s197 auto trans took a ****
 

Well my transmission in my 2006 auto gt is on its last legs and I was just wondering what the costs are between a new tran and rebuilding my current one. Which option is a better value?

My current transmission is making grinding/rattling noises on cold start up, at idle occasionally and under hard acceleration. Down shifts relatively hard sometimes and I get a thunk from the rear when it down shifts or sometimes pressing on the gas after coasting. Car has 150k in it started having issues a few months ago so I took it in for a fluid flush at the dealer and ever since the issues have gotten worse.

I would avoid the dealership unless you want to pay top bucks. The reason why I know is that my slushbox with just 60,000 miles on the clock was having issues with a rough 2nd to 3rd upshift that would occasionally slip or clunk into 3rd. It would also take an occasionally long time to shift from idle to drive or reverse.

Luckily my 3rd party warranty I bought during purchase (pre-owned) came into effect, and I only paid $50 out of the $3,700 cost for replacement!

Considering the cost to open it up and replace stuff, it actually was cheaper in the long run for my dealer to replace the whole tranny with a Ford remanufactured one. Ford doesn't sell any new 5-speed autos, only remanufactured. Luckily it also comes with a 3 year unlimited mile warranty directly from Ford and includes any labor.

If I were you, you should take your car to a trusted Ford independent shop or transmission shop in your area and get a quote. I don't expect to cost that much. Or maybe consider a 5-speed manual swap?

You may want to consider a used one. I have seen them on the forums for well under $1k. Google search.

If you plan on holding on to the car for a while I would go with a new transmission from Ford. It's nice to have a new warranty in case anything happens down the road. Although, if you might sell the car in a year or so, then look into a used transmission. The main reason I don't like buying used Auto transmissions is it's hard to tell its condition when it's not installed. Not that anyone would purposely try to sell a faulty trans, you never know what kind of life it had before you.

I say your best bet is following SD_197's instructions!

Shane

I agree, a Ford unit would be about $3,700 with labor but you get 3 year unlimited mile warranty.

I am interested in doing an auto to manual swap. Has anyone on these forums attempted this and have a write up for it. I'm not sure of all the parts I will need other than the obvious.

That's a pretty intense swap to do. You're looking at a lot of labor hours, aside from the actual cost of a transmission, clutch, cables, master cylinder, slave cylinder, pilot bearing, etc.

Do a few searches on the forum, I'm sure someone has done a write up by now. I don't want to give you the impression that it's not possible, it's just costly and time consuming. Hopefully someone else can chime in with a write up!

Shane

You can be interested but you're not going to want to do it or pay for the parts and labor to get it done. Not worth it.

Actually it's not as bad as I thought. I was going to do it myself but a local shop said they would do it for $900. I've tracked down all the parts needed from a parts dealer in frazeysberg for $1500. 2500 isn't bad in my opinion for something like this.

Not true. It's not bad, I've done a couple along with v6 to v8 swaps.
Yes, you need all the parts, and a different brake pedal assembly (to have the combo brake and clutch). And since you're talking about doing the work yourself, if you can handle pulling/installing an auto, you can do the same for a manual; of course you have to replace the flexplate with a flywheel and clutch and install the tiny little 'pilot bearing' in the crank, but those are basic bolt-in parts. On the electrical/control side, the pcm has to be changed or reprogrammed (tuned) and different trans connectors (such as what a manual engine wiring harness would be).

There's often good, used 5r55s transmissions for sale on various forums, usually in the $500 range. Finding someone who is selling one after doing a manual swap can be a good deal.

Or as suggested, get a local transmission shop to do a rebuild, with you taking it out and putting it back in. If you're interested in a little performance improvements at the same time, you could consider upgrading the torque converter at the same time (search the classifieds here for transmissions and converters that are for sale).

Think about how you drive the car, if you "can stand" shifting all the time in traffic, or if you would like the sportiness of banging gears. Both have their benefits and drawbacks, just from the driver's perspective, not to mention cost differences from where you're at now.