1968 Dodge Dart transmission issues !

NEB

MEMBER
1968 DODGE DART
74,000 MILES

My car is at the mechanics right now, the car would not go into reverse and I knew it was an issue with the transmission. They told me it needed to be re-built. I thought rebuilt meant the whole thing would be rebuilt, now 10 days later, and 3 days later than then they said it would be finished, as I arrived to pick it up, they discovered that some parts that should have been replaced were not, so they have to take the whole thing apart again to replace that part because it will still not go into reverse.
Is this Normal? To only replace some parts of a transmission? They are charging me $1300, the converter apparently needed to be replaced also.
Any advice would be much appreciated, I should have been on a trip upstate 3 days ago with my car ! And I feel like i'm being ripped.
thanks so much.

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,873 POSTS

That's REAL common. A broken low / reverse band is easy to spot once the front clutch is removed but there are other things that can cause a loss of only reverse. Not all parts are replaced during a rebuild but they are inspected. It's easy to miss things in the valve body too.

$1300.00 is about half of what it costs to rebuild late model transmissions. Sounds like they made you a real good deal. Before you complain too much, just stand near one of those poor mechanics as he's taking your transmission apart and see what a slimy, stinky job it is. Often they have to figure out what is wrong without being able to see inside the transmission to see what's going on.