My dad called this morning to say that the trans on his Ultra finally died. He said it's been running great lately with no issues, but he went to go to work today, was driving up a semi steep hill in their neighborhood, the trans felt like it started slipping, and then a big bang and the whole car shook. He said the car started rolling back, and only 1st and reverse would work. 1st wouldn't pull the car up the hill, so he reversed and backed it all the way up the driveway. Obviously the trans is toast, so now he's looking at options. he is looking at getting aamco to put a Reman unit in, but I told him to look at a triple edge performance trans since they would probably cost around the same. any advice to weigh in?

Also, does he need to have the shop replace the trans cooler, or will a good flush be sufficient?

The trans lasted 145k, so not too bad, considering he never did a pan drop and fluid change. The car is definitely getting fixed, not scrapped, so that's a plus.

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Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

Depends on how the cooler was mounted. If one or both of the lines are at the bottom or bottom edge, fewer solids would be able to settle inside it over time, and less likely to clog an entire row. So you should be able to flush it out without too much trouble. If it was mounted with the lines on the top, there is likely sediment settled on the bottom and probably not worth the time to clean it out properly.

If I had the money, TEP is what I'd be getting.

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Boost addict


The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67

Thanks Matt, I let him know.

TEP couldn't get a trans down here quick enough (he needs the car back up by Friday) so he is having a remanufactured unit put in at AAMCO. 3 year 50k mile warranty on it, so that should get him by for a good while. In other news of "when it rains it pours" lol, the water pump on my mom's 98' CR-V went out and she didn't notice the car overheating.....bye bye head gasket

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Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

Dad got his car back earlier this week. He said the new transmission shifts pretty harsh, and is a bit rough when he's driving normally in gear. He's bringing it back up tomorrow to have them take a look at things, but that's why I didn't really trust Aamco or a reman'd trans compared to TEP.

I say that because Aamco:
1. Broke the cruise control cable
2. Left ground wires loose
3. broke the IAT sensor somehow...

We'll see what they're willing to do lol.

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Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

I’ve had good luck with one local AAMCO shop. Other people I know have had horrible luck with a different AAMCO shop. The owner of the one I go to also does not speak highly of the other.
You may try doing some research and find a different AAMCO to do warranty repair. Often if someone screws up bad the first time, it’s likely they will not do well the second time either.
I have also had the same problem with TEP a couple times - not having the time to wait for them.