I think you’re missing something here. Sun Valley is THE expert, and Marc is friendly and helpful. This is not about a warranty, and he almost certainly WILL know whether it’s the trans or the VB or something else. You have to do what GSXR said and see if it hangs all the way to the redline or shifts somewhere before. For instance, if there’s zero vacuum pressure (modulator gone), will the box shift? Marc will know the answer to that. As someone else said, all they do is MB transmissions, all day everyday, for at least a decade. No local trans shop diagnosis is going to match that experience.
GL
maw
Thanks for sharing your opinion. It will not up shift into 3rd at all. Just hangs at red line. I've also noticed that 1-2 shift can have a slight kick to it on uphills. Not the positive engagement, but a slight, soft, but a kick to it.
When the transmission was rebuild, it was super smooth for the first 2-3 weeks, but then on occasion, I would get a soft kick between 2-3 shifts. I could never replicate it on purpose, but If I drove for 30-40 minutes, it would happen, on average, once.
As soon as I moved to VA - of course - it has gotten a bit more frequent. Once I've changed ATF here it has gotten even more frequent with a bigger kick. I could avoid it 90% by modulating throttle and then 1 month ago it became a jerk-kick, developed a flare here and there and thumps and thunks. And one morning no more shifting into 3rd. Replacement ATF was the proper Dexron III and fluid level re-check twice according to instructions.
The local shop said they don't think, preliminary, that it's a valve body issue. But they do fix them in-house. I assume if this shop does it, Sun Valley must have inspected my valve body too...
Ideally, I'd like to take most direct path with the least amount of kinks and have the issue solved - and out of my mind. Though, naturally, I wouldn't mind some kinks if I'm at $2,500 or below vs $4,150.
My current train of thought: if it turns out that valve body is not the culprit, (or not the only culprit), swapping it will add several(?) hundred dollars to the endeavor (labor + new fluid) + inconvenience, with transmission having to come out and be put back anyways....
The local shop has been in business since 1973 and current owner started as tech in it in 1983. He's reminiscent of a member of "the greatest generation" - "Good morning, sir", "yes sir", "thank you, sir"; humble attitude. No fake exaggeration of friendliness. Just basic old-world politeness. He test drives and deals with customers directly. Shop is very clean, with out puffery.
Prices are because it's NoVa, close to DC and the 3 employees that do the rebuild are all Americans. I strongly suspect this is a shop with close to zero employee turn over.
And this is why I'm torn between sending it to Mark at guaranteed $2k or hoping for $2,500 here, but having a 3 year/150k mi warranty locally.
I think what I'll do is ask them how many hours of labor it will take them to determine the scope of rebuilt and if it's about 2 and the outcome is $4,150, I'll have them assemble transmission back and will ship it to Mark. If it's $2,500, as of right now, I'm thinking of letting them do the rebuild.
Thanks for everyone sharing their opinions!
