Those who had there trans rebuilt or remanufactured how did it work out? Anymore problems? Since mine is out of warrenty can independent trans shop do the job be trusted to do the work? Like a AAMCO

 

Saturn farmed its transmission work out to a local place (at least mine did in Jersey).
Smooth as butter afterward.

The only hiccup is that they reinstalled the tranny mount 90 degrees from the proper orientation. Talk about vibration.

Once fixed, all systems go.

As I understand it, the work is not terribly difficult - it is almost all labor in terms of cost. They have to pretty much take everything else out and apart to get to that waveplate to replace it. Which means new seals on everything during installation, proper torquing of fasteners, proper alignment of this that and the other thing, you may have other defects (leaking clutch pack, etc) that would make sense to get fixed now, if the wave plate fractured and debris is strewn about, they must properly flush the tranny plus torque converter or the debris will likely damage the new seals, etc, ......

Basically, it's not a rush kinda job and it needs to be done by someone with experience with this GM's line of transmissions (from the GM-Ford partnership).

There may be very experienced folks at AAMCO. I really think it varies by location. A tranny specialty shop (non chain) may be better. The only way to sort it out is by digging through the reviews of these places.

If you have a GM dealer that used to be a Saturn distributorship, ask them who they farmed their tranny work out to.

The only experience I had w AAMCO was horrendous but that was in the 80's. They told me I needed a tranny rebuild on a 1980 Grenada that had jumped time, idled at 2500 rpm to stay running, and did not generate enough vacuum to keep the tranny in upper gear. The vacuum was the issue for the tranny.

So you need to do your homework, then pick the best shop w a reasonable price.

 

Thanks derf for your info. i will check for ratings at local trans shops but more importantly I will go to there shop to check the place out and talk to them to make sure my BS meter doesn't go off.
So you had a rebuild done as opposed to a whole remanufactured trans dropped in?

 

Stay away from AAMCO. That stands for All Automatics Must Come Out. Had a buddy years ago with a vacuum line of a shift modulator on his little Mustang. He called me from AAMCO for a ride and when I found out they had told him that he needed a rebuild on his trans, I told him to get out of there and let me check it out. After we got it back to his apartment, I put it up on my ramps, saw the vacuum line was off and it was split. I cut off the bad part, put it back on and it shifted fine. Had to put a little type F back in it, but no big deal. Cost him a 6 pack of beer instead of $800. Con artists. That's just one of several stories I've heard about AAMCO over the years. They screwed me royally on a clutch R/R on an 87 Ranger, but we won't go into that one.

 

Never heard the "All Automatics..." thang.
Thank you for a chuckle to start my day.

 

The four cylinder uses the 4T70, a much less robust transmission than the 6T70