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"thank you, may I have another?"
Dec. 24th, 2008 05:15 pmFatal Transmission message, incorrect gear ratio 3."
Translated to english understandable to my wallet, a little under $1700. So far. Apparently the place I've been taking it to for regular maintenance of the fluids has never even removed the transmission fluid pan, much less changed the filter. Since it is now out of business (and here I thought the chain had simply been bought out) there's no recourse for me financially. The transmission repairman speculates that the lines were flushed rather than actually drained. It is neither right nor proper that the tranny fluid look and smell like burnt coffee. Yup, the clutch is waste-metal, with a serious flare when going from second to third gear. I caught it before it was totally destroyed but...
Oddly, once I was past the first anger and shock of it all, I'm not too upset. I'll have to do some scrimping to afford the repairs but it is do-able and I'm very, very grateful for that. And hey, now Arni won't have to guess at all about what to give me for Christmas. It ain't a book, but it's something I'd actually rather have than a new book (how's that for a radical statement?)
Along with that bad news, Mike (the repair guy) complemented my little SUV - he said it was one of the most dependable models built by Ford and I should expect, now that this is diagnosed and corrected, that I'll be driving it until the milage meter goes well over 200,000 miles. Once he'd made sure that my model didn't have the cast-aluminum tranny (some did - a horrible design flaw), he was almost bouncing with delight in being able to fix it and get it back on the road "nearly forever, young lady, nearly forever."
And while they were doing the diagnostic, I got to look at the 1964 cherry-red Ford Mustang rag-top that was in for maintenance.... it was swe-eee-eet! (It looked just like this: http://www.seriouswheels.com/1960-1969/1964-Ford-Mustang-4-Speed-Convertible.htm)
Translated to english understandable to my wallet, a little under $1700. So far. Apparently the place I've been taking it to for regular maintenance of the fluids has never even removed the transmission fluid pan, much less changed the filter. Since it is now out of business (and here I thought the chain had simply been bought out) there's no recourse for me financially. The transmission repairman speculates that the lines were flushed rather than actually drained. It is neither right nor proper that the tranny fluid look and smell like burnt coffee. Yup, the clutch is waste-metal, with a serious flare when going from second to third gear. I caught it before it was totally destroyed but...
Oddly, once I was past the first anger and shock of it all, I'm not too upset. I'll have to do some scrimping to afford the repairs but it is do-able and I'm very, very grateful for that. And hey, now Arni won't have to guess at all about what to give me for Christmas. It ain't a book, but it's something I'd actually rather have than a new book (how's that for a radical statement?)
Along with that bad news, Mike (the repair guy) complemented my little SUV - he said it was one of the most dependable models built by Ford and I should expect, now that this is diagnosed and corrected, that I'll be driving it until the milage meter goes well over 200,000 miles. Once he'd made sure that my model didn't have the cast-aluminum tranny (some did - a horrible design flaw), he was almost bouncing with delight in being able to fix it and get it back on the road "nearly forever, young lady, nearly forever."
And while they were doing the diagnostic, I got to look at the 1964 cherry-red Ford Mustang rag-top that was in for maintenance.... it was swe-eee-eet! (It looked just like this: http://www.seriouswheels.com/1960-1969/1964-Ford-Mustang-4-Speed-Convertible.htm)
