Car Trouble

[Mike]

The transmission went out on the van about six months ago, and after several weeks and lots of back and forth, we finally got it all fixed for about $3000 total.

Then last night, I pulled into a gas station in the other car, and when I come out, the car no longer goes into gear. Engine runs fine. Trying to shift gears does jack. I can't even push it out of the way, because the transmission's locked in Park. I had a restless night's sleep imagining another $3000 disappearing to get this one sorted out.

Lucky me... it's a broken shift belt. *whew*

The guy on the phone hesitantly quotes me $325 for the tow and fix as if I'm going to be devastated. Bullshit. $325? I'm on cloud 9. We can still have Christmas! Whooo!

I've never been so happy for a $300 repair job in my life.

[Stan]

$300 for what looked like a dead transmission? That's dodging a bullet.

[Kyle]

$3,000 for a transmission sounds high. We had the transmission completely rebuilt on our 15-seat van for $1,700. Did they put a brand new transmission in?

[Mike]

It was a rebuilt transmission plus about 300 bucks in extra work. So 2700 for it. It was 100 miles from home so I couldn't take it to someone I knew. I thought he might be robbing me, so I called a couple of local places that I trust, and they quoted me the same price... with a couple hundred bucks on either side... for this model of van.

On the plus side, the work today actually came to $118. Instead of replacing the whole belt, they unhooked it and found it was just a broken plastic grommet. A nothing part that they don't even charge for.

So far, this is my day.

[Phoebe]

Whew, that is a relief! I wonder if there is systematic evidence about some minivans having a limited transmission life. I've never had one that escaped those issues. Really great that the other car issue was so minor! We need to replace our vehicles but it's like, fix house? Or vehicle? Or.. and the house is winning. It makes aggressive demands.

[Ronster]

Thus is the life for automatic transmissions.

The only problem you will have from a standard xmission is a worn out clutch.

I would have thought that you would have have a 12 mo/12k mi warranty on a rebuild??

I have had lots of transmission work done and face it, it's a job you eith can't do yourself or you dislike. I have replaced my own, but it only saved me 100 bucks.
715 if they install, 615 if I did it (89 Chevy Astro Van). It was hard to scrape together the 615 back then and boy did I learn the value of 100 dollars. I would gladly pay it.
I have paid :
1900 Ford Ranger
3800 Ford Wind(Death)star
1700 Chevy Avalanche
2300 Chevy Avalanche

So...having a transmission shop might not be a bad way to go or else buy into one as an investor??

Or... buy the standard transmission and learn to love the gear shift.


Also you would be amazed at what you can learn from websites like youtube and google as far as diagnosing car problems. I also HIGHLY RECOMMEND buying your parts from *Rockauto.com because they are so cheap. You can use rockauto to look up the part number you need then search for it on Amazon if you have prime so you can save the shipping cost...

*RockAuto.com is the official sponsor of the Cast and the Curious podcast

[Ronster]

[Phoebe]

Car question for y'all:

TLDR version: I am seeking some semi official authorization from strangers on the internet to f*** with my own car using duct tape. Or the same people will warn me off this foolhardy mission.

Suppose that my external mirror - just the mirror surface - is falling off of my Jeep every other trip, dangling by its wires, and in between times it tilts downward randomly. The random downward tilting and correction is probably the ultimate source of the falling out problem, though luckily it can be corrected from inside the car using the standard electronic controls. But the falling out problem requires stopping the vehicle, and there is a fear that it will fall off entirely in the middle of the street of course. The mirror now lacks whatever adhesive had adhered it to the rest of the mirror structure. I have looked into this a little bit and discovered that I can make a half-assed repair job with duct tape, and the powers of my own creativity, or ideally it will be repaired properly by putting the right adhesive back on and stopping the random tilt down problem. I was thinking I could simply purchase some adhesive and make the repair myself, but the problem is I don't know how to solve the tilting mirror problem that underlies this situation, and there are many options for adhesives and application that confuse me and I fear damaging the whole thing in the process.

Since I have no ability to get my car into the shop, I'm wondering if making my own repair with duct tape could damage the structure or otherwise make it more difficult to repair the proper way. Eventually it's going to get repaired the proper way by someone who knows better what he or she is doing. I want to have a temporary patch that doesn't prevent that, you see what I mean?

[Tahlvin]

I've replaced a couple side mirrors on vehicles over the years. Usually it involves replacing the entire unit: the mirror, the housing, etc. It's easy enough to order to part online, remove the old side mirror assembly, disconnect the wires, connect the new mirror, and attach it to the side of the vehicle. If you want that to be done by a proper repair shop, and you're only looking for a short-term fix, I'd say go ahead and use some gorilla glue or epoxy or somesuch to temporarily attach the mirror surface. Since they'll probably be replacing the whole thing anyways, it probably won't matter what you use, as long as it holds until you can get it to the shop.

[Ronster]

aside from a sticky residue when you do the final repair, a little duct tape will do no harm other than look tacky.

Can you provide a picture of it when it is hanging out?
Some are snapped into place and can be snapped back into place, but I was wondering...How did this happen? collision? cold weather?

[Phoebe]

It snaps back, yes, and then pops out due to underlying problem with tilting. I hear you two saying I can duct tape it, for now.

[Ronster]

yes and I won't judge you for it...works for NASCAR, why not use it as a temp fix for your own.

[Phoebe]

A kid at my kids school is being dropped off in a beautiful Tesla sedan. Do I want my kids to go to college or do I want a Tesla sedan? This is a more difficult question than I would have expected.

Addendum: it turns out I'm giving it all to the plumber.

[Mike]

The plumber needs a Tesla sedan.

[Mike]

Tesla has finally got enough charging stations to make an electric vehicle a possibility in my area. 220 mile range on the base Model 3 (your sedan is 275). Charge at home 99% of the time. But when I do make a long trip, there's Tesla charging stations no more than 200 miles apart along all the interstates. Which leads to things like Ogallala Nebraska (population 4,500) having one of only four stations in Nebraska.

Of course I couldn't go anywhere in Nebraska that wasn't along I-80, unless it was within 100 miles of my house.

I think the hard part for me would be having to plan all road trips around charging station locations. Knowing that if I'm going to GenCon (for example), I HAVE to stop in Council Bluffs, and then Des Moines, and then Iowa City, Bloomington IL, and finally Indy. According to Tesla, those first three stops are 20 minutes each, and the one in Bloomington will take 40 minutes. We normally only take 15 minutes stops and eat on the road, so this adds about an hour to the total trip.

Further complication: if it's over 90 out and we're fully loaded and running the AC, it's very likely that the Model 3 won't make the 190 miles from Iowa City to Bloomington. Damn. Plus in that heat, with reduced range, each charging stop will likely be another 10 minutes longer. Double damn.

However, I'm kind of counting on the idea that all of this will be resolved in the decade between now and when I can actually afford one of these.

[Tahlvin]

That's why I'll stick with plug-in hybrids for my next car. I love the option of electric vehicle, but with all the long, cross-country trips we make, I don't want to be stopping every 200 miles for a 20+ minute recharge break. So having a gasoline engine that can take over when the battery is drained, and even help recharge the battery, just makes practical sense.

I can't wait until they come out with a hybrid version of a Jeep Wrangler. The torque of the electric engine will help when off-roading. I had a Wrangler as one of my first cars after we moved out to the Seattle area, and would love to get one again for shits and giggles.

[Stan]

[FlameBlade]

Plug in hybrid is awesome. Had it for 2 months. Only used up half of tank so far. Hope I know how to fill it.

[Ronster]

I for one am a long haul commuter who is glad to hear of electric successes, but I fear the day of an affordable long haul electric car is going to be after I need one.

[Phoebe]

We keep saying that we're going to get a new car or two, but we've been saying that for about seven years so... It becomes a problem when the car maintenance issues interfere with your need to be places. I would love to be able to handle some of these things myself but there's a learning curve and a fear of screwing up your vehicle.