hank3rd

Hello everyone,

I recently had my valve body gasket replaced on my 2000 xls after I noticed some irregular shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear. The tranny would over-rev before shifting and at times would cause the O/D light to blink. I drove it for about two weeks before bringing it to a trans shop.

I was told that it was the valve body gasket and he performed the work after tellng me that he could not guarantee that it would fix the problem. Of course this did not fix the issue and it still does not shift correctly. He stated that the trans was perminately damaged and that it will probably need a rebuild at a later time. I was charged $300 for the work. He stated that he did not drive the truck before hand because it was low on fluid. He used a diagnosic machine to resolve the problem. He showed me the damaged gasket, and I could see that it was blown on one side. What kind of daage could it cause? Does anyone think that the problem may actually lie in the valve body, a part or whole unit? What should I do?

LunaticSVT

Low fluid will cause the many differing things to fail and that is something that you just can not predict. It can affect duplicate Tranny's the same way or even differently. You could have damage more than just the valve body itself. You could have done no damage at all. Have you checked the fluid levels currently? Did the replacement of the gasket come with a warranty? In all actuality you should have had them review what if any damage was in there prior to doing just a gasket replacement. Any reputable shop would have done this and have given you the entire lowdown as to what was or is damaged and what will need to be replaced as well as info on how much it would cost. The shop you took it too sounds like they are only out to take your money. Gasket replacements even on your tranny is not that much. I have had it done for another vehicle and it was only 70$ Yes there is a bit more labour involved with your tranny, but not enough to justify 300 for a 100$ or less job.