Took my car to a top rated transmission shop

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The "top rated" part just means they have the best customer sucker reviews. Most people go to the shop and tell the guy behind the counter to fix their car. Then they pay whatever they ask and be on their way. Later they go online and say "wow this shop is great, my cars runs like new again". Most people have no clue as to what actually happens inside the service bay.
 
Originally Posted By: MikeHigg
A lot of shops are like this, especially to women. Good for you for catching his scam.


You should leave it as "a lot of shops are like this".

It happens to both men and women. Women are far more likely to admit that they didn't know what they were being billed for.

Ask a random guy if their transmission has a "sprag" or a "torque synchronizer". My guess is that you'll get worse accuracy than a coin flip. (Answer: many automatic transmissions have sprags, which are a part of a one-way clutch. Manual transmissions have synchronizers to match gear speeds, and automatic transmissions have torque converters and a bunch of other parts that refer to torque, but neither have a "torque synchronizer" or use blinker fluid.)
 
Originally Posted By: MCompact
Originally Posted By: jsfalls
I don't believe anything I read on Yelp. I remember a few weeks ago a guy on here posting on Yelp that a shop destroyed his engine because there was sand on top of it, then posted back here that it was fine.


The sketchy Ford dealer that tried to shaft me on the 2015 Mustang GT I was looking at had received very good reviews on Yelp; I'm sure some businesses must pay someone to post a bunch of glowing reviews.



He probably figured if you didn't buy it at the price they wanted for it-they could probably sell it to next person. It's not like we are talking about a Ford Focus here.
 
Originally Posted By: JustinH
I've had really good results getting people on yelp.

Found the guys to paint my house, screen all my doors, and other tasks that I don't want to do.


The average consumer can tell when his house has been properly painted and his doors have been screened.

They haven't a clue whether an automotive service was performed properly and most errors show up years later when they can no longer be linked.
 
Originally Posted By: MCompact
Originally Posted By: jsfalls
I don't believe anything I read on Yelp. I remember a few weeks ago a guy on here posting on Yelp that a shop destroyed his engine because there was sand on top of it, then posted back here that it was fine.


The sketchy Ford dealer that tried to shaft me on the 2015 Mustang GT I was looking at had received very good reviews on Yelp; I'm sure some businesses must pay someone to post a bunch of glowing reviews.


And if you don't pay up, a bunch of reviews get deleted. I looked up a favorite place of mine and it hand a bunch of reviews, looked it up again after about a year later and a bunch of the old ones got deleted and it had about the same number of reviews it had last year. I guess if they had paid up, it probably would have had a lot more.
 
Originally Posted By: CKN
Originally Posted By: MCompact

The sketchy Ford dealer that tried to shaft me on the 2015 Mustang GT I was looking at had received very good reviews on Yelp; I'm sure some businesses must pay someone to post a bunch of glowing reviews.



He probably figured if you didn't buy it at the price they wanted for it-they could probably sell it to next person. It's not like we are talking about a Ford Focus here.


It was a 2k mile CPO 2015 Mustang GT; the web advertisement on the dealer site had Ford CPO logos located in several places. We drove nearly three hours to look at it and when we sat down to make a deal the sales guy tried to add the CPO cost-@$900-to the advertised price. It turns out that the dealer buries "certification costs" along with "tax, title, and license" in the very small print at the bottom of the page. Due to that-along with several other shady tactics-we walked.
They still have the car listed on their site one month later. I hope that they choke on it.
 
Often transmission shops will give you an exorbitant price so you'll just go away. They don't want to touch it, lest it breaks down in six months. That, and they are just lazy, and a future trans replacement will pay better.
 
Make sure to add your experience to the great reviews on Yelp.

You're lucky to have a dipstick and drain plug, so you don't have to go through the double-plug, heat it up to "X" temp, add fluid until it dribbles nonsense. At first, I figured the shop was trying to get rid of you to avoid that.

My '10 Vibe has a DIY-friendly Toyota trans, too. I changed the filter once, and now I just drain the pan once or twice per year. My little trans takes 2.7 quarts.
 
the procedure on newer toyota transmissions is not a simple pan drop. the guy paused for a reason, not because he hated you or had something against you. posting your experience while a little interesting, comes off as more whine then helpful. get over yourself OP.
 
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Originally Posted By: cptbarkey
the procedure on newer toyota transmissions is not a simple pan drop. the guy paused for a reason, not because he hated you or had something against you. posting your experience while a little interesting, comes off as more whine then helpful. get over yourself OP.


Even if that's the case, if he was a good mechanic, he would check what kind of transmission you have, whether or not you have a dipstick, and give you a real quote instead of talking out of his [censored] and saying his transmission will fail and it will take all day to change. Maybe he had nothing against OP but he's still a lazy bullshitter.
 
Originally Posted By: JustinH
The fluid capacity of the transmission is right around 7 quarts. I would say 4 quarts, a clean filter and pan is a good service for this vehicle.

I was shocked how little fluid it took. When I did my grand marquis, I remember putting 14 quarts into it.


What I'd do is get another four quarts and drain transmission pan at next OCI, then maybe every two years thereafter...
 
More evidence, even another poster in this thread commented that another honest shop sold out because they couldn't make enough of a profit being honest.

That's why I snicker when folks bash customers for being wary of ANY shop at all. Why shouldn't they be, MOST of them ARE dishonest, and or incompetent. If you folks in the industry don't like the reputation that has been rightly so given to it, then do something about all the bad apples or shut up.
 
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Originally Posted By: GiveMeAVowel
More evidence, even another poster in this thread commented that another honest shop sold out because they couldn't make enough of a profit being honest.

That's why I snicker when folks bash customers for being wary of ANY shop at all. Why shouldn't they be, MOST of them ARE dishonest, and or incompetent. If you folks in the industry don't like the reputation that has been rightly so given to it, then do something about all the bad apples or shut up.


some people struggle with life lessons, other's learn from it. others whine about it, others stay stoic about it. take your pick.
 
Did the job last night myself.

Toyota put a splash guard under the whole engine and the transmission pan. That was fun to take apart and break a couple of the clips.

Fluid with 79k came out black but no chunks and no metal in the pan.

The WIX filter that rockauto sent me is the incorrect part, I had to throw it out. The pan gasket they sent me is the correct part however. Kudos to rock auto again.

Honestly, I shouldn't have wasted time dropping the pan and the belly pan, they put a trap door under the transmission drain plug that would have been super easy.

3.5 Quarts of Toyota WS fluid went in, car shifts fine it may need 1/8th of a quart to bring it right in the middle of the full lines for the HOT side of the dipstick.

What was funny is that Toyota printed right on the dipstick "under normal conditions you do not need to replace the ATF". Absolute hogwash.

Spent about 50 dollars and a few hours of my time.
 
In my experience the filters inside Toyota transmissions are just metal strainers which can be reused.

If you have low miles, or a newer car, just change the fluid and you're good to go.

Older cars might benefit from the new gasket, and perhaps filter.
 
The filter I was working with is a typical transmission pan filter, bolted to the valve body.

It has a yellow filter media inside it. It was not a metal strainer.
 
Originally Posted By: JustinH
I would have had ZERO problem paying $200 or $225 for this service if I had a written estimate and it looked good. Shops have overhead and their time is worth something.


The Toyota dealer here charges $75 for a drain and fill and $250 for a full service where all the fluid is replaced. Not sure if that includes a new filter or not.
 
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