The guy at the auto shop told me something about those rebuilt transmissions

I was picking up my brother's car from a shop on 4th Street last Tuesday and overheard the mechanic talking to a customer. He said that if a rebuilt transmission costs under $1,500, you should walk away because they're basically just cleaning the old parts and slapping on a new gasket. Kinda made me wonder how many people get burned by those cheap swaps, especially for older Hondas. Has anyone else heard similar warnings from their mechanic when debating a rebuild vs. junking the whole car?

2 comments

2 Comments

laura18921d ago

Oh WAIT a second, I gotta jump in here because that's actually NOT quite right. The mechanic was kind of half right but also really misleading. A lot of reputable shops will do a proper rebuild with NEW seals, NEW bearings, and NEW friction plates for WAY under $1,500, especially for common Hondas where parts are cheap. The key is what they actually REPLACE vs. just clean. If they're charging you $800 and just swapping out a gasket, yeah that's junk. But a $1,200 rebuild from a shop that specializes in Honda transmissions can be a really solid deal. I had a 98 Civic that got a $1,100 rebuild and it drove fine for another 60,000 miles until I sold it. Just ask them specifically if they're replacing the clutch packs and seals, not just cleaning the case.

craig.sage21d ago

Wait, so you're telling me there's actually a world where someone says "yeah, just gimme the cheap rebuild" and the mechanic actually replaces everything instead of just hosing it down and calling it a day? Man, that's like when you order a pizza and they actually put pepperoni on it instead of just waving a pepperoni over the box. You know, I've seen too many "rebuilds" that were really just "we wiped the inside with a rag and put it back together." I'm not saying your shop was bad or anything but it's hard to find a transmission guy who doesn't treat "rebuild" like a loose suggestion.