ryanm6100

May I ask what shop in AZ this was?

pozican

Found a local tranny.

At any rate -- Here's the story.

Kept going to the same guy for parts, developed some trust. Whenever I had a problem I took my NA back to him.

Meanwhile, hit the dyno with the turbo, get off the dyno mess around on the way home, blown tranny. And when I say blown, I really do mean blown up. The carrier broke even.

Anyway, took it to a shop, located a tranny local. Picked up the tranny, dirty as usual, showing the full 120k miles of dirt all over it, including fill plugs. They had not been removed by the PO, or the PPO I've talked to both of them.
At any rate, get the car back from the guy, go to take it home. Hear some intermittent noise about 1-2 miles away. It disappears, I ignore.

Hear some noise about 15 minutes later when I'm pulling into my house. I'm thinking, what is that? Must need new gear oil.

Wake up the next morning, don't have time to take a long look.
Jack it up take out the fill plug to check for oil. No oil. Strange, then I see the hole in the bottom of my tranny right under the drain plug. Dug around a bit and found a sheetmetal screw and a m10 bolt.
That night, I'm sitting at the house at 11:50pm (YES PM, he called just before midnight)just finishing up a movie with the gf. He left a message, listened to it.

"Hey man, wanted to know how the car was doing, I havn't heard from you in a while"
What the hell? I'm not this guy's friend. Why is he calling me at midnight?
Whatever. I call him back at 12:30 - Dude, when you put the tranny in, did it leak any oil?
No why?
Did you drain / replace it?
Well I topped it off
Was there any on your garage floor?
What's going on?
I found some bolts in my transaxle.

Long story short (I guess it's not any more) the where placed into the transaxle via the fill hole, and dropped into the resovoire. Then were picked up by the ring and pinion and dragged around, one of the tore out all of the ribbing inside of the tranny, then something (another bolt?) blew a hole in the bottom.

What I found left in the tranny after tearing it apart was 2 m10 bolts and a sheetmetal screw.

He's the only one that took out the fill plug, and the only one I would come back to with more money.

I have pictures of the entire tear down process.
I have 7-10 other people with similar expeirences
I have people telling me that they saw someone driving my car (With his description) while it was at the shop
I have had a witness next to me every step of the way

I guess I can't prove he did it. But in civil court, what's gonna happen?
Look, he's the only one who had the tranny open at all. I don't know if he put them in, or if they fell it (not likely), but it's either malicious or negligence.

The guy is pretty shady.

Anyway, ranted enough. That's why I don't have a tranny in the car yet. Will be in probably tomorrow.
So 3 transaxles have past through my hands in the past month or two. SAD!

-poz

pozican

There is a thin line between bitching and slander.

One is free speech, one is a crime.

nitehawk951

Wow pozican that blows man. I had a similar experience once at this shop near me, had another tranny put in my 84'. Drove the car home and noticed a grind in second gear. I told the shop and they said it just needed to break in for a while and that it had been sitting, and that they just put new gear oil in and that it was old and blah blah blah. So, I waited one more day but the grinding was pissing me off. No matter how easy I shifted to 2nd there would be a grind. So I decided to check the level.
NO OIL!!! I was like WTF??? Took off the drain plug and only drops of thick gear grinds came out. I felt so bad and retarded, but who thinks to check that after what they did was so simple? Yes it is, get the tranny, install, drain old oil and add new, plug it up take my money. Idiots, sigh.
Added new gear oil and it grinded thereafter. And after that it would do it when I would shift the easiest and hardest, when I shifted with moderate force it was nice and quiet.

The truth is you cant trust anyone but yourself, and its a sad reality. You must always be paranoid. At least thats how I feel now. I hope it all works out pozican. Laters.