Protege With 80,000 & Bad Transmission, Fix or Trade-In?

[kc27]

The car is a 1996 Protege with a 5-speed manual transmission and 80,000 miles on it. A rattling sound developed about 10 days ago, seeming to come from under the floorboards.

The dealer took a look today and said that the transmission requires a $1200 overhaul. They are certain something needs to be replaced inside the transmission, but won't know which part until they open it up.

The question is, what to do? I'm wondering if this is a one time thing, I get it fixed and drive the car happily for at least another three years. Or could this just be the beginning of a steady stream of repairs?

Does anyone out there have any experience with having their manual transmission overhauled? If so, can you tell me how long the repair lasted? Or can you comment about the longevity the Protege in general - should I be looking at replacing the car rather than sinking $1200 into the transmission?

The car is not abused or driven hard, and has been maintained well.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[slinky]

The worst thing you can do is have someone else fix it, especially a dealer!!
dealers charge an arm and a leg
my suggestion is to go get an over hual manual for your protege and then rent out the tools that you need and then do it yourself, that would save you a bundle and you will know what to do the next time
It'$ going to co$t you $ome major buck$ to have repaired by a mechanic because its FWD, the mechanic will more than liikely have to drop the whole underhood assembly. just do it urself and save a bundle, never let someone else fix it
:2cents:
but repair it dont trade it in, trading it in is taking the easy way out
plus your miles are not to bad

 

[kc27]

The worst thing you can do is have someone else fix it, especially a dealer!!
dealers charge an arm and a leg
my suggestion is to go get an over hual manual for your protege and then rent out the tools that you need and then do it yourself, that would save you a bundle and you will know what to do the next time
It'$ going to co$t you $ome major buck$ to have repaired by a mechanic because its FWD, the mechanic will more than liikely have to drop the whole underhood assembly. just do it urself and save a bundle, never let someone else fix it
:2cents:
but repair it dont trade it in, trading it in is taking the easy way out
plus your miles are not to bad

Slinky

Thanks for the advice.

Lack of Time, tools, and mechanical talent mean someone else is going to do this job for me. Sounds as though you feel that if the repair is done right, that the trans will last at least another 3 years. At a minimum, that is my goal.

I also get the impression you feel an 8 year old Protege that has been maintained should not be a money pit in the next 3 or 4 years.

 

[ES2k3]

I own a 1996, too. Its now my mother car. I acquired the car with ~42000km and I've beaten the hell out of it(1) up to ~180000km. No problems at all. They are sweet machines. Fix or trade decision is up to you. I would fix since selling a car with repairs to be done will lower the prize (quite) a bit...


(1)= countless top-speed runs, heavy cornering, braking to the limit, jumps (yes, all 4 wheelsin the air at once, many times), e-brake festivals in winters, cruises with 4 people onboard..., dirt-road driving, almost always retared oil changes, had some not-recommended mods. It still run like a charm.

 

[AZDriftR]

man there are plenty of places that u can get a tranny for way less than that i mean u can get a jspec motor, tranny, wiring harness and ecu for less than that, and the install isnt hard atall, u just need some tools, an engine crane, alill time, directions and alil love.. id say fix it they r great cars

 

[kc27]

Thanks for all the advice and encouragement. The car is owned by a co-worker of mine. She got the news on Friday from the dealer that the transmission was bad. Got a second opinion on Saturday that agreed with what the dealer quoted. Price just to tear into the transmission was $1200, cost of repairs could go up to $3000 (both places).

She didn't want to take the chance that 1., the cost could be up to $3000, and 2.,that she might pay all that mnney and have another transmission failure or something else expensive to fix go bad on the car. So she bought a new car. She got $350 from the dealer for the Protege.

I guess she reasoned it was better to spend $13,000 and for peace of mind rather than roll the dice and spend up to $3000 on a car that already was 8 years old and had 80,000 miles on it.

To each his own. I think people still get hung up on the 100,000 mile mark, as if any miles after that mark are at your own risk. Following that line of thinking, they don't feel it's worth it to get a "high mileage" vehicle repaired. That probably was true with cars from the 60's and 70's, but doesn't really apply today.

I have a 1990 Chevrolet Beretta that has had some things go wrong with it due, to what I believe is just sloppy engineering/manufacturing, but I've fixed the car when things broke and it's still going strong and looking good at 180,000 miles.

Based on what some of you said about the Protege being good for 200 - 300 thousand miles, someone will get a nice deal a car with a lot of life left in it when they purchase my co-worker's old car.

Thanks again for the advice

 

[Salmon_Rob]

wow...a transmission installed in my car was 900 bux...and i thought that was expensive