Cat = more or less okay, car = less okay.

[xiphias]

Took the cat to the vet and got an ultrasound of her heart for Valentine's day. Everything looks fine, and we're starting her on the thyroid medication.

On the other hand, the garage called back. Ouch.

Apparently, there's this thing called a "final bearing" which allows wheels to turn at different speeds. It more-or-less exploded and wiped out the transmission.

We're looking at something like $3,500 in repairs. The car probably IS worth repairing at that price, though. And the people that rebuild transmissions for them offer a 3 year, 30,000 mile warranty on their work. So we're probably going to go ahead and do this.

Any thoughts on this, folks?

Comments

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

You probably couldn't get a very good used car for $3500. So I'd go ahead and do the repairs.

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

I've never heard of a "final bearing" in reference to cars, but I'm no expert.

I'd say go ahead and do it. It's a heck of a lot of money, but your other options seem worse. The warranty sounds good. I would advise, unless you really, really trust your mechanics, that you get a list of everything they plan to do in writing, along with the costs for parts and estimated labor costs. That way they can't come back after doing the work and say "Oh, I'm sorry, it took longer than expected--that'll be $4,700." You may have already been planning to do that, but I figured it couldn't hurt to suggest it just in case.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Basically the limiting factor should be the cost of an off-the-shelf rebuilt transmission, plus labor to remove and reinstall. Most shops don't rebuild transmissions themselves right there in the shop. Faced with a busted automatic trans, they just get a rebuilt unit and treat it like a black box. Out with the old, in with the new. Send the busted one off to a factory somewhere and see if it can be repaired--and if it can, it ends up in someone's Toyota out in Peoria, or something.

There are two major exceptions to this:

1. If you have an antique or collector vehicle and having the same transmission go back in the vehicle is important to maintain its value--the "matching numbers" that you see in ads for collector cars.

2. If you have some kind of European luxury car like a BMW, Audi, or Mercedes Benz where either (1) off-the-shelf rebuilt units are not commonly available or (2) rebuilt units are so expensive that it's worthwhile to try to rebuild the unit you've got right there.

[msmidge.livejournal.com]

You trust this mechanic to have the right answer and to do the job right, yes?

[copperpoint.livejournal.com]

Car talk! Car talk!

Commiseration

[(Anonymous)]

Go Boopsie! Sorry about the car. :( I suppose it could be worse: It's easier to replace a car's transmission than a cat's. - Felis Sidus