what to do: 2004 elantra gls trans problems

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: 97tbird
we must be lucky (so far) - my wife's 2003 Elantra is still going strong and no transmission prob's at 209k miles now...

KNOCKING HEAVILY ON WOOD!

yep lucky.
now my transmission shop after 2 rounds of 30 and 20 miles and some testing cannot replicate the problem or read any error codes.....

 

[dishdude]

Originally Posted By: pandus13
Originally Posted By: 97tbird
we must be lucky (so far) - my wife's 2003 Elantra is still going strong and no transmission prob's at 209k miles now...

KNOCKING HEAVILY ON WOOD!

yep lucky.
now my transmission shop after 2 rounds of 30 and 20 miles and some testing cannot replicate the problem or read any error codes.....


woohoo! You have time to save for a transmission or trade it in.

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: dishdude
Originally Posted By: pandus13

now my transmission shop after 2 rounds of 30 and 20 miles and some testing cannot replicate the problem or read any error codes.....

woohoo! You have time to save for a transmission or trade it in.

now I understand the people that keep a 3rd car JUST IN CASE!
depending on the quote i get back from the shop will be either repair it and keep it as long as possible or repair it and see after that...
I know this is a CRAZY question to ask on BITOG, but WHY DO WE GET SO ATTACHED BY A CAR?

 

[dishdude]

If there is no problem they can replicate and no error codes how can they give you a quote? My parents are going through this right now with a 2004 Maxima - 72k miles. The car slams into gear during the 2-3 shift, and overall just doesn't feel like a healthy transmission (it was bad enough that they noticed something was different about it's shifting characteristics). They took it to a transmission shop owned by someone they know, and they said the same thing - nothing wrong with it.

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: dishdude
If there is no problem they can replicate and no error codes how can they give you a quote? My parents are going through this right now with a 2004 Maxima - 72k miles. The car slams into gear during the 2-3 shift, and overall just doesn't feel like a healthy transmission (it was bad enough that they noticed something was different about it's shifting characteristics). They took it to a transmission shop owned by someone they know, and they said the same thing - nothing wrong with it.

shop managed to replicate the problem. waiting for conclusion..
will keep posted.

 

[Cutehumor]

lubegard red saved my 96 pontiac sunfire transmission. it was stuck in 2nd gear. fresh castrol atf, new trans filter, and lubegard red fixed it.

 

[Cutehumor]

Originally Posted By: 97tbird
we must be lucky (so far) - my wife's 2003 Elantra is still going strong and no transmission prob's at 209k miles now...

KNOCKING HEAVILY ON WOOD!


now you know which car to trade in!

 

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted By: Cutehumor
lubegard red saved my 96 pontiac sunfire transmission. it was stuck in 2nd gear. fresh castrol atf, new trans filter, and lubegard red fixed it.


+1 on Lubeguard Red plus the anti-shudder stuff available on Amazon. I thought I posted the other day on this thread about LG but I was probably distracted. Try it!

 

[pandus13]

history:
30krobably dealer checked color of atf at 30K. guess they didn't drain and fill
54k: me not happy, did drain and fill with SPIII. something brown and muddy come out. the fress fluid did cure out for some time the "let me think for a while" hickup (i'm guessing it's called the 2-3 hyundai shift flare)
67k: me did another drain and fill with 1 qt spiii, rest castrol MV import plus half a bottle Red Lubegard.
2 years of driving in chicago
88k: problems. they are re-building the trans.
...
will keep posted

 

[dishdude]

How much is the rebuild?

 

[mclasser]

I've heard from many mechanics that the Elantra's of this generation have fragile transmissions. If the fluid isn't frequently serviced, one could have issues. Even with maintenance, it's the luck of the draw. I have an 05 Elantra with 80k miles on the clock. The trans. is still good despite only one fluid change at 50k miles but who knows what the future has in store.

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: dishdude
How much is the rebuild?

us $ 1,500
i'm guessing:
-$ 284 + $ 160 = aprox $450 for internet/ parts rebuild kit (I hope they don't re-use any of the older parts)
-around 4-5 hours at $85 /per hour = aprox $ 450
-4-8 qt or atf (should be hyundaiSPII, misthubishi diamond or kia....) at probably $6-7 per quart

the rest is profit +- expense of running the facility/business


but I need the car and for $1,500 you have to be really really lucky to find a good car in my area

 

[dishdude]

Sounds reasonable to me. If the car was in good condition I would definitely repair it too.

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: dishdude
Sounds reasonable to me. If the car was in good condition I would definitely repair it too.

88.5k miles. been in the family from 18k miles and (this month) 6 years.
whatever is selling on CGlist is over 100k (second timing belt change?) and have peeling paint.

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: pandus13
Originally Posted By: dishdude
How much is the rebuild?

us $ 1,500
i'm guessing:
-$ 284 + $ 160 = aprox $450 for internet/ parts rebuild kit (I hope they don't re-use any of the older parts)
-around 4-5 hours at $85 /per hour = aprox $ 450
-4-8 qt or atf (should be hyundaiSPII, misthubishi diamond or kia....) at probably $6-7 per quart
the rest is profit +- expense of running the facility/business

but I need the car and for $1,500 you have to be really really lucky to find a good car in my area


I forgot to add that the shop have been patient enough to replicate my random trans problem (about 55 miles and about 1/3 tank later) before opening the trans. I think whatever profit they made is well deserved since they could have swopped me away and take care of their usual contracted stuff.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

$1500 doesn't seem to be too bad for a transmission rebuild. What was the problem with the transmission?

It had a shift flare, did it completely fail? My friend's had the shift flare for about 10K miles before it got REAL bad. At which point I changed fluid types and it banged on 2-3.

Throw a cooler on, change the fluid / filter early and often, and enjoy!

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
$1500 doesn't seem to be too bad for a transmission rebuild. What was the problem with the transmission?

It had a shift flare, did it completely fail? My friend's had the shift flare for about 10K miles before it got REAL bad. At which point I changed fluid types and it banged on 2-3.

Throw a cooler on, change the fluid / filter early and often, and enjoy!

seems to be about really common with Mitsubishi trans of that age.
it was past the flare.
mine tried to change into 2nd, mmmmmm let me think for a bit, tried to change into 2nd a little harsher, than it did the scary-SHACKY-all-car dance (friend in car had to hold onto something)
this one does not have an external filter anymore, but fresh fluid and a cooler+ inline filter seems to be the recipe. let's hope good parts in the rebuild kit.

 

[Propflux01]

Try a good salvage yard, plenty of good trannys from wrecked vehicles for much cheaper than $1500

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: Propflux01
Try a good salvage yard, plenty of good trannys from wrecked vehicles for much cheaper than $1500


But, how long will a junkyard transmission last? If it's been siting too long, or already has a problem.

If OP is going to keep the car a few years (or more), I think it would be worth the rebuild. Normally, I'm a proponent of junkyard parts, but in the case where all of the ones in the junkyard are going to be defective ...

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: Propflux01
Try a good salvage yard, plenty of good trannys from wrecked vehicles for much cheaper than $1500

i'm as cheap/frugal as some on this community, but it seems most of the used trannies either are in the 80+ or even 100+ k miles and i don't know the history.
my car was kind of babied, no hard launches, my imaginary red line is 2.5-3 k rotations, it saw 4-5 k only about 4-5 times when i had to merge on high speed highway. it just seems it had the original oil for about 54k (yep, i love some dealers, when you find a good one please keep them). also my driving it kind of falls into hard-to-severe since my highway driving is stuck-and-go.

P.S. my brake pads lasted exactly 34k miles (from new to metal) so you imagine my kind of traffic...