Guys I was so close to titling this: How to Re-Live that: "Holy ****, so this is why Folks Love Jaguars!" Feeling again: Just Drive a 1998 Ford Ranger 4speed pickup truck with 240,000 miles for 5 weeks straight!

Yesterday I picked up my car from Wholesale transmission in Fords NJ. I truly had to laugh at myself. It felt weird to drive, smooth, quiet, precise - then I realized this was exactly how I felt the 1st time I drove this car after I bought it! I gotten so used to driving a rough and tumble Ford pickup for the last month + that I had subconsciously reset my expectations. It was kind of nice to re-appreciate her again.

I don't know if its possible, but it sure feels like she's driving smoother than ever. Probably classic placebo effect?

Many of you guys helped me as I did the research, the planning,, and the shopping I wanted to capture prices and lessons learned in 1 place for future reference.

1998 ZF 5HP24 Transmission.

For a few days I thought I felt like I was driving over a ridged surface when backing out of driveway in morning. This was only 15 or 20 feet gravel driveway
So I dismissed it.

Days later, stopped at stop sign, on a very very steep hill to merge onto rural highway. Traffic clear, step on gas, vroom. RPMs increase, no movement. BANG! Noise and lurch forward. RED / YELLOW dash light TRANSMISSION FAILURE.

Car drove forward, but only 1 higher forward gear available. Prayed I'd hit all green lights, headed home. All good except 1 traffic light, had to stop. When light changes green, stepped on gas felt drivetrain struggle, engine revs as tranny slips, BANG! We start to move forward obviously a high gear. Got it home.

Search starts:

Plenty of used rebuilt(?) Tranny for sale around $1,100. Guess that'd be a trust me, it works perfectly situation.

Start to search, how hard to remove transmission myself? Very hard to find a mechanic who would do it. Found one, $1,000 to do so.

looked at the transmission removal procedure in the Jaguar instructions, you've gotta lift the engine.
bottom line, I couldn't safe doing it on my premises. I continued to call around.

Found an AMCO in Bridgewater NJ. Removal, rebuild kit, reinstall $1,650. Parts extra. I checked, they didn't have an A drum in their rebuild kit. I asked for a price. Nice folks, but busy and never got back to me.

Found Precision Auto in Woodbridge NJ. THEY QUOTED $1600, all in. Lets just say Thank God I took the time to read customer reviews for these guys. I ran away :-).

Continued search. Found Wholesale transmission in Fords NJ. Great reviews, quoted $1,900. Torque converter would be extra if needed. I went and met the guy. Seemed too good to be true, I pressed, what other charges could occur? He thought and said oftentimes the tranny fluid cooler lines in / out can get stripped. If so, he said it would be $250 for case. I explained that thanks to our Jag Jag Jay, I have a spare tranny. He said fine. He would use that.

of course the line into my tranny was stripped, furthermore someone somewhere someday overtightened it. The line needed replacement too! Well I bought that and brought it to him. Cost $180 @ the jag dealer. FYI, no you can't tap and rethread the hole. Too much chance of cracking the case.

I brought them the used tranny, they directed it and used that case. Rebuilt the insides. They called and STRONGLY advised that I replace the Torque converter. Apparently when I launched my tranny into oblivion that day, there was just so much metal debris they expected some got into the old Torque converter. I agreed

I've intentionally included business names and locations, lord knows there plenty of us out here in Central NJ. It'll sure help the next guy figure out what to do, where to take it. Prices - I figure that will be of interest to everyone. While I hope this never happens to you, it looks like the ZF transmission loves to fail st around 130K miles.

Thank you all, and an especially big thanks to Jay for donating a transmission!

John

 

Well done....

 

excellent to hear she's back on the road. So what was final price with torque converter and what type of warranty did they provide??

 

Thanks! $1,900 as per original quote plus $300 torque converter.
12 month 12k miles warranty.

Mid job i was told they would charge me $160 labor to swap transmission cases. I agreed, thought to self it could have been twice as much! Then when I came to pick up the car, the owner pulled out the documents to tally it all up. He looked at me and said:"Sean and you discussed the charges to swap the transmission cases. You know John, I gotta tell you that I appreciate you were nice as we worked together to plan this out. A lot of my customers can get um, pushy . Makes it tough when we get busy around here. I'm going to throw in the labor for the case for free. I appreciated working with you."

!!Woah!! You don't hear this from a mechanic often!! In all honesty I was nothing more than respectful. Yes I helped by taking the time to look up some part numbers and year over year differences!

There was one time on Monday of this week. He had promised the car would be done and ready to pick up on Tuesday. Around 5:30pm Monday I got a call from him. He asked if I could plan to pick up the car towards the end of Tuesday instead of earlier? He explained: "we saw leak, I want to put it on a lift and track it down." I responded: "sure, better we find it now no problem." He was audibly relieved and thanked me.

You know I included this for 2 reasons. It further supports my implicit recommendation of this place for any of us nearby; and sometimes its just nice to hear a story about nice people and unexpected nice things happening. They sure are nice at Wholesale!

John

 

Hello John, what a coincidence! I just reached to Wholesale Transmission this week to rebuild my ZF6HP26 in my XJ8. The quoted me a great price to rebuild the unit and reading your review of them really helps with my decision making.

How's the car running a few weeks after the rebuild.. Any issues and still happy with the work. My brother spoke to Mike from the shop and really like what he had to say. Any advice you recommend?

 

All good email me. Having difficulty posting this web site screen goes white mid reply. Kennyjohn8@gmail.com