My first big repair :(

[gt40]

Well, I've been fairly lucky with vehicles, maintenance has always been VERY minimal.
Till today
First gear went on the 'gator (Lincoln Navigator) - dealership wants $2400
Transfer case clutch went too - suprisingly at the same time -
or possibly could have been related - if the xfer case was stuck in 4 wheel - it could have put a heavy load on the tranny
unfortunetly the signifcant other drives it ,and she probably wouldn't have noticed the extra drag during tight turns
extra cost for the clutch on the xfer case - $1200
total, before they find out what other parts it needs in the valve body on the tranny - about $3400
wouldn't be so bad, but I had a very slow period earlier, and am having trouble collecting what other monies are owed to me - some as far back as October

Time to call in some favours.

[ZokesPro]

Damn, that sucks.

Usually I'm the one posting stuff about car problems but the taurus is in excellent shape.

[Wombat]

Gotten quotes from anywhere else? Around here dealerships usually cost a third more than a great independent shop.

[schmosef]

Lincoln... Navigator?

my heart bleeds









Seriously, I rented one of those for a long weekend once. It was awesome. I don't see myself owning a vehicle like that until the fuel economy increases significantly.

[gt40]

Gotten quotes from anywhere else? Around here dealerships usually cost a third more than a great independent shop.

I'm on it, I've a good friend about 1/2 hour drive from here, I'm going to give him a call in the morning.

[gt40]

my heart bleeds

not as much as my wallet

[rylan]

Yeah, for an automatic transmission and associated assemblies I wouldn't bother going to the dealer. Someplace that specializes in transmissions should cost significantly less. Do you have the equilavent of an Aamco shop in Canada?

[gt40]

Here's the problem with most newer vehicles - they are heavily computer controlled, with sensors at every wheel, every transmission and xfer case function is monitored, there are actuators for everything. The problems I had could have easily been attributed a faulty sensor/or module. Without the specific tools to rule out an electronic malfunction, a standard transmission shop runs the risk of misdiagnosis and non-diagnosis.
My first priority was to rule out an electronc fault- and given the coincidence of two seperate problems, an electronic fault was highly suspect.
It was well worth my time having it properly diagnosed and then redirecting the actual service to someone more specialized and less expensive to repair the mechanical problem.

[Jon P. Inghram]

Wouldn't it be nice if they'd stick some dirt cheap 256+ meg flash ram in the computer to record trends on all sensors to make diagnostics easier, or even, god forbid, predict failures ahead of time?

[Fat Tone]

Sorry to hear of your problems Pat. Any chance you can save some money by machining some parts yourself?

[gt40]

Wouldn't it be nice if they'd stick some dirt cheap 256+ meg flash ram in the computer to record trends on all sensors to make diagnostics easier, or even, god forbid, predict failures ahead of time?

They do have this of sorts, you can access most, if not all the sensors via the OBD-II connector on the vehicle. Any detected faults are stored in memory for retreival through a 'scan tool'.
I have one of these, but the faults being purely mechanical, with no sensors involved, did not generate any trouble codes.

@Fat Tone - believe it or not, a great deal of the costs are labour for removal, dissassembly, repair and replacement. - and current labour costs at the dealer are well over $100 an hour.

[gt40]

Just got it back,
The dealer completely mis-diagnosed. The transmission basically needed a complete overhaul - the noise the dealer thought was the xfer case was actually little bits spinning around the transmission.
My friend still managed to do the work for about 1500 less than the dealer.
Still a good chunk of change thou
Guess my dear wife will have to forget about the hot tub for another year

[Mehen]

look on the brightside though, you still have a &^$%ing Lincoln Navigator

[VJ]

Sorry to hear of the problems...

My first big repair on my current car was its airconditioning: the temperature sensor stopped working a couple of months after it was out of warranty. While the part is cheap, the replacement was expensive: the entire dashboard had to be removed.


Jörg