WhiskeyPapa

My son has a 1994 Mitsubishi Galant and the transmission is failing. If you put it in drive and rev the engine really slow and patient-like, it will eventually start rolling forward. Once you get up to about 10 mph, it works like normal, until you stop. Then you have to coax it again. Reverse works just fine all the time. We pulled the pan, replaced the filter and filled with new fluid. The old fluid was a brownish-red and did not smell burnt. There were no broken parts or other pieces of metal in the pan.

We took it to a transmission shop, and they said it's an unknown internal problem with the transmission. Once they remove the transmission, we're looking at a rebuild for about $1,600. The car is not worth that much.

So we'd like to tackle it ourselves. I've never done anything like this and don't even know where to start. Any suggestions for books or websites that would help someone like me do this?

mechmike0034

Please don't take this the wrong way, but the best thing you can do with that car is to donate it to a charitible organization and take the tax write-off.

An automatic tranny overhaul, particularly when we are talking about an asian import FWD transaxle, is not a "driveway job" even for an expert.

There's a reason the estimate was $1600 - it's not an easy job, and the parts are not cheap.

There's always the option to install a boneyard tranny, but that's still a ton of work plus you may not get a unit that's a whole lot better than what you have now.

I'd dump it - trust me when I say that the easiest way to solve this problem is to make it someone else's problem...

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attgig

kinda agree, but yeah... if you really want to work on the tranny, I'd try to install a used one. you're still going to cough up some cash, but not 1600.

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Showtime

A used one may have also have problems. You can also google it and search other car forums for people who did that kind of work.

I had a similar problem with my old car and it was cuz I was mashing the pedal too much. I guess I missed my manual tranny....

-jel

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billxp

1600 sounds like a fair price for a front wheel drive car.

I was a parts manager at a Mitsu dealer here in NY back in the 90's. I used to stock at least 2 factory rebuilt transmissions for that car. We sold at least 1 a week. I don't remember the cost sorry.

WhiskeyPapa

I don't disagree that $1,600 is a fair price for the transmission. The problem is I can buy several 1994 cars with fewer miles and in better shape for $1,600 or less.

I don't mind getting my hands dirty and I don't mind a challange, so I was just looking for some DIY resources.

sizemic1

How about this?
Take an automatic transmission class at a local junior college.
At least that way you have all of the tools and equipment you would need and it could be a father/son bonding moment

I took trans class. It was pretty fun..but it seemed to be geared more towards the old chevy TH-350, powerflight, etc type trannies. If you're not in any hurry, i'd say take the class and hope the instructor is smart enough to help you with the FWD.

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PrObLy

*edit: ****, I guess I missed the line about reverse working fine all the time, my advice probably is useless then

Could this possibly be a problem with one of the drive axels? I once snapped one of my drive axels and I could run through all the gears just fine while the car would just sit there and not move although the other drive axel was perfectly in tact. The car needed the resistance from the passenger side axel first before the driver's side wheel would spin. I'm thinking that maybe one of your drive axels could be broken or wore down to the point of massive slipping, causing the car to only accelerate properly after it's good and rolling. Also since you say that once it starts going everything else works fine, there's room to possibly blame it on something besides the trans, such as the axels. It's worth a shot to examine them, they're pretty easy to get to/replace and are fairly cheap, I believe I paid $120 for a pair of rebuilt ones.

Hope maybe this helps.

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