Cars!

[scvacuumguy]

I’ve already had to put a transmission in mine, and a radiator. For the price, this has been the most problematic car I’ve ever owned.

Luxxx- I used to have a VTX750 that I adored until an accident on the interstate. Haven’t ridden since

 

[gottahaveahoove]

My aunt had 2 Lincoln Town Cars

THe first one was great. THe second one...... kind of a lemon.
I had a simple Chevy Cobalt...238K miles LOVED it. Now, a red Chevy Cruze. So far. love it too.
But the 'classics' T-Birds, gull winged Chevy, Oldmobiles, loved them!!!!

 

[electroluxxxx]

Chris...

It’s actually funny you mention the VTX750, I just sold one that had a seized motor to a guy in Ohio, he bought one at a swap meet and needed the parts from the one I had to complete his. They are a great bike when running, almost like a Harley except more reliable. I myself had a wreck in 2012 that thankfully didn’t cost me my life. The bike was an 83 maxim 750 and the damage was thankfully repairable.
As for the GM vehicles, I feel that you get more out of them than you do mopar. Transmissions aren’t Mopar’s strong point. I bought my blazer with 95,000 on it and at 132000 the sun shell gear split taking out reverse, second, and overdrive which is very common with 4L60E, 4L65E and 4L80E transmissions although the 4L80E is more reliable. I drove it about 45 mins away to our office and parked it until I had a tranny put in it about 6 mos later. It’s common to have to replace at least one transmission in a GM truck but the rebuilds with the aftermarket parts I have found to be better than the OEM and they last longer than a Mopar trans which seem to go at around 75,000.

 

[brando_husky]

Mmm no par with Mopar here lol. Biggest lemon of a vehicle ever. Our dodge Durango with a fully built srt motor after the original gernaded itself as they all tend to do.


 


Well this one's blown again too after using only the best heavy duty srt parts 


 


This sad thing has been just truly awful. Thanks chrysler... Lol. Never again 

 

[madman]

"Transmissions aren’t Mopar’s strong point."

Tell that to the TorqueFlite. A transmission so good that Ford literally copied it, and both the TorqueFlite and Ford's C6 were used for more than 40 years.

And when I say Ford copied it, I've literally held the parts in my hands one Ford and one Chrysler, could not tell the difference.

As for more contemporary transmissions, most of them are crap, no matter who makes them.

 

[air-waycharlie]

I had a 1969 Chrysler Imperial LeBaron coupe that was a killer! The TorqueFlite transmission was great and trust me, at that point in my life I was hard on a car. That car went through a lot and never failed me. It needed minimum maintenance but a lot of premium fuel.

Fast forward......it was the only Chrysler I owned until 2015. I had been driving Cadillacs since the mid/late 70's, (except for a dismal time in early 80's when Cadillac was awful), including a 76 Eldo convertivble, and many sedans and Fleetwoods.

I test drove a 2015 Chrysler 300C for fun after seeing it featured on, "Breaking Bad", and found a car with true balls. It has the HEMI engine which is a V-8 but with two spark plugs per cylinder so it is a version of a V-16. It is good on gas, loaded with creature comforts and flies down the road. I just put a set of Pirelli tires on it and now it handles better than ever. AND, if I am not mistaken it is an 8 speed automatic TorqueFlite transmission. It gets a good workout.

I bought the car new and to date no issues. I just change the oil and filters and follow the Chrysler recommended maintenance.

I love it when drivers see me merging on the freeway or entering a lane at a traffic light and they think, "okay, here comes Grandpa with the white hair--another Q-tip behind the wheel", and then I leave them eating my dust.

 

[vacuumlad1650]

My place of Employment is Mopar exclusive in all our 20,000GVWR and smaller trucks. We run them plenty hard, plowing snow and pulling overloaded trailers. In 45 years, and a combined 1.5 million miles across the vehicles we only had one transmission fail early (90K), but knock on wood the rest have been very low issue

 

[madman]

As for bigger Mopars, have a story.

I was driving by some kind of shipping depot. Maybe 10 big Chevy Kodiaks where driving out pulling full size semi trailers. The Kodiak is a big truck that's like one step down from a semi truck. Among the Kodiaks was one little Dodge Ram pickup with a 5th wheel pulling the same trailer! The little Mopar that could!

 

[kirbyklekter]

short and sweet

That describes the time I had with a '95 Chrysler LHS. New, the car was 31,253, I bought mine at an estate sale for 1000.00. Bought in 2007. More car than I needed, it certainly grew on me after just a short test drive. This was the most luxurious car I had ever owned. I constantly got compliments on the ride quality,"better than a Cadillac" was the most common comparison. Fully loaded, 8 speaker Bose sound system and a huge v-6 engine. Just one little problem. 1995 Chryslers had a horrendous transmission problem. Just that year. At 128K miles I lost reverse. I was backing up into my friends garage and half way up(only 10 ft.) it just vanished. No noise, no clunks it was like I shifted into neutral.

I was repeatedly talked out of repair/replacement by at least 3 shops. I was told that the replacements are no better. It's a crap shoot, win or miss on these. I read some reviews on the car. One fellow went through 4 trannys. all during the warantee period! 7 out of 10 said if it weren't for the dicey transmission, they would buy the car again today. The engine is good for 250-300K easy and the rest of the car held up nicely.

Had the car for two years, donated it to charity now drive a '98 Acura Integra that my niece gifted me when she heard about the Chrysler dying. She said she'd rather give it to me than trade it on a new car she was buying. Did I mention Jessica is my favorite niece?

 

[madman]

Shame, those are nice cars. My Concorde (essentially the same car) lasted a long time. Never needed transmission work, not that it would've been an issue for me. I dunno what this nonsense is about their transmissions. I'll grant you, I've heard it from many people, never seen it myself. Sure, I've put transmissions in a few of those... but only a few. I've put transmissions in damn near every car. Let me tell you, I've done scores of Honda transmissions for every one of those I've done. And the ones I have done have had no problems, I can't recall even one of them even coming back to me. There are several other units that are prone to comebacks, but that's not one that springs to mind.

There are certain things in the automotive world that people get stuck in their heads that it's true. ie, Cadillac Northstar engines, Chrysler transmissions, LeanBurn, not being able to mix coolant types, using transmission fluid in the power steering, etc.

Honestly, I wonder how bad of a transmission mechanic you have to be to screw up an A604 (technically a variant), it's about the simplest one out there. I honestly couldn't tell you. Boggles the mind that someone who calls themself a transmission mechanic would say something like that. Far more likely they just didn't want to work on an older car, or were unfamiliar with that car.

Also, that transmission is very well computerized for something from the 90s. The computer is programmed to compensate for wear and tear, specifically with the intention of keeping it working as well as it could for as long as it could. So when it 'just' stopped, in reality it was probably going out for a while, but was being compensated for.

 

[brando_husky]

I've got two Chryslers with bad transmissions here haha.


545rfe in the 04 Durango needing a rebuild. Getting pretty jerky and slippy


 


The 93 wrangler still retains its original aisin ax-15 5 speed that's all but gernaded itself. Probably due to being bolted to a Chevy v8

 

[suckolux]

Finally found a replacement vehicle

 

[human]

Nice!

The Kia Optima is a very nice car. My former girlfriend had 2013 model and she absolutely loved it—right up until she fell asleep at the wheel and hit a semi with it. The exterior of the car was totally demolished but the interior was hardly damaged, other than the airbag deploying. The best part was she walked away without any major injuries, other than a minor concussion and a few bruises. The bottom line is the car did its job protecting her admirably.

My oldest nephew has had two Hyundai Sonatas, which is essentially the same car as the Optima with a few different cosmetic flourishes, sort of like a Buick Regal and an Olds Cutlass Supreme, back in the day. He has nothing but good things to say about them. His dad leased both cars for him, the first when he was a senior in high school (early graduation present) and the second one when he was a junior in college and had run up the miles on the first one. He wisely bought the second one for the residual value when the lease expired. What better used car to buy than one you've been driving since it was new?

 

[fan-of-fans]

I really liked the new Hyundai Sonatas and Kia Optimas when they came out in 2011. They are great looking cars. I had those models in mind when I was looking for a new car year before last.

 

[kirbyklekter]

@ Madman

Trust me I really wanted to keep that car. I wish I knew you back then and lived close enough that I could drive it to you. I would have paid you handsomely over and above what you asked to fix it. I think the transmission woes were mainly on the LHS. The transmission would go to code at random times, locking itself in 2nd gear only.The owners manual had instructions on how to deal with it and in the beginning I could get the trans back to shifting normally. As the transmission got worse I lost Drive 1 and reverse. It coded again only this time at 70mph on the freeway.

This car sat in a garage for 2 years before I bought it. I wondered if that added to the problems, not the sole reason but... I always heard growing up that automatics don't like sitting for long spells. I don't know but I think you're right about the transmission already on it's way out when I got the car. Shame because it only had 10900 miles on the clock, the interior was in excellent shape, grey full leather seats, the works.

 

[kirbyklekter]

@ suckolux

Are you doing alright now? I saw your post above about your car being totaled. Were you injured? I'm so sorry to hear this. You had a great car that you really liked. I hope your alright and I hope your replacement car gives you great satisfaction too!

Billy

 

[suckolux]

Thanks for asking Bill, doing ok! Missy was a beast and knocked me a couple feet sideways in a parking lot, a T bone. Both doors shoved inside, but the windows and locks still worked! Miss my big girl, 15 years of always made it home. Insurance was not enough to find a nice car really, so my brother assisted in finding this. It's identical to the rental they gave me for a week, which I enjoyed.

 

[human]

So on top of all the other major expenses I've had over the past couple of weeks—new HVAC system for the house, new air conditioner for my Buick—the transmission on my old convertible decided to go out last Sunday. I had it towed to a transmission shop and they just told me a little while ago they had to order a "core unit" for it, which I think is mechanic speak for another used transmission to rebuild and put in place of the original. It'll be ready the middle of next week but I'm really not looking forward to adding that bill to the ones I've already had to pay. Ugh!

 

[brando_husky]

Core unit probably just means a rebuilt transmission and yours gets sent back to be rebuilt and put in the next car down the line. 


 


No shop puts new transmissions or motors in a car even on basically new cars/under warranty interestingly enough. 

 

[human]

That makes a certain amount of sense from a logistical standpoint, certainly less work for the shop that way, although the terminology is a bit counter-intuitive in this case. If you buy, say, a rebuilt alternator at the auto parts store, they'll charge you a refundable "core deposit" for your old alternator. I had always assumed that "core" referred to the old part and once that part is rebuilt, it ceases to be a called core and becomes a rebuilt or re-manufactured part.