 for the rental that they "set" me up with... at absolutely no discount, contrary to their claim.

so the grand total here is $3800 for the repair, and $4300 if you count that damn rental.

The goddamn conversion to 5spd and the td05-16g would have been cheaper!!!

i sign for the repair at this point, because i can't afford to rent anymore, and i want my car out of their shop.

on day #1 back, i start having major difficulties turning the car and accelerating, accelerating and noises.. car basically felt like any time the steering wheel was turned more then 1 full rotation, that the tires were rubbing (best way to describe the sensation) and when accelerating, it felt like the transmission was skipping before engaging the engine.
the noise sounded like the transmission was scraping against something (like the torque converter was grinding against the housing? )

All of this is very funny because upon picking up the car, i was told they took it for a test drive, light...hard... etc...

if that was true, this car wouldn't have been cleared to leave the goddamn shop

bring it back to the shop on day #2 in the morning, miss another day of work, get the car back at the end of day #2

those 3 problems seem resolved.

that night, notice a large'ish puddle of tranny fluid coming off the tranny pan gasket.

barely use the car throughout the weekend.
though i do notice that my a/f gauge seems to be running 2 or 3 notches leaner (usually runs rich on heavy acceleration... about 2 or 3 green lights) now i barely clear one green light.

driving the car seems sort of rough while it's switching gears and seems a little delayed when stomping on the accelerator
driving the car to a clients on monday morning and after making a turn at an intersection i swear it sounds like something the size of a big old engine bolt came loose from the left side of the engine bay, and impacted somewhere on the right side of the engine bay.

I pull over to inspect under the hood, can't find anything, and decide to check on the o2 sensor wiring.

imagine to my surprise that i discover the following:

the original 3 wires, plus my tapped a/f wire had all been cut, but that only 3 of them had been reconnected.

which one wasn't you ask?

how about the goddamn grounding wire!!!

it's been stripped, looks like it was prepped for reconnection, and they just forgot about it.

i mean, i'm no VRG3 with regards to wiring and all, but wouldn't that mean there's a possibility (however slim) of ...
a, frying my a/f gauge
b, frying my o2 sensor
c, frying my ecu

???

I call them immediately and ask them why 1. the wires were cut in the first place, 2 why they weren't inspected before departure if they even had a logical reason for the cut to begin with?

the customer service guy is like... i don't know sir... that sounds bizarre...that makes no sense.... why would one of my guys do that?

i responded with... i have no goddamn idea, but that it was absolutely not like that before i brought it in.

He then tells me he will talk to the mechanic and get to the bottom of things.

I ask him if i can bring the car in early that evening, to which he indicates that he has no bays open to bring it in, and that i should wait until the next day.

i call the next day, and get the run around, even though i have the entire afternoon off, they still can't find the time to look at it. In the meantime i'm told that the mechanic said that the wiring was already like that when the car was dropped off.

I said, gee i'm sorry, but that's IMPOSSIBLE. I said i had one tapped wire done with a male and female set of spade connectors (all that i could find in the house when i did this) why would i then proceed to cut the wire that i tapped? why would i then proceed to replace the female spade connector with a shitty ass yellow round crimp?
and why in gods name if i knew the black wire was grounding would i cut it and leave it exposed like that?

so i bring it in Wednesday morning and after an hour or 2 they fix the wiring and the leak.

while i'm in the shop i notice a sign that says they will provide me with a written estimate if requested, or will offer one if i do their recommended rebuild.
This just pissed me right off again, as i had not been offered an estimate and better yet when i requested one,
i got "oh well we don't have it all written down, and i'll have to charge you for that"
to which i had replied charge it! then fax it?
"well why do you need it?"
because i plan on shopping it around obviously!

I look them up in the local BBB (better business bureau)
only to discover that in the past 3 years they've had 14 complaints lodged against them

4 were warranty
1 customer service
6 billing!
3 repair related

6 of those had to be resolved via the BBB...

i'm thinking how do they keep a business open if everyone is reporting the same damn problems?!

arghhh!!!

[sullione]

Sorry about your experience but my guess is they're still open because no one checks the BBB BEFORE having work done by them. This stuff is quite common. I'll be the first one to say I don't check a business out until there's a problem. One would think that this shouldn't be necessary but in this day and time, it is.

[Legacy777]

Contact the BBB, and a lawyer.

I know you want to have them fix their fuck ups, but their track record speeks for itself. I wouldn't let them touch the car again!