Jeep Check Engine Light Transmission Repair
A Check Engine Light can definitely give you an uneasy feeling when driving down the road. Just about every single working hour of every single day we get calls from
people asking how much for a “Tune up” or “How much to replace” a specific part (
you can read more about that here). The reality is that when that light comes on most people think a Tune Up or a gas cap is the problem and just want a price for either. The problem here is that based on our experience less than 2% of the customers that call or just come in requesting a certain part replacement or ‘Tune Up” actually need that part or service to repair their immediate concern. Seem like a low number? We agree!
Jeep Repair
Today I want to tell you about a customer that absolutely insisted we replace her Jeep Transmission because she was told it needed one. Our first interaction was when she called us about a week ago. She said that her Jeep Check Engine Light had come on and the dealer told her she needed a new transmission. She looked for a second opinion at another local shop that confirmed that her Jeep Transmission needed to be replaced but they “don’t have the equipment” to handle the job for her (Tip; With the exception of computer reprogramming, in most cases if a shop “doesn’t have the equipment” to perform a repair then they most likely don’t have the proper training or tools to properly diagnose the issue in the first place). She was quoted roughly $4000 to replace the transmission and was hoping to get it done cheaper. The woman basically dropped the vehicle off and said “Don’t let the bill go over $4,000”.
Now it’s important to point out that all of our repairs start with having one of our
Trained Master Technicians properly diagnose the vehicle before we give any quotes for repairs or replace parts that may not need to be replaced (we go more into detail about this here). The main reason is that we want the customer to leave happy and that wouldn’t happen if we were replacing parts that didn’t fix customer concerns.
So as usual the repair process started with a road test. We found that the vehicle was stuck in 2nd gear. When we scanned the computer for codes (Code is a sequence of numbers that lead us to a troubled area, no scanner will tell you the exact issue without a little bit of testing). The codes were leading us to an issue inside the transmission. So we decided to take a look inside. When we lowered the pan on the bottom of the transmission that holds all of the fluid we found a couple of broken screws and when we started inspecting we found that the metal plate that holds the accumulators into the valve body was bent and broken. The broken screws in the pan were clearly used to hold the metal plate in place but when they broke it allowed the plate to bend.
Jeep Valve Body Repair
This Jeep Repair was actually pretty simple. We lowered the valve body, replaced the seals on the accumulators, replaced the metal plate, the screws that hold the plate in place, and filled the transmission with new fluid. After that we cleared the codes and took it for a road test to verify that everything was working like it should.
The entire repair took a few hours and only cost the customer a few hundred dollars. While replacing the transmission would have definitely fixed her issue, it also would have cost her about $3,600 more than our repair and with the exact same result. Replacing the transmission would have just been unethical.
I must say that I was pretty annoyed that they wouldn’t just give me a price. Like how hard can that be to look up? But once I picked up my vehicle I realized why they do things that way. I was absolutely insistent on getting a price and wanted them to just go ahead and order the transmission. If “the customer was always right” I would have had to pay over $3,000 more for my Jeep to get fixed. These guys are the best! They really are. I went in because of the reviews and they were spot on. From beginning to end this group of people really know how to treat people and they know how to fix cars. I suggest checking them out. Great place and great people.
Melissa A.
Feeding Hills, MA
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