tuxedohybrid Posted November 17, 2018 Share Posted November 17, 2018 Hi folks. My wife's Escape seems to hit a bit of an issue. The gear selector inside the vehicle moves, but it does not engage the gear in the transmission. It is currently stuck in park. We had it towed to a local shop and they checked the linkage and shifter cable, and all is okay. The issue was identified as being the stud/rod that the shifter cable connects to at the transmission. The mechanic described this stud as something that should rotate to a specific position based on the gear that is selected by the selector inside the car. However, in our case, this stud is able to be pushed in and pulled out of the transmission itself. The recommendation was to have the transmission replaced, and given a quote of $5,000 for the labor, rebuilt transmission, and tow to the local transmission shop to have the transmission control module reprogrammed. The car has 136,000 miles on it and still have $6,000 payments left on the vehicle, and we're trying to decide if it is worth the replacement or just selling it to a scrap yard or a dealer that will take it, cutting our losses, and moving on. Wanting to get some opinions from this community on what others would do in this situation. I've been told a used (rather than rebuilt) transmission may be had for $700-$1,000 but would still need to be installed and the TCM reprogrammed, but don't know what the labor for that type of work would be. Overview of options: 1.) Replace transmission with rebuilt 2.) Replace with used 3.) Cut losses and move on. 4.) ?? Are there others? Thanks in advance for any insight you have! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlucarelli Posted November 17, 2018 Share Posted November 17, 2018 Have you talked to an independent transmission mechanic? I have found that dealer service departments take the most expensive route. That said, I would move on. My Escape was trouble prone and very expensive to fix. I traded to another manufacturer’s small SUV, and am very happy I left Ford. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danglin Posted November 18, 2018 Share Posted November 18, 2018 2 hours ago, dlucarelli said: Have you talked to an independent transmission mechanic? I have found that dealer service departments take the most expensive route. That said, I would move on. My Escape was trouble prone and very expensive to fix. I traded to another manufacturer’s small SUV, and am very happy I left Ford. I have only owned Fords and none of them been trouble prone. Sorry to here you had trouble with an Escape, but any brand of modern vehicle can be expensive to fix, and none are perfect. If you are so happy to have left Ford, why are you on here? Hopefully Fordtech1 will see this and provide some insight for you tuxedohybrid... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
09escape Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 Talk to an independent transmission mechanic first, it could be a easy repair. If not I would go for a used transmission. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theoldwizard Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 Was the $5,000 quote from the dealer ? Was that for them to rebuild it or replace it with a "factory" rebuilt transmission ? The factory rebuilt ones come with a 3 year/36,000 mile warranty good at ANY us Ford dealer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuxedohybrid Posted November 19, 2018 Author Share Posted November 19, 2018 Thanks for the input so far. @theoldwizard the $5,000 quote was from a local independent mechanic shop in conjunction with a local transmission shop. I'm sure everyone gets a piece of the pie of this price. My understanding is that it would be a remanufactured transmission with a 18 mo./18,000 warranty.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YT90SC Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 I feel like there is more to this story. Why would they want to replace the trans based on an internal shifter linkage issue? Are there other issues with the trans than this? The rod is held into the MLP sensor with a roll pin. Sounds to me per your description, that pin has either sheared or fallen out. Either way, I'd want to pull the valve body and look at the linkage without condemning the trans. All of which is an IN CHASSIS repair. It could literally be a $0.90 roll pin plus fluid and whatever part actually broke. At most, that would be 3.5 hour repair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuxedohybrid Posted November 19, 2018 Author Share Posted November 19, 2018 @YT90SC thanks for your reply. I've gotten similar analysis from a few offline aquaintences who agree that it could be just the roll pin. The mechanic did not mention any internal damage to the transmission, and I can't imagine they did much deeper digging than the rod considering they had given me a call about 45 minuted after dropping it off. I really appreciate your insight on this, and makes me question this mechanic's opinion as he made it sound that the pin itself could not be replaced without doing the whole transmission. Sounds like that analysis might be the best next step...after taking it to a different mechanic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YT90SC Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 While they may know something else about the trans you don't, or are scared of the mileage on the unit the reality is most general repair independent shops are scared of actually opening up a transmission for *any* reason, even if it is an easy fix. Take it to a REPUTABLE shop that specializes in transmission repair or dealer with an experienced trans tech. They need to drop the side cover off and see what actually happened, if the lever is indeed free to move up and down in the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuxedohybrid Posted November 28, 2018 Author Share Posted November 28, 2018 Hey all -- wanted to put some closure on this. We had it towed to a local transmission shop. They were not able to get to the linkage by removing the valve body and had to drain and drop the transmission. They split it open and were able to repair the linkage and also did some analysis on the overall status of the transmission. It did not need to be rebuilt and looked really good fo having over 135k miles on it. The guy I was working with said another tech looked at it and guessed it would have had only closer to 75k based on what he was seeing. Anyway -- fixed up and reinstalled, parts, labor and tow came to just over $1,200. I'm very happy with that price compared to $5k! Hoping it'll last a few more years. Thanks for all the input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YT90SC Posted November 30, 2018 Share Posted November 30, 2018 Thanks for the follow up! Glad they got it going at a much more reasonable cost. They treated you well, for the labor they performed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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