I'll keep it another 18 months.

[JustinH]

We've been looking at new cars for my wife and trading the ford in. But the prices have not come down to our liking, and I think we are still near the top of the market. Driving home the other day, heard a loud bang, and the trans only had one gear, I think 4th gear.

Had it towed in to a transmission shop with 50 years experience in downtown San Antonio. I figure nothing stays in business for 50 years without doing it right. At first I thought the price was steep but after a few phone calls it was very fair, especially considering the shop owns its own tow truck and towed it 30 miles to their shop inclusive of the price. LKQ wanted $2500 for a junkyard trans with 75k miles on it, decided against that route, and had the shop rebuild it.

Failure occured at 92k, had fluid changed once at 60k miles. Shop who did the rebuild advised to bring it in every 45k for fluid change on the rebuilt trans.

Turnaround time was 3 working days. Owner of the shop says he usually does one escape per week, but this week he had three. They are a busy shop.

I never really noticed how bad the original trans shifted until I had it rebuilt. No shift flare, everything very smooth.

Car has lifetime warranty brakes all the way around from a local chain, 18 months on the trans, and 2 years on a new battery, new Kumho rubber all the way around. With the 2.5L NA engine I think I'm good to drive it for as long as I can stand it. Car is spotless, guys in the northeast would love to have it. Always been in New Mexico or Texas.

I bought this car from Carvana about 4-5 years ago for $12,900 with about 15k miles on it.

 

[JTK]

What would the total cost have been to have the LKQ installed and out the door?

Nearly $4K is tough pill to swallow at under 100K miles, but what can you do. I think you made the right call and would keep that vehicle as long as you can tolerate it.

I didn't think these Escape transmissions were a high failure item.

 

[Kira]

Good thinking and a good situation (honest shop in your neck of the woods) if you ask me.

I've heard the terms "soft/partial rebuild" and "FULL rebuild"; was yours a FULL rebuild?

How 'bout a cooler for the Texas heat?

 

[JustinH]

What would the total cost have been to have the LKQ installed and out the door?

Nearly $4K is tough pill to swallow at under 100K miles, but what can you do. I think you made the right call and would keep that vehicle as long as you can tolerate it.

I didn't think these Escape transmissions were a high failure item.

He said $1200 to install anyone elses trans. That would have put me at $3700 with no warranty from him on anything, LKQ offered 12 months 12000 miles on transmission parts only no labor.

 

[BornSlippy]

Those transmissions seem to be highly sensitive to having clean fresh fluid. "Lifetime" fluid and low viscosity fluid and this is what we get.

I have the trans fluid changed at the Ford dealer on our Escape every 50K KM or 30ish thousand miles.

 

[JustinH]

Good thinking and a good situation (honest shop in your neck of the woods) if you ask me.

I've heard the terms "soft/partial rebuild" and "FULL rebuild"; was yours a FULL rebuild?

How 'bout a cooler for the Texas heat?

Full overhaul with all new parts and a rebuilt converter. All cooler lines flushed, car has a trans cooler from the factory they backflushed everything. I thought about messing with another larger cooler, but I figured this rebuild will get me over the finish line with this car. I need something a little nicer with apple carplay, and a little more comfortable but in this economy it was the right thing to do (I think).

I've been trying to make this car more habitable for myself I drive about 70 miles a day, if something annoys me on it, I fix it right away. Had an upholstery shop sew on a leather steering wheel cover, as the plastic one had melted and was chunking off. The backup camera went out, so I put in a new ebay one the other day.

I got the car back from the trans shop, and sent it directly to my detail guy who did a nice job of cleaning it up.

 

[The Critic]

He said $1200 to install anyone elses trans. That would have put me at $3700 with no warranty from him on anything, LKQ offered 12 months 12000 miles on transmission parts only no labor.

Ford Reman (GV6Z-7000-JRM) lists for $3998.67 but does carry a 3-yr/unlimited mileage, extra hassle warranty. Assuming they performed a quality rebuild, you came out ahead.

This is another example of how having an extended warranty on most modern cars will generally pay off (or come close to it).

 

[racer12306]

Agreed, that's pretty rough to put a trans in a vehicle under 100k.

If you wanted out of it, you could probably sell it for what you paid for it, but then you're in the boat of paying more for the next car.

The used car market definitely has a long way to go to settle out, if it ever goes back to 2020. Saw a 2020 Ram on a local lot, 18000 miles. Internet price is $44k. I plugged the VIN into Chryslers window sticker tool and the original selling price in 2020 was $46,310.

It's almost an exact copy of my 2019, but with the new gen body style and the 5'7" bed instead of the 6'4" bed.

 

[Nick1994]

You did good. Definitely a tough pill to swallow as said above, but not sure you really had any other choice.

 

[JustinH]

Ford Reman (GV6Z-7000-JRM) lists for $3998.67 but does carry a 3-yr/unlimited mileage, extra hassle warranty. Assuming they performed a quality rebuild, you came out ahead.

This is another example of how having an extended warranty on most modern cars will generally pay off (or come close to it).

Exact price I got when I called ford. That is the price of the parts only. I did not inquire about labor as it would be well north of the independant shop.

This is a paid off 13,000 cash car, I think I'm ahead also.

 

[JavierH19]

It does sound like they do the rebuilds right. I might stretch that to 50k before letting go of it. Did you ask them if they fixed the inherent issue that causes them to fail as often as they do. Is there a revised parts kit that got put in it or is it likely to do that again.

 

[haggler]

Used cars are a rip off right now, especially used cars with low mileage. The only deals are on new cars but it depends what you're in the market for. SUV's not so much, sedans sure. IMO the only way it would've made sense is if you were planning on buying something new and could unload that with minimal loss. Nearly 4k for a new transmission means you're in it for at least another 50-100k. We're definitely at the peak; I just unloaded a nearly 5 year old kia with under 50k miles for $16,450 to shift.

 

[TomYoung]

This is another example of how having an extended warranty on most modern cars will generally pay off (or come close to it).

That's demonstrably incorrect. If it were the case, there would be no warranty business. You might win here or there with an extended warranty, but you are betting against yourself. Obviously, take full advantage of the factory warranty and as almost all BITOGers know, spend what you can on careful maintenance. Also, the extended warranty industry is likely to deny your claims as a their business practice.

 

[The Critic]

That's demonstrably incorrect. If it were the case, there would be no warranty business. You might win here or there with an extended warranty, but you are betting against yourself. Obviously, take full advantage of the factory warranty and as almost all BITOGers know, spend what you can on careful maintenance. Also, the extended warranty industry is likely to deny your claims as a their business practice.

That depends. If all of your maintenance visits are being performed by a quick lube shop or by a DIYer who does not properly inspect the vehicle during each visit, then yes - there is a high likelihood that the extended warranty will go un-utilized. Similarly, dealers are generally prohibited from upselling warranty work unless it is directly correlated to an immediate safety or reliability issue. Those are the scenarios that the insurance company is hoping for.

But.....if you inspect your vehicle carefully at each maintenance stop and/or have your vehicle worked on by a shop that is intimately knowledgeable about your platform, you will often find many opportunities to utilize the extended warranty during the first 100 or 125K miles.

Also, extended warranties (not the 3rd party ones, but the manufacturer ones) are usually pretty good about approving work if you complain about a specific issue that is clearly covered.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Good choice. I would have done the same thing given the options.

 

[SC Maintenance]

That depends. If all of your maintenance visits are being performed by a quick lube shop or by a DIYer who does not properly inspect the vehicle during each visit, then yes - there is a high likelihood that the extended warranty will go un-utilized. Similarly, dealers are generally prohibited from upselling warranty work unless it is directly correlated to an immediate safety or reliability issue. Those are the scenarios that the insurance company is hoping for.

But.....if you inspect your vehicle carefully at each maintenance stop and/or have your vehicle worked on by a shop that is intimately knowledgeable about your platform, you will often find many opportunities to utilize the extended warranty during the first 100 or 125K miles.

Also, extended warranties (not the 3rd party ones, but the manufacturer ones) are usually pretty good about approving work if you complain about a specific issue that is clearly covered.

I realize I am a sample of 1. I also do all my own maintenance, and I am pretty thorough. My last 5 cars were 2 late model used and 3 new - so all 5 would have been possible to get extended warranties. I would have had the opportunity to use the warranty in the first four exactly zero times. The 5th is still under factory warranty so its TBD. However it almost doesn't matter what the fifth one costs - the money I saved from the earlier 4 not paying for the warranty will cover just about anything that could go wrong.

 

[doitmyself]

JustinH, I think you took the correct route. Sometimes things just break, you have to get it fixed, and the cost of ownership numbers are skewed. That's life, and most of us have to navigate these "interruptions with plans" numerous times. It sounds like you take good care of your vehicles. Move forward and hopefully vehicle prices will come down and you might recoup some of this at sale time.

 

[Rmay635703]

I didn't think these Escape transmissions were a high failure item.

The only real independent transmission rebuilder in the area has a field full of CUV/SUV/Crossover type vehicles (Think Toyota RAV4 and Ford Escape) waiting on repair.

The only actual cars he seems to get in for repair are antiques and there are a fair number of pickups there as well.

So I think the myth that crossovers never need a transmission is just a myth.

 

[JTK]

The only real independent transmission rebuilder in the area has a field full of CUV/SUV/Crossover type vehicles (Think Toyota RAV4 and Ford Escape) waiting on repair.

The only actual cars he seems to get in for repair are antiques and there are a fair number of pickups there as well.

So I think the myth that crossovers never need a transmission is just a myth.

I believe it.

I don't know the fluid maintenance procedure for a 6F35 like this escape has, but your standard CUV/SUV/Crossover owner doesn't even think about changing transmission fluid.

IMO, waiting until ~60K miles is too long for most of them.

 

[Delta]

Interesting. A co-worker also has a 2016 Escape around the same mileage that she just put a transmission into it. I think the torque converter failed and also damaged the input shaft.