Does anyone know anything about car troubles and prayers and good thoughts please..
#257295 - 04/09/06 07:53 PM
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A few days ago, a light came on in my car indicating that I had a fault in my automatic gearbox. I took it to the dealer to have it checked out (I drive a volvo, its relatively old). They said that it may have been caused by the selnoid valve (sp?) and that they fixed it. They also told me that I should monitor my car, because I may need a new transmission. I asked how will I know if I need a new transmission and the lady said, truthfully, you won't. your car will just die. LOVELY!
Well my car is a 93 (70,000 miles) so I certainly will not be buying a new transmission for it. However, I don't even know what a transmission does... Does anyone know if there are any signs as to when a transmission is going to fail.
Anyways, afterwards I called my parents, and they said yeah we know that. we've been told to monitor your transmission for the last few years (but they never told me that.. haha probably cause they know i'm a worry wart to the max!).
Anyways, I was driving it today and the shifting seemed to be a little off. I think that this is what a transmission controls, and it seemed like it was a bit more sluggish when shifting.. often going up to four before finally going down on the shifting dial. It usually doesn't do this.. or at least I haven't noticed.
I dunno if i'm just being the worrier that I am, and becoming extra sensitive to it, or if I have a real problem here. My fear is that my car is going to just drop dead on the highway (which would NOT be a good situation!!) I honestly think that it may be a real problem, or it may be that i'm just paying too much attention and worrying about it too much.
Any ideas or info would be appreciated.. also prayers and good thoughts that my car makes it through the summer would be appreciated! I cannot afford a new one right now, but I also need to have a car because I have to drive to work and to my internship. ahh please.. good thoughts.. its stressing me out, and this is the worst possible time for this to be happening. I'm so scared I'm gonna break down on my way to work tomorrow. 
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The transmission controls the shifting of the gears. My parents had a car with transmission issues. Truthfully, it might keep running like that for quite some time. Theirs certainly did!
Also, maybe 70,000 is a lot of miles for a Volvo, but that's really not that many! In terms of miles, that's like a six- or seven-year-old car. It might well be worth putting in an overhauled transmission. (Maybe this is a common Volvo problem. My friend's mom had one about the same year that also had transmission issues.)
Try not to worry about it prematurely, but definitely get AAA if you don't have it already!
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Christine
Those who can do; those who want it done better teach.
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Typically, when an automatic transmission starts going bad, you'll notice the gears, usually the higher ones like 3rd or 4th "slipping". in other words, the engine will rev up really fast without noticing any increase in speed. When this happens, you can bet that it won't be long before it stops working altogether.
Really though, 70,000 miles is not that much on a transmission... unless you live in a mountainous (sp?) area.
The best action to take in the case of a bad transmission, at least with my experience, is to get the transmission rebuilt after it finally dies. It may cost around $1000 bucks, but you practically get a brand new transmission that'll be good for at least another 70K or so miles.
Hope this little bit of advise is helpful.
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thanks for the info..
I still don't know how to tell if its slipping.
I did notice today though it was fine on the highway, and when I got off the highway and stopped at the first light it started acting screwy and seemed to be shaking a bit. I'm not sure if this is due to the transmission
How safe is it to keep driving for awhile.. also, is it worth putting another transmission in a car thats a 1993?
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thanks christine. I'm really worried about it. its always been a little troublesome when shifting, which is how we bought it used with so little miles (i've had it for three years, and we got it with about 40,000 miles on it). The previous owners were scared to drive it because its always had minor transmission issues.
Regardless, it only just started acting out a bit worse in the past few days (since leaving the shop with it )
I drove it into work today (on the highway) and it was ok.. the shifting was a little slow, however, its never been perfect. On the way home it was fine too on the highway, however, after getting off the highway and stopping at the first light it started shaking a little bit, when it was stopped, it started sputtering and acting like i've never seen it act before. I was scared it was going to die.
I'm considering triple A. I talked to my parents about it, and they didn't advise it bc they said they are usually slow and use crappy tow truck services. They said i'm better off waiting to see if anything goes wrong with it and then calling my own tow truck.. however, i'm also a worrier, so i'm not sure if I want to wait for something to go wrong without peace of mind. The only problem is that i'm a poor grad student, and don't have a ton of cash to even pay for triple A, a new transmission, a new car or a tow truck in the first place. boo.. its stressing me out! 
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well.. me and my mom just got off the phone with the volvo people and they basically said that my car is a goner.
I'm gonna get a second opinion tomorrow at aamco, but we've been looking tonight at cars just incase I need to get one asap. we found a volkswagon jetta (2003) for 16,000 with 8,000 miles on it. we're thinking we can get him to go down a bit, and I'll get the cost of my car traded in. However, I don't know much about jettas or VWs.. i.e. are they worth it.. are they safe and reliable.
This is the absolute worst time for this to be happening bc I have ZERO dollars, however, VW has a student deal where students dont' have to pay until they secure a job.. thats the only reason we are considering it. Let me know if you have any thoughts on this..
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but here's my two cents...
Well, I admit I know nothing about Volvos or VWs, but I have a '97 Pontiac Sunfire with over 100,000 miles on it. I've had it since 1999, and I can think of only two or three times that it's needed costly repairs. Two of those were worn out brakes at the same time as other repairs. Once it needed a new water pump and in January, it needed a new horn. It's been really good to me, considering it's almost always been left outside in midwestern winters since 1999 and has been with me through living in 3 states.
Wait. I don't remember the specifics AT ALL, but I seem to remember reading that some people had lots of problems with Jettas at some point, but that may have been back in the '90s.
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We have had several VWs in our (German) family over the years, including a couple of Jettas. They are decent cars. If you live in a warm climate, they do have a tendency to overheat more easily. They're good, though, and 8,000 miles is basically a new car.
If you're going for reliability, I personally think a Honda or Toyota is the way to go, but any car with 8,000 miles should be great.
Good luck!
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Christine
Those who can do; those who want it done better teach.
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I would stay away from the Jetta. I had a friend who had a Jetta (he bought it used with about 9,000 miles on it)and he has had nothing but problems since. In fact, he had to replace the engine on it. Go with a Honda or Toyota, you can't go wrong with them.
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I am gonna go look at the jettas today and just see how they drive etc. I do want a car thats reliable, but I also want a car thats safe, and it has really good ratings.
I've been looking about all cars on the web, and there aren't many with good ratings all around, which is annoying! (at least that I can afford!) But my dad said people are way more likely to complain on the web, than say that something is good.
I definitly don't want to be taking the car to the shop all the time, so I'm def going to ask about that. thanks for your opinions!
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