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- 2008 Mazda CX-9 Touring FWD . 2014 CX-5 GT FWD
At around 100k, experienced the dreaded torque converter judder / shudder mostly after shifts on hills or above 3rd gear. Put in a little tube of Lubegard Instant Shudder Fixx and that did in fact fix it, but of course, that's only a temporary fix.
Went to stealer to have them read the tranny on their magic box and they saw no failures or codes, so just said we can put in a new (reman) tranny for the bargain price of $5500. Even the service advisor almost choked saying the amount.
Called around local shops and the estimates ranged from 3-3.5k. Typical as I've rarely heard of anyone these days getting tranny work done for less. It's a racket, but I digress.
Shop does what they called a rebuild but I quickly realized the tranny was not rebuilt but replaced. On questioning they swear it has all new innards, 18 month guarantee, blah blah. They also claim the cooler failed putting water in the fluid. Yeah, BS as I did a drain/fill after the problems started and saw nothing. Oh yeah, and it has a pan gasket (not rubber) instead of RTV. They agreed that if it leaks they'll RTV it. Smiling thieves one and all.
I left them 5 quarts of oem FZ fluid that I had on hand to use, but upon checking their fill level (slightly over), noticed it was yellowish on dip and greenish at drain. When I questioned them on this, they showed me the correct part number, but since they didn't buy the extra quarts necessary from the stealer a block away, I suspect they used some equivalent fluid. Owner gave me the old 35 years experience and it's just hydraulic fluid after all BS. I'm in the middle of a drain/refill now just to be sure.
Quick tip: use a Thermopen or similar instant read probe thermometer to test tranny fluid temp from dipstick. Just don't jamb it in there very far. LOL
To top it off, they put the subframe back in poorly so my steering wheel is off - not uncommon after tranny work I know. The alignment doesn't pull but it's off. They've agreed to adjust the subframe (fix their work) but I am wondering if I shouldn't just go havce a competent alignment shop do the work anyway. Thoughts?
Went to stealer to have them read the tranny on their magic box and they saw no failures or codes, so just said we can put in a new (reman) tranny for the bargain price of $5500. Even the service advisor almost choked saying the amount.
Called around local shops and the estimates ranged from 3-3.5k. Typical as I've rarely heard of anyone these days getting tranny work done for less. It's a racket, but I digress.
Shop does what they called a rebuild but I quickly realized the tranny was not rebuilt but replaced. On questioning they swear it has all new innards, 18 month guarantee, blah blah. They also claim the cooler failed putting water in the fluid. Yeah, BS as I did a drain/fill after the problems started and saw nothing. Oh yeah, and it has a pan gasket (not rubber) instead of RTV. They agreed that if it leaks they'll RTV it. Smiling thieves one and all.
I left them 5 quarts of oem FZ fluid that I had on hand to use, but upon checking their fill level (slightly over), noticed it was yellowish on dip and greenish at drain. When I questioned them on this, they showed me the correct part number, but since they didn't buy the extra quarts necessary from the stealer a block away, I suspect they used some equivalent fluid. Owner gave me the old 35 years experience and it's just hydraulic fluid after all BS. I'm in the middle of a drain/refill now just to be sure.
Quick tip: use a Thermopen or similar instant read probe thermometer to test tranny fluid temp from dipstick. Just don't jamb it in there very far. LOL
To top it off, they put the subframe back in poorly so my steering wheel is off - not uncommon after tranny work I know. The alignment doesn't pull but it's off. They've agreed to adjust the subframe (fix their work) but I am wondering if I shouldn't just go havce a competent alignment shop do the work anyway. Thoughts?
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