Vent: That transmission swap that turned into a week-long nightmare

Last month I took on a 4L60E swap in a 2002 Silverado at my shop here in Tulsa. Customer brought in a junkyard unit, said it came out of a running truck with 120k miles. I was booked for two days on this job. Day one went smooth, pulled the old one, got the new one in. Day two came and I filled it with fluid, fired it up, and it started making this whining noise from the pump. Pulled the pan and found metal shavings everywhere. Had to tell the customer his junkyard buy was junk. He got mad, blamed me, said I must have installed it wrong. Took me three more days to source a reman unit from a local parts house and get it swapped in. Customer still shorted me on labor because he "had to pay for a rental car." Has anyone else had a customer blame you for their own bad parts choice?

3 comments

3 Comments

felix_williams711mo agoProlific Poster

Man, that story hits close to home... I read somewhere that used transmissions are basically a gamble, especially from junkyards that don't test them under load. A lot of guys just pull 'em, slap a "good running" sticker, and call it a day. Your customer was way out of line blaming you for his parts choice. It's like bringing your own steak to a restaurant and getting mad when it's cooked wrong. I had a buddy in Dallas go through something similar with a used 4R100. He spent a week fighting the customer over labor costs. People don't get that we're mechanics, not mind readers... you can't tell if a part's bad until it's in and running.

gibson.sarah1mo ago

Finds out you're right eventually.

the_elliot28d ago

Honestly, @felix_williams71 is spot on about those "good running" stickers. Ngl, I once trusted a junkyard that swore a transmission was mint, spent a whole weekend installing it, and the thing grenaded after 10 miles. I felt like that guy bringing his own steak to the restaurant, except the steak was a ticking time bomb.