Little things lead to big things
Earlier this week, my wife complained that her 300M transmission was shifting badly, and sticking in second gear. Sure enough, it was in limp mode. (By the way, I discovered through this that the limp mode extends to the manumatic - that is, you can’t manually shift when it’s in limp mode.) I ran the codes and got code P0700, universally known as “there’s something wrong with the transmission, but I’m not going to tell YOU what it is.”
Being close by, I took the car to the Aamco to use their computer, which has the terribly expensive proprietary modules to diagnose computer codes more sensibly. (As to WHY it costs so much to get the “real” code scanners, don’t ask.) They refused to scan it, saying they would, for free, give it a three hour test starting with a test drive and ending with a scan. “The scan is the LAST thing we do,” said the manager, as if this was something to be proud of.
Having done a little research in Google and Allpar, I had discovered that code P0700 is very common across brands, and usually corresponds to a fairly inexpensive sensor. I took the car down to Ray at Teterboro Chrysler, and he quickly came back with an estimate of $155 including labor to change the output sensor. They didn’t recommend any other work. I mentioned that the car was under the 8/80 Certified Used Car warranty, and the price fell to the $50 deductible. Remember, Ray didn’t know I had the warranty when he gave me that first price… the car has about 74,000 miles on it… he was being honest - $155 is a relatively small profit (at a $90/hour dealer, in an area where indie garages charge $75-85/hour) compared with a new $3,500 transmission or a big rebuild charge. He didn’t even try to upsell me into a fluid replacement (though I asked for one anyway).
The morals of the story:
1) Check the computer first
2) Sometimes a good, honest dealer should be your first stop, if you can find one
3) Don’t believe the first person you talk to if you get a big price tag - had Ray been dishonest, and had I been a good “mark,” he might have been able to sell me a new transmission or, just as profitable, a new used car while he made a massive profit on the trade. (In fact I often AM a good mark.)
Good luck out there…
Some other symptoms along with the limp in mode that can also point towards either the input or output speed sensor are the check engine light on or the speedometer will not register or a combination of all three.
We got the check engine light but the speedometer was fine.
P0700 is a engine module code which indicates there are codes set in the trans. module. Ya gotta scan the TCM to get the
specific code indicating the failed diagnostic(s). Ray would be following proper diagnostic procedure to read these codes
before throwing parts at it.
Yes, he was following proper procedure. That was the point. The AAMCO guys wanted to test it for an hour BEFORE reading the codes. I don’t think that would be particularly good for the transmission! The smart thing to do is exactly what Ray did, which is use the computer to find out what’s wrong, not play silly “I’m smarter than the computer” games.
Perhaps with AAMCO they wanted to make CERTAIN that you had a failed transmission to justify the hour long “burn it down” mentality of their diagnostic acumen! After having three such failures with my ‘99 LHS, along with a myriad of other probelems we discussed at length long ago, I was certain that I would not buy another DCX vehicle. However, so far, my Dakota and my Town and Country (still proceeding cautiously though) are beginning to make me feel that reliability is back as part of the build quality in Chrysler marques.
I don’t think I can blame Chrysler for the failure of what I believe was a Bosch sensor; though it would be good if they shared the specific codes with CUSTOMERS. I think if the car info center lit up (esp with cars that have nav systems!) with “Transmission problem detected - computer points to output sensor failure” or something like that, they’d have a LOT better rep for transmissions. Most of the time it does seem as though the probome is not the transmission but something else - and the trans gets replaced anyway!
This is why they’re called Scaamco :) There’s a certain shop that had four cracks at my wife’s old ‘90 Acclaim (three before I was in the picture) A604. Horrid. The last one they forgot to put any (as in *any*) coolant in the motor.
Does Teterboro know you’re the guy behind Allpar? That might help your cause :) My family’s been going to our dealer since 1980 & I’m sure that makes a difference. I’m not sure the dealer principal drives every used ‘04 PT down to the body shop to have a crack in the bumper repaired. I know, I know, call me cynical….I will say I’m quite used to having repairs done right the first time. I’ll pay a little extra and drive a little further for that.
My mom’s ‘99 LHS has been a good vehicle, but not as bulletproof as the ‘90 Imperial (A604 & Bendix ABS and all). Solid though.
That’s a great story. Waiting for more. » »