Sorry to hear about your trouble man, this is my story in short form. I
blew my '88 A500 after me and my father put it through hell 10 times
over... towing in OD in the middle of the summer (6500+ lb boat and
trailer), more burnouts and neutral drops than i would like to mention, you
get the idea. So i took it to a shop to get an estimate, i tell him that I
want all new components inside, if it is marginal I want it out of the
truck. He says no problem. Gives me a WRITTEN estimate of $1100. I say
when can you do it, he says drop it on Monday and that is that. He has it
for a week, I get it back and it is running like a charm, the damage...
$1250... Of this only $200 was labor the rest were parts. no problem. It
runs great and he cut me a great deal due to the estimate. a year and
25000 miles later i cracked the case on a shift... this tranny is toast. I
bring it back to the guy and he tells me he can try and get a used case and
all, i am looking in the neighborhood of $1000 using my internals. no, i
don't think so. I go to my friendly dodge dealer and order an A518
non-lockup model. Hey even I can't break this thing I figure. I drop $1600
beans there, $250ish on the convertor and $350 on the labor. This is now
half price for labor on a dakota for remove and install. My truck was such
a pain he raised his rates big time... So i pay everyone their cash and
have a great running truck again, it is now better on the highway, mileage
and all... I am happy. Best part I sold him my junker for $200 after the
fact... so in a way it sounds like you are being taken, but I know that is
how much that job really goes for around here now (I talked to the guy
after i had the new one put in). word of advice, get a tranny cooler...
it'll really save your tranny... Then to top it all off, 10 mo later i put
in a reman motor (.020 overbore) and new rad and all, then crasho... now I
gots me a 4.7l and a 5-sp... no more autos for this kid...
>and I took it to an Aamco - just for an estimate. They said it would be
>$969 for a basic rebuild. Not including anything else. I thought it
>was a fair price so I said go ahead with it Today they get back to me
>and say the overdrive gears and everything need to be replaced. I knew
>the overdrive was bad - but he originally told me that the overdrive may
>still be good. And told me somthing along the lines of that there was
>possibly some other reason why the overdrive was not working. Oh yeah
>Now they said that to get new overdrive - it would cost 1$800 - to have
>them rebuild it would cost $1125. That would be in ADDITION to the
>$969 basic rebuild, plus about $229 for a torque conv. The grand total
>would be $2386.75
>I need opinions here... I need to know what course of action to take
>next.
One word, document. I almost got nailed for a $1200 restocking fee when I
was going to have my engine done at a local NECO engine place. Too many
people were always there complaining so I documented who I talked to, when,
what they said (exact verbage if it was helpful) and what I said
also. Took it to the Attorney general and eventually got it all back 3 mo
later. In your case I would go to the dealer and get prices of a new A500,
also prices for used ones and complete rebuilds at other shops. do you
have the estimate written?
>Oh I left out some important detail. I called aamco - and told them that
>the people I have talked with say its way too much. I said I'm not sure
>I want you guys to finish the job. He says - well I'm not sure I want
>to finish it!
Did you catch this asses name? I hope so.
Good luck man,
Chris
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