Lately Ive been noticing that the red puddle under the F100 has been getting worse so I went and talked to my (What I thought was a Trusted Tranny guy) local trans shop and they told me for $650 they would take the trans out and seal it from front to back. I say this because they tried to tell me that I put the front seal in wrong. Well I decide to do a little footwork and talk to a few different tranny shops. Thank God I did. The last guy I talked with told me that Ford put a relief drain in the front of the C6 and he just so happened to have a C6 Case to show me. If you take the pan off the C6 you will find a small whole almost perfectly centered on the front of the tranny just behind the pan seal. He gave me a small rubber ball about I would say 1/8th of an inch and he told me to get some black sealant and seal that ball into that hole. Its a real pain to get it in there but worth the effort. I let it set for 24 hours to cure the sealant then I put the tranny fluid back in. NO LEAKS for the cost of about 5 cents and a little sealant. It really burns me to think that guy probably would have put that 5 cent rubber ball in there and charged me $650. Well I now have a new Tranny Shop I do business with. Amazing what a little truth will do... I bought the guy a $25 gift cert to Subway for saving me $650...
JRB65

 

2x... that's a cool way to say "Thanks".

I do the same except with 12- or 18-packs of adult beverages.. chilled of course.

 

Im not second guessing myself here but he might have enjoyed the Chilled Adult Beverages a lot more. LOL

JRB65

 

Had a muffler guy save me about 450.00 when the emissions guy lied and said my truck needed cats.

Didn't occur to me to reward him, I will when I need an exhaust replaced or repaired from here on out though.

I know for a fact the guy who did my carb work raked me over coals though, gotta find someone to replace him for sure.

 

This is exactly why I have a hard time trusting mechanics. I really have to know who I'm dealing with or I just learn to do it my self. I'd stick with that guy who gave you the rubber ball advice. I wish I could find someone like that locally.

 

You have to really stay informed. I have been a gearhead for 60 years and I can tell you some real horror stories. The funniest one was my brother-in-law. He called me from Reno and said his transmission went bad. He was at a well-known franchise tranny shop. I sent him the $700.00 to get the car out of hock. About a year later we were driving when the transmission started squealing again. We pulled into a gas station and lifted the hood to try to identify the problem. A gas station attendant came over and squirted the fan belt with belt lube. The squeal instantly went away. My brother in law still believes that it was the same noise that he heard when he took it to the tranny shop.

 

I kind of figure that a little good will towards those that do me right will go a long way to make sure they keep my best interest at heart. One of my biggest problem with mechanics now a days is that when things don't go as scheduled they wont call you and tell you. Just this week I was getting an RV tow system put in my 95 Toyota 4Runner and the guy took an extra 2 days to put it in and it never occurred to him to make a 2 minute phone call to me and let me know that it was going to take a couple more days. Then he gets cross with me when I call him to check on what the status is... So yesterday when I picked it up I asked him what the big deal is about letting the customers know when there was a status change? He told me that if he talked to the customers everyday he would never get anything done. Well if you have 5 cars being worked on and all of them have issues that would constitute a whole 10 minutes of your day and then they wouldn't be calling all day when your trying to get the work done. Its called managing your time. I think it use to be called CUSTOMER SERVICE.... OK I will get off my Soapbox... I'm just glad there are still people out there that will help you out when you need it.
JRB65

 

As a mechanic this kind of crap really gets under my skin. Time to find a shop that actually wants your business!

 

AMEN BROTHER!!! AMEN

JRB65

 

Lets face it guys, even some of the Dealership's do the same thing. I took my DD 08 Expedition in because it was making a strange sound under the front seats (floor-board area). They said I needed a new tranny and some other stuff because it also had a leak from the water pump area (I never saw any fluids on my garage floor before)...for the amount of $3200. So, I decided to drop it off to my mechanic that works on all my 79's (for 30yrs). Well my "strange sound" was actually a pin hole in my exhaust and he said there were no leaks of any sort--anywhere on the vehicle and the tranny was fine. His has a small shop and is an old high school buddy that I grow up with. He is as honest as the day is long, thats why I have always used him, and his hourly rate is $14/hr.

So, honesty and trust goes along way. I typically drop off a case of beer and some shine to him from time to time. I also set him up with my brother about 10yrs ago to do the daily maintenence/repairs to his company trucks (about 30 trucks). So he is very greatful to have that business!! He has earned the trust of many because of his honesty and his personality---Customer is King attitude!!

 

you know...i will play devil's advocate here.

"leaky trans" can mean a whole lot of things. the worst thing you can do as a shop owner is underquote a job and end up eating your *** and losing money. sure, this was an easy fix, but there was no guarantee.

that's nice of you to treat your new trans shop. i'm sure he won't forget the full belly. who knows...chilled adult beverage could lead to hangover...could lead to a double charge next time

 

I agree completely. Sometimes I think customer service is a thing of the past. Like full service gas stations..lol.

Anyways my son in law over fills his...or my Mazda3 with oil. It's running like crap I new what it was and he finally copped to it. He take it to a jiffy lube and they drain it to the correct level. He gets an engine service light an AT light. And the tranny is going nuts. He takes it to a local guy explains what happened and they came back and said that the tranny needs to be replaced. $4200. OR we can flush it out and condition it for $600 or so with no guarantees. I say to him that the car is hardly worth $2500 and I'll take it home. He says ok...we cleared the codes but they will likely come back. $50 and I'm gone.

Here we are 2 weeks later and it's running fine no problems at all. No codes. Yes they may come back any minute but I thought I needed a new tranny?