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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

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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?
 
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.
 
@ 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.
 
@ 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
 
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.
 
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!
 
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. 
 
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.
 
I

Wouldn't take that chevy bajaing in the nevada desert. It's A great vehicle but the weight and body roll I'm sure you get the point.
Kia optima are very nice cars. My brother in law just traded his in for a 2019 fully loaded full extended cab. It has a duramax with allusion transmission. The sticker price was over $55k. He got it for 37. There both nice vehicles.
My 04 corolla has cold air intake. It's nothing special but dependable. My wife drives our 2010 rav4 v6. It's awd 265 hp. It goes 0-60 in 6.1 seconds which was quickest in it's class. I put borla exhaust on it. They don't make a cold air or regular air intake for it.
I just like toyota they last and fun to drive.
Les
 
Oh Of course I wouldn't go Baja racing in my Chevy lol. It's a stock truck not a prerunner race truck.


 


It's what we take far into the desert to go shooting. Good truck for hauling our gear 
 
"Core"

No. A core is a used part, of either unknown or non-working condition. If they said they need to get a core unit to rebuild, it means exactly that. They need another unit to rebuild, presumably because either your unit is too far gone, or to save time. In my shop, we often do the same thing... rebuild a core unit and use that. Usually on transmissions that we know commonly have catastrophic failures.

Although, yes, terminology in this industry is piss poor.
 
I now read you took it to a Trans shop not just a general mechanic was going to say almost no mechanic shop does their own transmission rebuilding unless they are a more well established larger shop. 


 


That makes more sense with the core confusion now 
 
My training is in technical communication, so I tend to regard language in probably a more exacting way than many people do.

The guy at the transmission shop didn't elaborate but I'm assuming my transmission suffered a catastrophic failure that either rendered it beyond repair, especially since it had already been rebuilt once, or that it just made more sense from a labor standpoint to start with a less damaged unit. I'm assuming the core units they order go through some sort of triage process by the supplier and thus the shop has a good idea of what they're getting. Othewise, it would be a total crap shoot whether the replacement would be any better than what they took out of the car.
 
It's always a crap shoot. If you pick them yourself, you can pick carefully. If not, you simply hope that the core is broken in a different way than the other one, use the parts from both to make one good one. And, you know, hopefully they replace any seals and clutches as needed.
 
I've heard that

Chrysler used to produce a really well designed and dependable 6-cylinder engine called the "slant six" in the 60's and 70's. Mated to a Torque Flight transmission or a manual transmission you had a car that would go the distance. I think they were available across the entire Chrysler line,like Darts,Barracudas,Fury's,Dusters and larger cars too. Is anybody here familiar with this engine and did any other car maker build this engine? I heard that you could get 250K out of these which back then was pretty impressive.
 
Chrysler used to sell the slant-6 to John deere for some of their hay equipment. We retired a hay swathe about 3 years ago powered by a slant 6 with over 20000 engine hours on it, and not a single teardown. That is a LOT of engine hours, gas or diesel. It was cold blooded and didn't want to start below about 75 degrees, but man once it started it ran like a dream!
 
We had a tree shaker/ gather device that was designed and build here for nut harvest designed around the slant 6! I managed a quick lube for 6 years and we had a 1969 Plymouth Valiant, little old guy, minister spotless car! Regular customer! I got called down to the pit one day, his car was in, nothing drained out of the oil pan! I got the customer to ask what was up?? HE said my daughter said she checked it! I said must have been the auto trans! Solid lifters, so no tapping, we changed the oil and filter and he drove it for years! His car lived 15 miles away!
 
tbh, I've only ever serviced one slant six, and that was only very minor things. My friend's dad used to flip cars in the 70s, and he swore by the slant six. He said he had one that was going to the bone yard, so he decided that he'd blow the engine for fun. Revving at full throttle it took over ten minutes to blow. A lesser engine wouldn't have lasted one.

Here's a little story about the slant six that I thought was pretty cool.

It's the 60s and NASCAR (back when they still used cars that were stock, and not stockcars) decided they would have a race for midsize sedans. Ok, so Ford, GM, and Chrysler all entered their midsize, six cylinder, family sedans. The Plymouths and Dodges racing all had the slant six, which at the time, was a totally modern engine. They had also put their racing team on the cars to give them all the go they could.

Seven Plymouths and Dodges were in the race, and not only did all seven of them finish the race, but they all took the first SEVEN places! They had such an embarassingly massive lead over Ford and GM that NASCAR declared the race too boring, and never attempted it again.

While the legendary slant six was a completely modern engine, Ford and Chevy were still using ancient straight sixes, based on prewar engines. That, and they didn't really put any effort into making them fast. Meanwhile Chrysler's racing team came up with a simple but effective mod, the Hyper Pak. It's just an intake manifold with absurdly long runners. Gives the engine a ton of low end torque, at the cost of high end torque. But they figured that you need it on the low end to pull out of a corner. Apparently it worked.

And as is tradition with NASCAR, they screwed over Chrysler for winning too much.
 
I’m a big fan of cars, too, and have a couple myself. German sedans—in particular, diesels—are my personal favorites. Currently in the stable:

- 2008 Mercedes-Benz E320 Bluetec (OM642 3.0L V6 turbo diesel)
- 2017 Passat TSI SE w/LED light package (EA888 1.8L I4 gasoline direct injected/turbocharged)

Love em both. Would like to get an A6 or A7 TDI next. Or a W212 Bluetec.

Previously owned:
- 2014 Passat TDI SE 6MT (CKRA 2.0L I4 turbo diesel)
- 2009 Mazda 6S (3.7L V6 gasoline NA—don’t know much else; my ex-GF drove this one)
- 1995 Volvo 850 5MT (2.4L I5 gasoline NA—5 cylinders sounded great)

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The Convertible's back home...

I was surprised to get a call from the transmission shop earlier today that the 'vert was ready for pick-up. Based on my most recent conversation with them, I wasn't expecting it until next week. The bill was worse than I'd expected at $2,100 but that included $600 for the transmission core. If the invoice is any indicator, the rebuild was pretty comprehensive. The car drives fine although it's a little sluggish starting off. Once it gets out of first gear, it's fine. The best part is the slop in the shifter is absolutely gone. Pull the lever back to the detente at 'D' and it's firmly in drive, not third. I tried to engage the guy in conversation about the old transmission but he's apparently one of these people who tries to get through life with as few words as possible.

We had heavy rains here yesterday, which I believe was the remnants of hurricane Sally, so there was a ton of water in the vinyl boot into which the top folds. Fortunately, a couple of minutes with a wet/dry vac and a wipe-down with a towel took care of it. I'm thankful the boot is watertight, even if the top isn't. Oh well, that's something else I can start saving up for, along with the air conditioner and the ABS. Such are the joys of owning an older car.
 
Glad you got it back,a little bit concerned about sluggish taking off?? I rather enjoy the stoplight Gran Prix in life! Mom taught me well! Funny, otherwise I take after dad!
 
I'm justa wondering

how these newer transmissions with 8 forward speeds and the ability to change the shifting schedule with the flick of a setting, like sport or some other setting. They may be just as good as the old 3 or 4 speed turbo-hydramatic NOW but will a rebuilt replacement down the road be feasible and I wonder about all the other goodies cars have now. So much more to go out or need adjusting than a few decades ago.

They used to tell us kids not to look down at the car radio while driving. Stop, pullover, and then change the station or have a passenger do it. Now,. there's so much going on with all the media on the screen and creature comfort settings, so many distractions , "This ain't your Daddy's Oldsmobile." Six or more computers under the hood and elsewhere,talking to each other, and you know their talking about you too haha.
 
human - shouldn't the top boot hole thing have drains? Maybe they're clogged with leaves or debris.

kirbyklekter - modern 8 speeds are just as rebuildable as any older trans. They still work on the same concept, and have the same parts... just a lot more of them. Adjustments in general are very passé, the computers take care of that. And that is as it should be, imo. Having bands to adjust when there's a perfectly good computer that could do it in real time makes no sense.
 
Chrysler slant 6 motors were used on all kinds of portable industrial gear-saw one powering a drum type wood chipper.A neighbor had a tree cut down across the street from me-that chipper ATE the whole 10" thick trunk like nothing-ate all of the branches,too!!!I brought over some small branches for it to munch on-it loved them!!!Saved me from having to take them to the dump.
 
MadMan wrote:
shouldn't the top boot hole thing have drains? Maybe they're clogged with leaves or debris.

I reply:
The 'boot' I'm referring to is really little more than a vinyl sack that separates the passenger compartment from the trunk. As far as I can tell, it's actually doing its job as a last line of defense to keep the trunk dry. The convertible top has pulled loose under the rear window, so it's not weather-tight and the boot provides a barrier to keep water out of the trunk. There was easily a gallon or more of water back there and not a drop in the trunk.
 
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