Automatic transmission replacement costs

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nomochevys

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My friend just had to have his transmission replaced on a 2003 Toyota Rav 4. His cost was 4400 dollars. I nearly died and so did he. Its a new one from Jasper but still. It got me to thinking about what might be around the corner for me. We are all held hostage by automatic transmissions if you are like me and drive a car all the way out.

My situation is a GM 4L60E and I hear they are not all that great but are common. What can the average guy do to help extend the life of his auto? I am as easy on cars as I know how to be but every time the thing shifts I am thinking that is one less shift it has in it. I so wish I had a manual and only had to worry about a clutch. Anybody else ever give this any thought? 4000 bucks is more than my truck is worth and I would have to junk it out I guess or eat it. There is no good solution when a car/truck gets old.
 
Jasper seems on the high end for a AT or engine. Good but expensive. Order one from RockAuto and get someone to install it.

Use quality synthetic ATF, add-on filter like Magnefine, if you tow consider a larger ATF cooler.

Drive like there is an egg between your foot and gas pedal.
 
^ all that. Also consider the "Corvette servo", it is a cheap mod that speeds up shifts. Transmissions grind themselves up trying to smooth softly.
 
Originally Posted By: nomochevys
My friend just had to have his transmission replaced on a 2003 Toyota Rav 4. His cost was 4400 dollars. I nearly died and so did he. Its a new one from Jasper but still. It got me to thinking about what might be around the corner for me. We are all held hostage by automatic transmissions if you are like me and drive a car all the way out.

My situation is a GM 4L60E and I hear they are not all that great but are common. What can the average guy do to help extend the life of his auto? I am as easy on cars as I know how to be but every time the thing shifts I am thinking that is one less shift it has in it. I so wish I had a manual and only had to worry about a clutch. Anybody else ever give this any thought? 4000 bucks is more than my truck is worth and I would have to junk it out I guess or eat it. There is no good solution when a car/truck gets old.


How often did your friend replace the transmission fluid? What was the mileage of the vehicle? I think that at $4400 I would have looked for a used transmission from a wrecker, or rebuilt or possibly sold off the vehicle for parts first, then brought it to a scrap yard.

Regards, JC.
 
I'm a proponent of 30k fluid change no matter what the transmission. It's been working for the wife with the much aligned CD4E in her Escape - still going strong at 142k. (IMHO the CD4E was bad in the early versions but of you keep up with maintenance you will be fine.)

Not sire if driving styles have much to do with it on a modern transmission. Most (if not all) new cars have a great deal of torque management during shifts (cutting timing, throttle, etc) to reduce wear on the transmission.

Why did he go new vs having a shop rebuild it? I would think a rebuild would be a lot cheaper than $4k. $4k on an 11 year old car makes me start thinking "part it out" or trade it in.
 
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That's the problem with foreign cars, everyone thinks, they're great, but they're expensive to fix. Most people seem to forget to change the transmission fluid. I've changed the fluid in mine 5 times and I'm up to 189k. A used transmission could have been in the $2k-3k range.
 
Try your local domestic dealers for some real parts price shockers.
Nothing is cheap to fix anymore believe me. Toyota is no better or worse than GM, Ford, etc.
I buy a lot of parts, sometimes when I leave the dealer I feel like I just got knocked over the head and my wallet emptied and I pay 25-30% on average less than retail.
 
I was quoted $1600 to rebuild a 4L60E and that's in addition to just spending $3,000 to get the engine done. So yeah, I feel violated by repair costs.

All my repairs are caused by intentional sabotage and my Insurance Company told me to go pound sand.

Amsoil ATF controls heat very effectively and I never had a transmission fail using their fluid. Although it's expensive, look at what a repair will tax you.
Taxi Cab Study
 
My parents just spent a little over $4,000 to replace the 5 speed auto in their Maxima this summer, transmissions aren't cheap that's for sure. They went with a reman that has a 3 year warranty, and it's a good thing too because the first reman only lasted a few thousand miles.

They just had the reman replaced under warranty 2 weeks ago with no cost to them at all, so it was a lot better than the used option. I wouldn't spend $2k-$3k on a no warranty used transmission swap.
 
One option to extend life is to put in a shift kit to reduce clutch wear. I'm too lazy to do that sort of thing on my own cars so instead I just back off the throttle a moment before an upshift. It works.

disclaimer: I don't have a 4L60E
 
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I was quoted $1,500 by a small, local shop for a trans R&R on my 2wd Suburban.
I didn't ask about the corvette servo or swapping out the planetary hub to have 5 planetary gears instead of the stock 4. Essentially that would turn it into a 4L65E.
 
This is wholesale prices to dealers and others in the auto business for a rebuild and installation with a 1 yr. unlimited warranty.. This is average there are some that are cheaper and some that are more this is from a private transmission shop done correctly in my area here in NJ. I just asked my brother which owned this trans shop until a couple of years ago but still keeps in touch with the new owners.

GM 4sp auto $1050.00-$1200.00 complete some of the early ones $875.00
For the rav-4 $1400.00 complete
 
Use full synthetic like Amsoil, or Mobil 1. Add an external filter and change at a reasonable time frame.

Change the fluid/filt according to your driving. I changed Amsoil out on my 1998 Taurus at 80K 7 years and it looked perfect in the pan.

The fluid still had a pretty good red tint to it as well.
 
The rav4 had 213K on it and I dont know if the fluid had ever been changed. Probably not. The Jasper trans has a 100k warranty and they had to buy a computer with it also. I dont know the break down for all of the prices but it was 4400 total. The local shop that changed it out would not rebuild it.

I need to find out more about this corvette servo for the 4L60E.
 
Check into the Boost Valve from Oregon Performance Transmission, its a high flow devise. It's another upgraden to a 4L60E
 
That seems high, but I know Japanese cars can have some expensive transmissions.

I can buy a new transmission direct from GM for my truck for about $1,600. Not bad, I'm sure rebuilding would be cheaper, but new has a better warranty.
 
+1 on the Regular fluid changes and some type of inline filter.
If you know your car has a weak transmission an additional cooler can't hurt. Lots of minivans and trucks now come with the extra coolers as standard equipment.
 
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