Transmission Failure

[Chip Hindes]

Last Wednesday, my previously most excellent tow vehicle, '01 Expedition 4x4, 5.4L trashed the transmission on the way to the lake for an evening sail. We were not pulling the boat at the time. Occured about 50 miles from home, but fortunately, less than five miles from a Ford dealer, which nearly miraculously, was open at 7 PM.

$3,500 and less than 48 hours later, we were back on the road, and put over 1000 miles on the new (factory rebuilt) tranny over the weekend.

The service manager said one of the planetary gearsets self destructed inside the tranny, and made a total mess inside. The truck had 63.5K miles, about 7K of that pulling the boat, mostly consisting of two trips to FL and back. When I asked if there was anything I might have done wrong or should do differently, he said, "Nothing, sometimes things just break."

Thanks. It's what I've been saying about some of the Mac components for several years; now my own words come back to haunt me. I wish I could have confirmed it in a slightly less expensive fashion.

Statistically it shouldn't have happened. Of course, statistically, Jack shouldn't be able to tow the Mac with his Subaru Outback. Perhaps he's figured something out. Do you play the Lottery, Jack?

BTW, after transferring our gear to a '94 Escort loaner with 127K miles on it, we continued to the lake and had an excellent, if somehwat belated, night sail.

[Frank C]

OUCH - Bummer!

The local Ford dealer's service bays are open 5 nights per week (actually, I recall it's till 8pm here), and open on Saturday also, but only till 5pm. Gotta say that Ford is really trying in that regard. I had a '91 Explorer that lost its tranny at about 100k miles, but I think that was a known weakness in the early Explorer, even w/o towing. Never heard of such for the Expedition, and my '97 ran fine up to 48k miles when the 3-yr. lease ended.

Your story reminds me that I purchased the GM factory warranty coverage on my latest, a 2003 GMC Sierra 1/2T. I usually wouldn't even consider an extended warranty, but:

• * This time is a (zero %)purchase not lease, so I may go well beyond 50k miles.
  * I chose the new Quadrasteer option & I was a little leery of new tech
  * I threatened to walk out unless they gave me the warranty deal I wanted

I got the zero-deductible coverage, 7 years or 100k miles, $1,100. Your $3500 transmission helps soothe the scar on my wallet. Good luck on that replacement transmission.

[Chip Hindes]

The factory rebuilt tranny has a 3-yr, 36K mile warranty which for me will last a little over 2 years, so I won't need any luck until then.

As I said, statistically, this shouldn't have happened. In practical terms, this means that for every guy like me who has an unexplained early failure, there are one or more guys out there who, through nothing special they have done, have driven theirs for 200K miles or more without a major breakdown.

Knowing this, and also knowing that by the same statistics, the only ones who come out ahead on the extended warranty are the dealer and the salesman who sold it to you, I will continue to pass them up.

Although not particularly happy with how I got to test it, my experience with this dealer service department was, on the whole, pretty positive. It was an excruciatingly long series of negative dealer service experiences in connection with an '86 Chevy Astro, which caused this dyed in the wool GM man to switch to Ford nearly ten years ago.

[kmclemore]

Quick question - do you tow in overdrive?

[Jack O'Brien]

Chip Hindes wrote:

"Of course, statistically, Jack shouldn't be able to tow the Mac with his Subaru Outback. Perhaps he's figured something out. Do you play the Lottery, Jack?"

No, I don't play the Lotto since they worsened the odds a few years ago.

I also don't have a humongus strong V-8 impacting my transmission. I have only towed my X (twice the 2000 lb Outback rating) in flat Florida with a 2.5L, 165 HP 4-cylinder and have never needed more power. I did add a trany oil cooler and I do avoid 4 th gear.

Darn shame to have that expense you had. That is enough to buy a new, aluminum tandem trailer. Chances are it had nothing to do with you - stuff just happens. Although, as the QC boys know and Consumer Reports points out, "stuff" happens more frequently to some things than it does to others.

But even when one does his best and plays the game well Fate's Famous Finger can strike. Lady Luck is a fickle bitch. Just ask the poor wiped-out souls in Hurricane Charlie's aftermath.

[Chip Hindes]

I do not tow in overdrive. Occasionally I manually shift it like a manual transmission, into overdrive to reduce engine RPMs & braking when descending a hill, then right back out of OD as soon as I'm back on level ground.

Towing in overdrive causes overheating, which in turn causes premature fluid failure, slippage and gradual wearout of the the clutches and bands.

I had the transmission flushed just prior to the trip to FL in June, no evidence of overheating then, and none after the failure.

The failure of the planetary gearset in my tranny was of the mechanical overload type.

[Don T]

Hello:
Same thing happened to my old crusty GMC van this year. It made a funny noise, then 3 miles later it coasted into the trans shop near my home. In that short distance the planetaries chewed themseves up. My cost was $1600 for the 700R4 rebuild. I had a hard time coughing it up as the van is only worth $2K but we were approaching departure time for the San Juans. I would have called the bone yard at $3500. The van only has 135K miles on it and this was the 3rd trans. Only now as I read this I realize I need a tougher tow vehicle. And, no I did not tow in overdrive.

[Chip Hindes]

my old crusty GMC van

Safari or full sized? Actually it doesn't much matter. In my opinion the 700R4 was designed for a much lower HP engine than the 4.3 L V6 it was mated to in my '86 Astro, and presumably in your van. Mine was rebuilt at 44,000 miles, along with the differential which was actually shedding teeth. GM went halves with me on the cost, but it was still way more than should have happened with those few miles.

I had bought it factory equipped for 5000 lb towing capacity, including oversized radiator, auxiliary tranny cooler and a higher numerical rear end ratio, which BTW did great things for acceleration but crappy things to the gas mileage.

[Thilliard]

I just bought my first truck and will begin using it to tow my boat on some trips. Since it has overdrive, I just wanted to clarify why overdrive is not recommended during towing. Can anyone help?

[Jack O'Brien]

Much as I loved the valiant Subaru Outback whose towing service was above and beyond the call of duty with never a complaint, it was almost 8 years old and did need some oil seal work and timing belt change.

So Saturday we traded it for a new, 2004 Honda Pilot EX-L. It comes standard with all the bells and whistles one could want. Boat towing capacity is 4,500 lbs. Compared to the Outback the Pilot is 27% heavier, 45% more HP and torque, 15% wider track, and it also uses regular gas.

I've waited two years, since they came out, to get a two-year-old used Pilot to save money but the used Pilots have held their values so well we were able to get a new one for less than the used ones are going for. SUV sales are down recently due to gas prices and the '05s will soon be out. So, completely separate from the trade-in, we got it for $400 under Invoice and $3500 under MSRP. Had to shop the Internet to do this well. Internet pricing is much better than Showroom pricing. This is only the second NEW car I have ever bought and does it smell good.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Well darn Jack....who is Chip gonna have to make fun of now? Or maybe it is the other way around now that it seems your 8 year old outback out-endured his 3 year old expedition)

[Scott]

FYI yall. My Oldest daughters 95 probe 70,000 mi, Cherry condition, shelled the tranny early summer.

The guy at aamco transmission said it was common in all overdrive fords. The overdrive doohicky starts to go and the overdrive works not at all or intermittently. If caught early its a couple hundred dollars.

After finding a donor rebuildable and the tranny guy using all of the reusable parts it cost me around $1800. I would of junked the car if I hadnt just rebuilt the top end, put a waterpump and alternator in. Put tires on it, rebuilt the brakes fixed the hole in the muffler, Ok Im rambling.

"But dad, it was only acting up for around a month before it woudnt shift out of 2nd. And then it was no problem cause I didnt have to drive on the highway to get to work. But boy I sure had to rev it up to get it to go 45 MPH"

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

(throwing out a bit of flame bait) Is there a pattern developing here?

F O R D = Found on Road Dead...or was that... Fixed or Repaired Daily



At least that is what all the Chevy people used to say when I was in H.S.

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

It must be a Ford thing. Years ago we had a Escort Wagon. It, as the transmission tech said, "Grenaded" inside. She said she had never seen such a mess. Luckily we were right at the end of the warranty period and they fixed it for free. All we paid was the tow back to the dealership. They even gave us a ride home to get our Honda which never had even a hint of anything breaking in over 100,000 miles.

So far the Chevy is going strong at over 105,000. Just finished putting front brake pads on it. I don't hold out as much hope for our Dodge which has already had a minor tranny problem.

[jklightner]

An update on my Jeep Grand Cherokee.... 10 years old and just passed 267,000 miles, and now it needs a CV joint... geez... thought these were built to last at least to 300,000