The automatic transmission on my 1996 3.0L is giving up.

[Chris M]

The automatic transmission on my 1996 3.0L is giving up.

The O/D light starts flashing while on the highway it will reset if you shut the truck off and restart and not flash and error again for a day or two. Brought the truck to the transmission shop where I had my wife’s trans rebuilt in 2010. (A week later an oak tree squashed it in my driveway.) He told me that the error codes he pulled were for 4th gear and the neutral safety switch. He check it for free ans stated the transmission would need a full overhaul and he did not want to do the job due to the age of the truck and the mileage (237 K)

Looking for some feed back, what do you thing it should cost to have a rebuild done in the North East. (Central New Jersey) and how hard do you think it would be to find a used transmission from a salvage yard and tell if it is serviceable condition.

At this point all I can say thank God, for friends and family. As the family and I are leaving for our yearly trip to the Delaware water gap camping trip tomorrow. When one of my friends found out about my situation he gave me his keys to his F-250 that will pull your trailer with out a problem and said have a nice week.

Any and all feed back will be read and considered. Thank you for your help in advance.

As always the very best regards,

Chris M

 

[wildbill23c]

That transmission is probably about the same if not the same A4LD transmission that was in my grandfather's 93 Ranger. FYI they are garbage transmissions. We hauled it home from my Uncle's place in California had the transmission completely rebuilt at a $2300 price tag, the transmission quit again 20,000 miles later so the whole truck went to the crusher as I wasn't about to dump another $2k into the pile of crap transmission.

I seriously wouldn't waste my time and money having a transmission rebuilt. For the cost it would be better to just get another transmission from Autozone or someplace like that.

 

[buckshotmudder]

You can find rebuilt trans online for 800-900 with a good core exchange. Look for shops that do take cores.

 

[Andy D]

The points I take away from this situation are these;

Your mechanic is a good guy.

Fords don't age gracefully. A 17 yr old Ford will be a bear to take apart , just because it has been together for so long.

The only way this job is worth it is if you have the free time time to devote to it. To do it yourself

I am a slow, careful mechanic. Working on old junkers, I try not to break stuff. The Rat was a PITA to work on because it was so rusty. Stuff broke, stuff crumbled when touched.

As much as I like the results of the Rat's rehab, it wasn't a smart purchase. 1200$ and 3 1/2 months of spare time got me a real fine running 1000 $ beater.

 

[pcollins]

At 237k miles I'd say its time to retire that truck all-together unless you really want to put the money into it, or don't have any other options.

 

[EMB1230]

What about a manual swap?