Ever had a transmission fail? On what vehicle?
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Originally Posted by DBMaster
1989 Accord, after 300,000 miles. The slipping got to the point at which the car couldn't move. Did D&Fs every 30,000 miles with synthetic ATF. I consider that to be a pretty good lifespan, honestly.
Several over the years, even with very good maintenance (i.e., D&F w/Synthetic fluid/new filters/external coolers all with normal driving, etc.):
1) 1992 Plymouth Voyager Mini-Van (leased new): Rebuilt/replaced tranny four times (I was stupid) before finally selling it ~254K miles (just started to slip)
2) 1993 Dodge Grand Caravan (bought used at 90K miles): Tranny replaced (leaked) at 92K miles, sold it at ~215K miles (just started to slip)
3) 2002 Kia Optima (bought very used at 106K miles): Tranny died at ~165K miles, sold as is.
4) 1998 Nissan Maxima (bought used at 165K miles): Tranny died at ~217K miles, sold as is.
5) 2003 Honda Odyssey Mini-Van (bought used at 87K miles): Tranny died at ~170K miles, traded as is.
I service/change ATF every ~30K miles or so and hope to get 250K+ miles out of my two current cars (bought both new).
I've NEVER had an engine failure, only automatic transmissions dying on me but that might be partly due to typically buying very used cars at that point in my life.
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1. In snow, my father broke 2nd gear of the 3-speed manual '54 Chevy I later inherited (listed below). Later heard 2nd gear was fragile on those. Ridiculously easy and cheap to repair, by today's standards.
2. My mother got rid of her '92 Dodge Dynasty just in time; it was starting to act funny. I knew other people with failures of the same notorious early-90s Chrysler automatic.
3. Had to replace noisy bearing in the 5-speed manual in my Mazda at ~360K. I suspect it was defective when new. Quieter after repair than when new.
4. The 5-speed manual of my brother's '85 Jetta didn't fail, but the shift linkage did at about 330K, and nobody could figure how to fix it, so he dumped it. The Avalon that replaced it has more miles than that, with no transmission issues.
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1998 Ford Windstar. Flushed the transmission fluid and 10 days later she was dragged onto the flatbed for a $2400 CAD repair. This was in 2004.
That Windstar was the worst POS. Nice to drive, nice interior, but wow - the stuff that broke was amazing.
2002 Jeep Wrangler with a 32RH transmission. Known issue (which I found out later) with the torque converter puking parts all throughout the trans. Solid machine, couple of poorly designed parts and you have to spend a lot of money. Only had about 73,000 miles on it at the time.
Yes, on a 1985 Audi 5000 turbo. At about 80K miles. After 75K miles, everything except the engine itself began failing on the car. It was a money hole.
Originally Posted by JustN89
I'm a bit surprised that no one has posted a 4T65E failure yet. I haven't had a transmission fail yet, but my 4T65E has me wondering each morning if today's the day that I'll be posting a failure in this thread. 
1980 Olds Omega 4cyl that was bought new. Happened around 1988 when I was at a store with my friend. Put it in reverse and it just revved up like it was in neutral. Luckily had a real good trans shop nearby. They fixed it for $900 and the car was fine till 1992 when it was traded in. So after 12 years for a first year model not bad.
Also had a 99 Accord 4cyl that I was nervous about the trans going because of all the negative stuff I read about them. Kind of ruined the experience a bit. I did have the dealer replace the rear main seal that was weeping. Honda corp paid half the cost so $250 for that. After the repair the 1st to 2nd shift would flair badly. Took it back and they did a drain and fill which solved the issue. Sold it about 80k miles later at 166k miles and the car still ran like a top. But kind of felt like I had a ticking time bomb on my hands.
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The only transmission failures I'e faced were leaking transmissions
1996 Yukon, 4L60E, lost 3&4, so I drove it around town with 1&2 for a while. 115k miles.
2007 Colorado, 4L60E, lost reverse, so I drove it for a bit just had to push it out of parking spots, had a junkyard trans installed and sold the truck, 70K miles.
1997 Suburban, 4L60E, would throw a P1870 code after it got warmed up, and then would shift hard. Just reset it with an OBD scanner and it would be fine for a while. Sold it like that. 215K miles.
The short version? 4L60Es SUCK!!!
1959 DeSota Firedome 383-727, in 1972. About 80k miles. May have something to do with loaning it to a couple of women when I was deployed. A full rebuild at a shop back then was $300.
1970 Dodge Coronet, 318-904? in 1978. About 90k miles. Full rebuild at a Chrysler dealer, $600, which was a rip.
2001 Olds Intrigue. 215- 4T60E ? About 30k miles. problems later. Those trans sucked!
$400 1992 cutlass ciera 4T60. Guy didn't want me test driving it, complained about not having insurance. I "test drove" it forward one parking space.
Paid my money, left with it, hit second gear, it was slipping. But I could nurse it through all 4 gears.
Got it home, changed the fluid (nasty) and filter (clogged). Put an adjustable "red stripe" modulator on it and cranked it up.
Worked adequately.
Transferred car to my BIL who needed a cheap ride. He got 18k more miles out of it then it lost 3rd and 4th.
Was not "my" car but I was involved in it.
Only 1 total failure:
130k miles on the 4T60-E in my 1995 Cutlass Ciera 3.1 V6. Reaction sun shell broke catastrophically and that was the end of my morning commute. That transmission had been unwell since I bought the car at 90k miles— kept locking out overdrive on longer trips. Had it rebuilt at great expense (for a college student) and it soldered on for another 60k miles until the next owner totaled the car.
Honorable mentions: leaky low mileage THM-200c in a 1980 Pontiac (torque converter), leaky high mileage 4L60-E in a 1996 Tahoe (sold before fixing), occasionally dim witted electronics in a 6R80 in the current F150 in my signature (keeps going, but sometimes has me scratching my head).
Originally Posted by Char Baby
Originally Posted by DBMaster
1989 Accord, after 300,000 miles. The slipping got to the point at which the car couldn't move. Did D&Fs every 30,000 miles with synthetic ATF. I consider that to be a pretty good lifespan, honestly.
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