Hey guys,
I'm getting VERY frustrated with my Mark .. and its not my marks fault!!
ill try to keep this as short as possible:
bought the car for $2400. about 4k miles later , the tranny failed (would not shift down to first, would shift into third WAY hard).
So I brought it to a general automotive shop (friend of mother). They said tranyy is shot- we will rebuild it with "all new internals in your old case", $2000 with 30k/3year warranty. I had to do it ...... they shipped it to their tranyy guy and it took 12 days! Got it back and it shifts a tiny bit hard, but OK.
The day I left the shop, trans was making makes an annoying constant metallic sound .. I call it buzz.. it sounds just like a check ball is flicking back and forth against metal rapidly. Almost mistaked it for an exhaust leak. At the time it was even audible at idle (which is how i found out it was coming from the trans valve body). Now (3 months later) it is only is audible 70% of the time, usually when accelerating moderately in 1st or second gear. It also makes an audible "click" when coming to a stop, when it downshifts into 1st.
So, I brought it to back to them, they said the tranny guy looked at it (took 4 days!!) and "it was an acuator" and they replaced it. The sound didnt change.. But i did notice it took noticably longer to shift into drive from park.. 2 seconds. To top this off.. i showed up on a saturday when they were closed .. my car was in the front of the place (vets highway) WITH THE DOORS UNLOCKED AND KEYS IN THE IGNITION!!! I was livid on Monday when I showed up with my own keys in hand.
This was a month ago. I have been grinding my teeth about the sound still being there ever since. Today .. I see smoke coming fro my car after some spirted driving. What do you know .. transmisson fluid dripping down the right side exhaust and burning off. Burnt trails show it was happening for a while. Also it looks like the rear seal is moist, but not dripping. I checked the fluid level ... WAY ABOVE THE HOT FULL MARK! Now im getting worried .. I asked for mercon 5 synthetic and they just nodded their heads saying okay. I also got an oil change and asked for synethic. Now I have to test both to make sure they even listened to me, as I don't want to mix the different types of oils. If they put the wrong type .. I will be talking to my lawyer about this.
So .. what can I do besides continue to go back to them for the warranty work (I DEFINITELY get the lowest priorty... and this is my daily driver)? Should I get a written qutoe from another transmission shop and bring it to this shop with a written letter voicing my concerns? I am getting beyond frustrated with this car BECAUSE OF THIS and am seriously considering selling it, taking the loss (it has cost me about $5,300 total so far including the purchase price), and getting some car with a 5 speed (i miss it
. I still want to do suspension work on thsi car but cant with this over my head.
What do you guys think .. more importantly, what would you do? does anyone know a RELIABLE HONEST shop on Long Island that listens to their customers and knows mark8's well, that would give me a quote (ill pay)? I would be willing to travel anywhere to rid myself of this problem Thanks for listening to me ramble.
THE SHOP YOU SHOULD NEVER EVER GO TO;
Best Brothers Automotive (in a BP gas station)
3200 Veterans Highway
Bohemia, NY 11716 (~2 miles west of macaurthur)
I'm getting VERY frustrated with my Mark .. and its not my marks fault!!
ill try to keep this as short as possible:
bought the car for $2400. about 4k miles later , the tranny failed (would not shift down to first, would shift into third WAY hard).
So I brought it to a general automotive shop (friend of mother). They said tranyy is shot- we will rebuild it with "all new internals in your old case", $2000 with 30k/3year warranty. I had to do it ...... they shipped it to their tranyy guy and it took 12 days! Got it back and it shifts a tiny bit hard, but OK.
The day I left the shop, trans was making makes an annoying constant metallic sound .. I call it buzz.. it sounds just like a check ball is flicking back and forth against metal rapidly. Almost mistaked it for an exhaust leak. At the time it was even audible at idle (which is how i found out it was coming from the trans valve body). Now (3 months later) it is only is audible 70% of the time, usually when accelerating moderately in 1st or second gear. It also makes an audible "click" when coming to a stop, when it downshifts into 1st.
So, I brought it to back to them, they said the tranny guy looked at it (took 4 days!!) and "it was an acuator" and they replaced it. The sound didnt change.. But i did notice it took noticably longer to shift into drive from park.. 2 seconds. To top this off.. i showed up on a saturday when they were closed .. my car was in the front of the place (vets highway) WITH THE DOORS UNLOCKED AND KEYS IN THE IGNITION!!! I was livid on Monday when I showed up with my own keys in hand.
This was a month ago. I have been grinding my teeth about the sound still being there ever since. Today .. I see smoke coming fro my car after some spirted driving. What do you know .. transmisson fluid dripping down the right side exhaust and burning off. Burnt trails show it was happening for a while. Also it looks like the rear seal is moist, but not dripping. I checked the fluid level ... WAY ABOVE THE HOT FULL MARK! Now im getting worried .. I asked for mercon 5 synthetic and they just nodded their heads saying okay. I also got an oil change and asked for synethic. Now I have to test both to make sure they even listened to me, as I don't want to mix the different types of oils. If they put the wrong type .. I will be talking to my lawyer about this.
So .. what can I do besides continue to go back to them for the warranty work (I DEFINITELY get the lowest priorty... and this is my daily driver)? Should I get a written qutoe from another transmission shop and bring it to this shop with a written letter voicing my concerns? I am getting beyond frustrated with this car BECAUSE OF THIS and am seriously considering selling it, taking the loss (it has cost me about $5,300 total so far including the purchase price), and getting some car with a 5 speed (i miss it
. I still want to do suspension work on thsi car but cant with this over my head.What do you guys think .. more importantly, what would you do? does anyone know a RELIABLE HONEST shop on Long Island that listens to their customers and knows mark8's well, that would give me a quote (ill pay)? I would be willing to travel anywhere to rid myself of this problem
Thanks for listening to me ramble.THE SHOP YOU SHOULD NEVER EVER GO TO;
Best Brothers Automotive (in a BP gas station)
3200 Veterans Highway
Bohemia, NY 11716 (~2 miles west of macaurthur)
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