QuestionQUESTION: My car was in a minor front end collision which damaged the bumper, grille
and the radiator. The shop (my choice) did the work and I picked up my car
which looked great. A day and a half later while driving to work I noticed it
seemed to be "revving" on it's own. It's a 2006 Ford Escape, never had any
problems 35,000 miles. I kept the gas steady and it would periodically seem
to rev, like it had trouble changing gears. It switched to Overdrive Off by
itself. I stopped ASAP and had it towed. There was a large amount of what I
assume to be transmission fluid underneath it. It was towed to the wrong
shop (blessing in disguise) and it was blocking other cars so they pulled it
into their shop to see what was wrong. They said the radiator coolant line was
not properly hooked up to the transmission and that they had to replace 5 qts
of fluid. They said it ran fine and didn't set off any diagnostic codes. It was
towed to the original repair shop. I called the guy to get an "update" and he
said that the tech was looking at it and asked what happened. He never once
said a word about what the other shop found. Obviously I feel that they will
try to cover up their error in not hooking things up properly to avoid costly
replacement. My concern is that my transmission could have damage that
may not show up right away. I called several transmission experts in my
area and one said it was like giving it a "heart attack" and all may look fine
now but sometime in the future it could fail and this event certainly could add
significant age/wear and tear to my transmission. This happened Thursday
evening so I only spoke with the shop Friday afternoon. They do not know
that I know it was their mistake. What should my next course of action be?
My husband says I should demand a new transmission. Help!!!
ANSWER: Bobbie, it's the job of transmission shops to sell transmissions and transmission rebuilds- not do bodyshops or customers favors. This rebuild would be easy for them, there's nothing broken. Just pop in a set of new clutch frictions, and bill the customer 1500.00. They have 100.00 parts in it, and about 250.00 in labor. How much profit is that? I have personally rebuilt 5 automatic transmissions- transmissions don't have "heart attacks" If they run out of fluid- they simply stop pumping. A transmission is a big hydraulic pump- no fluid, no go- that simple. It has pistons (sort of like metal baloons) that inflate with fluid, pushing packs of friction clutches together. The blessing of the fluid is that there is still plenty of lubrication to keep it's moving parts in perfect shape, long after there is not enough fluid to make the car move forward any longer. I had a hose blow on 2 of my personal vehicles over the years- they suffered no ill effects. You also say they had to put 5 quarts of fluid in- your transmission and torque converter hold a total of about 12 quarts. It takes a loss of about 5 to completely bring the car to a halt. The pistons simply won't have enough pressure to push the clutch packs together and make it "go" to simplify it. I also believe that since you didn't smell burning fluid, or notice a puddle early on (the body shop didn't see one, either- if they had, the technician would have surely brought the car back in, and repaired the problem) that the hose blew off, and it lost all fluid and pressure within about 2 minutes- if it took that long. Transmissions pump a lot of fluid FAST. My personal car blew it's line, and I didn't make it 1 block! That just isn't enough time without fluid to cause any sort of catastrophic failure. What will ruin clutch packs is running the vehicle for a prolonged period of time with low fluid- just enough to partially engage the clutch packs , yet allowing slippage- the sort of thing that comes with poor maintenience. If you noticed slippage or leakage the day you picked it up, and didn't return the car to the shop IMMEDIATELY after discovering the problem, you could be held partly responsible if the body shop fights you in court. Ask the repair shop to sign a paper saying that they will replace or repair the transmission for a period of 2 years after this incident, should it fail. It will surely fail in that amount of time if anything went wrong internally, which I highly doubt. Have a great day, enjoy your car. It's just fine. But what do I know? I've only been fixing them for 25 years. LOL, Bill
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thank you for the detailed, quick response. I had the car for a day and a half
and it ran perfectly. If I had noticed anything I would have taken it right in. I
had left for work and was a mile or so from home on the interstate when i felt
it "revving" or I guess that's what "slipping" is. It was very slight at first, then
when I stopped to pay a toll it barely wanted to go so I pulled over and called
for a tow truck. It was roughly 13 miles or so from my house. There was a
large puddle of fluid under the car when the tow truck driver came to get it 3
hrs later. The Insurance company gave them the wrong address for the body
shop and that's how it ended up in the wrong place where they found the
problem. When I got home I checked my parking spot for fluid and there was
none on the ground. I will be in touch with the shop in the morning to see
what they say and hopefully they will agree to sign a warranty agreement.
Thanks again for the info!
for any fluid and there was none on the ground.
ANSWER: You are most welcome! Have a great evening. Bill
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Here we go again...the original shop called me Monday morning to tell me
they couldn't find anything wrong with my car. I informed them that the
other shop discovered that the clamp that holds the transmission cooler line
to the radiator was left off. My body shop agreed to reimburse me for towing
and my rental car but did not want to sign a warranty for me. They said if I
had any problems to come back. Well I drove my car home where it stayed
for two days due to snow. Last night I drove to work no problem. On my way
home I was a few blocks from my house when I was going up a hill and the
car really "revved" again when shifting...then it did the same scenerio as
before. It switched the OD off and then it seemed like even though the
engine was running it couldn't go. It wouldn't go forward or reverse. I turned
it off, waited a minute and then it started up and would drive. I only drove
under 10 mph just to get to my house which was less than a block away. As i
stopped to turn into my parking spot, again it wouldn't go in reverse even
though the clutch was in reverse. I turned it off and called the body shop to
come get it. I checked underneath for fluid and did not see any. Also before
I left work I checked my parking spot and it was dry as well (I'm a little
paranoid now.) What now?
AnswerBobie, take it to a certified mechanic- not a transmission shop- and have them check for bent cooler lines or a loose hose. Something is not right here. If the fluid is up, and there's no bent lines, then it did suffer some internal damage. I don't know how bad the accident was, but it must have been really bad if they replaced the radiator. I really believe that the problem is not the tranny, but something else- but I've been wrong before. Your car is exhibiting classic signs of running out of fluid- you need to find out why, and where it's going. Perhaps the radiator is faulty, and the cooler inside it for the transmission is leaking into the antifreeze, or antifreeze into it (the transmission.) This has moved from a simple, benign mistake to something more serious. Bill
