So I was involved in a 3-way trade where I traded a car for a rebuilt transmission from a guy who had just bought the transmission from a friend for the purpose of trading it to me. So I was really the only owner. The transmission came with a 12 month/12 thousand mile warranty. It burnt up in 12 miles. I called the guy and he said the warranty was void because he "technically" sold it to the other guy and when he traded it to me the warranty was void.

Honestly, I don't want this guy to rebuild the tranny for me. Obviously he's a hack. I really want my money's worth back. I traded a jeep for it, which I had valued at $800 for the deal, so would it be right of me to ask him to pay me $800? How would I go about putting the heat on?

 

shouldnt matter who has it. the guy did the work to it he should take care of it...........when i traded my tko for a 700r4 the guy that built it stood by his work even though i owned it......it had gone 12 miles from the guys shop to my buddies house then out it came and in my car......the trans guy that built the 700r4 i had would answer any questions i had and even told me to come in any time i had an issue with it....so i think you should get together with the guy you traded the transmission with and have a nice talk with the builder........he is def blowin smoke if he said that to you.... not a good way to run a business or build a rep............

 

So I have the warranty paperwork and although it says the transmission was sold to someone other than me, it doesn't say anything about the warranty being void if the transmission is sold or traded. The date on the paperwork is very recent, within the 12 month warranty for sure. If I took this to small claims do you think I would have a case?

 

sounds like you got the ole pickel in a jar deal

 

best bet is talk to a lawyer.see if you have a case.......

 

Chances are that the warranty is not transferable, so your out of luck. If the builder knew the tranny was just going to be traded for something, he could very well has built a piece of junk, or just cleaned up a bad tranny he had, knowing that it was basically for a no-warranty build.

Easy money for him. As wrong as it would be, technically he probably would win, as long as it couldn't be PROVEN that what he sold was really just junk.

Might take another shop looking at it, to look internally to see what failed, to present to a judge. Even then....as-is. no warranty = buyer beware.

 

well first off, I think you're screwed .. this transmission dude is gonna pull every freakin' excuse in the book, starting with this transmission was used for racing, this transmission was used on a car that is not street legal, this transmission was used on an application that it was not intended for... this transmission was installed improperly, blah, blah... blah... BLAH!!!!...


my advice to you is to establish a communication dialog, and talk it over with that person/shop over a period of a couple of weeks... hopefully they'll meet you half way... and yeah I've been screwed in the past by a transmission shop....

 

I just had my 700R4 rebuilt a couple years ago & the warranty was void if the fluid & filter wasn't changed at 90 days (i think it was 90).

So instead of doing it myself & risking voiding the warranty ("OK, PROVE you changed them. You do have receipts for fluid & a filter to do it at home, but that doesn't mean that you actually did.") I took it back to them to have it changed, per the warranty agreement.

Better safe than sorry!

 

yep.... I don't even think I made it to the 60th day...

 

wow, that sux. what a scumbag move by the business owner. guess he'd rather screw people over than pick up some possible new clients

 

dont jump down the guys neck yet, the trans guy may be totally in the right if his warranty is non transferable. I dont know many companies that have transferable warranties. I think the OP is beat, unfortunately.

do we even know why the trans burnt up? was it a faulty rebuild or a faulty install? And for that matter, how many shops warranty parts that are not installed by them? Need to see all the facts before you can point fingers and start calling people hacks.

 

Well, here's the real scoop that I'm just now learning. This guy never really had a "shop" and he doesn't have a registered company, corporation, or LLC with the state. He built these out of his garage... wow... that was stupid of me to trust the other guy who said he was getting the tranny from a real pro... Anyway - on the warranty paperwork it doesn't say anything about being "non-transferable." I need to check with local laws but as far as I know, especially since he isn't an established business, if it isn't in writing then there's no reason it shouldn't be transferable, especially since the guy knew that the transmission was going to be traded as soon as he sold it.

So I did something I don't normally do, but I'm tired of getting walked on. I called the guy up and called him out. I started very calm and simply said that nowhere on the warranty does it say anything about being non-transferable and that I personally thought that it was pretty shady of him to sell a transmission to someone with a warranty knowing full well that that person was going to trade it and then say that the warranty is void because of that. As soon as I said that I started getting this "F-you" and "F-this" and all sorts of unprofessional commentary... After that I was no longer personable with the guy and used a few four letter words myself. Basically he told me over the phone that he sold the transmission with no intention of warrantying it. He also then blamed me and said that it failed because I must have cracked the pump putting in the torque converter... yada yada and a bunch of other excuses as to why it was my fault.

#1. if he was so worried about the transmission being "broken" during the install, then he should have put in the paperwork that the warranty would be void if I did the install myself. He did put in the paperwork that the warranty would be void if the transmission was damaged during install, but unless you see exterior dents or whatnot there is really no way to tell if it was a bad install or a bad build. So really, he has no way to prove that it was a bad install.

#2 I am a mechanic everyday from 8am to 4pm. Granted I have no clue how to build an auto tranny, I definitely know how to put one in a car. This for sure is not my first rodeo.

#3 being connected to lots of shops around town, I've taken time to ask around for advice and troubleshooting. Every single transmission guy I've talked to and some that have even seen the tranny said there is no way that the transmission should have burnt up in 12 miles for any reason other than having no fluid or that it was just plain built wrong. Trust me, I put fluid in it. Filled the torque converter first, stuck it on the tranny, bolted everything up, filled the tranny, and did all that wonderful drive and stop and check and refill the fluid fire-drill that you would do with any transmission install.

#3 it always acted like it had no pressure. Before I removed it, I tested the pump by disconnecting the outgoing coolant line and fired the car up. The whole line was bone dry and nothing was coming out of the tranny. If the pump was working I would have had a mouthful of transmission fluid. From what I can tell, the pump never worked and never circulated fluid. As soon as the car and the transmission got warm it just burnt itself up.

I really can't just sit back and watch all that time and money go to **** because of some dumbass. Even if I lose I really think its worth the $55 filing fee and whatever fee to have him served, just so he sweats a little. Agreed?

 

Sounds like you have covered your aces, jack.

Take him to court. Sue him for the cost of the tranny build (so that you can have it built elsewhere), time for loss of transportation (even if you have a 2nd car. need 2 cars because of a wife?), sue him for court costs & time lost dealing with all this.

As a professional mechanic, that will carry weight with a judge that you know the correct way to install the tranny, including break-in.

Company, corporation or LLC or not, a signed warranty is still a paper contract, that he does have to abide by.

 

Make sure you document everything, and make sure you take paperwork and especially this receipt that you received, also if you are ASE certified take your credential, or something else that verifies and proofs that you are indeed capable and qualified to install a tranny... also make sure you sue him for pain and suffering, .... after all he's responsible for your damn headache... I'm done


woah damn... 12 MILES!!!! I thought it was 12 months... dude, I think you have a much stronger case...

 

In order for the car to physically drive or be put into any gear the pump must be working. The pump is what provides pressure to engage the clutch packs and band, it also runs the valvebody.

So, if you drove it ork 12 miles that meens the pump was working.

What cooler line did you disconnect? the Pressure line or the return line? If it was the return line quite possibly your tranny cooler/lines are clogged or a line is bent/pinched. If it was the pressure line then there must could be a clog in the transmission somewhere after the hydraulics that make the tranny function but before outlet fitting on the transmission itelf.

Now, what the problem really sounds like to me is an improperly adjusted/installed TV cable. These 700R4's will burn up in a heartbeat if the TV cable is too far out of adjustment.

 

And the only way to actually make damn sure they are adjusted is by hooking up a pressure gauge to the side if the trans itself and checking the pressures in all a gears and in a live road test gauge in hand.

And to add to that, Personally as a business owner myself I do offer a warranty. But it stops at the person who physically paid me for the services rendered. I do not have to even state that the warranty is non transferrable. IT IS IMPLIED. Im really tired of everyone trying to sue everyone else to get something for nothing. What you should be doing is going after the guy you got it directly from. But even then, you'll be climbing a slippery slope. Good luck, I hope things work out----