Chevy & GMC Vans

Gosh, I can't believe I'm going to admit this, but I'd like your thoughts, so I gotta come clean...

My astro van has been my only transportation for the last 4 years, and while it has served it's purpose, I've been neglecting it somewhat. There are a lot of things that I want to do, a V8, a new interior, new paint, not to mention standard maintence, need new brakes, could use a tune up and so on...
My problem has been trying to do the work with no down time (and no garage) Simply put, little gets done.

So I found out my step dad was looking to get rid of a car-- for free. I jumped on it, but of course, there's a problem with it. For starters, it's a Ford , well, Mercury, but same difference.. It's an early 90's (92 I believe) Mercury Sable with a shot transmission. It still drives, but he said that sometimes it slips, while other times, it stalls the motor. He was quoted $1600 to rebuild or replace the transmission, naturally, he doesn't want to spend the money, quite frankly, neither do I. I'm not an idiot when it comes to mechanic work, but I've never worked on an automatic before. I think my bigger problem is the lack of a garage.

I figure I've got a few choices (they all revolve around getting into a house with a garage):
1) Get a salvage yard transmission and swap it out in a day.
2) Get a rebuild kit and fix the original transmission (who knows how long that could take)
3) Get a salvage yard transmission, swap it out in a day as well as get a rebuild kit to fix the original transmission-- 'cause chances are the salvage transmission, will poop out soon after!!!! I assume that, because, doing some research, I found out that the transmissions in these things are junk and are notorious for crapping out.
4) Do nothing and take my chances.. I only live 3 miles from work, so I wouldn't put alot of miles on it. My sister drove the car to Gainesville last week (4-5 hour drive) and it didn't act up on her until 2 miles from home
Aside from the transmission, the rest of the car is decent, he kept up with all the maintenance, got everything fixed when it needed to be. I really want another astro to drive when I'm working on the van, but free is free...

So, what would you do? Thanks, in advance

Three miles from work? Buy a BICYCLE!

CaptSquid wrote:Three miles from work? Buy a BICYCLE!

LMAO! I'd love to, and I will, but it's not practical. I've got a son that I have to take to and from school during the week, I also need to drop him off at his mom's job before I go to work in the afternoon. So during the week, I go about 10-12 miles a day, not too bad, but it can be pretty rainy here in the afternoons.

You won't melt!

If it needs a transmission, it isn't free. Instead of spending money on the Sable spend it on the van. Or fix the Sable and sell it at a nice profit and then use that money to fix the van.

Or fix the Sable and sell it at a nice profit and then use that money to fix the van.

That's actually one of the reasons I'm thinking to fix it. (except I'll probably use the money to put towards a newer van) I have no intention on fixing it just to sell it, I'd like to utilize it for a bit while I get the maintence on my van squared away. It never fails, any time I start to work on something, I get halfway through and realize I need something else from the parts store. I'd like to have the transportation to get there rather than having to walk there. I had to do that 2 weeks ago, when I changed the starter, felt like I was going to pass out from heat exhaustion.

Seeing as you admited you dont have a place to work on it, i would be a junkyard tranny an replace it. rebuilding an auto takes a good CLEAN place to work and some special tools so i would only try that if you find some one who has done one before and lends you a hand.

My parents owned a 99' Taurus, thew tranny of which started to act funky. It would sometimes slip or not up-shift. Brought it to a local repair shop who's owner is known for his honesty. He chuckled when we asked how much to replace the tranny. He asked us to leave it with him for 2 days.
Picked it up a coupla days later and paid $250. Seems that (at least for this model), the tranny is especially sensitive to grit/sludge etc. & gets plugged up easily which affects the operation. He cleaned & flushed it out thoroughly (for our american brothers, that means "lots'n lots" ) and the tranny was fine after that.
You might wanna look into that as a possibility

Hotroder383 wrote:Seeing as you admited you dont have a place to work on it, i would be a junkyard tranny an replace it. rebuilding an auto takes a good CLEAN place to work and some special tools so i would only try that if you find some one who has done one before and lends you a hand.

Yeah, If I do anything with it, I'll probably go with a salvage yard transmission, Just for the fact that it could be done relatively quick-- much less down time. But I can't lie, I do want to tear into an automatic transmission, just so I can gain the experience!

Peter, It's funny you should mention that, as my dad was explaining what the transmission was doing, and how it was acting, I was trying to visualize what would cause it and I couldn't help but think the same thing. A good thorough flush will be the first thing I do.

Well I think, rather I hope, I found a reason why the transmission is acting up on this thing. I checked the fluid this afternoon. I took it for a short 5 minute drive to get it up to operating temp, allowing it to shift through the gears and such. I checked it while it was idling in park (just like I'm supposed to) And this is what I found:

Now you can't see the hash marks marking the "ok" level, but they are at the end of the dipstick before it twists. I'd guess that there is at least twice as much fluid as there should be. And you can see air bubbles in the fluid on the dipstick, so I'm assuming there is air throughout the transmission lines as well.

Does that sound feasible to you guys? Sorry to ask questions about a Ford on here, but some of you folks are pretty darn smart,and I trust your judgements.

The fluid itself doesn't smell burnt, but it doesn't have the smell of fresh fluid either. When I get a little time, I'll probably change the fluid and filter, and see how it runs after that.