Well I took my 99 Dak with 58K miles on it to Dodge after having some shifing problems over the past week. It was not shifting out of 1st properly and I could hear the pump whining when I accelerated. I took it to Bettenhausen Dodge in Tinley Park Illinois and waited 2 days for a tech to look at it. They originally wanted to dock me $500 to fix an ABS problem (notice this had NOTHING to do with my trans.) I asked if they even drove it yet and I was told they just hooked it up to a computer to pull the codes and "something" came up about the ABS. I told them to drive the piece of crap and stop trying to rip me off!!! Sure enough on day 2 they finally took it for a ride and noticed the shifting problems. They told me that something was going on between the pump and the torque converter, and most likely there's debris in the transmission that would require an entire rebuild. The cost....$2500!!! Not even 60K miles on the thing and it's been babied it's entire life. No pulling anything just normal street driving. Took it to another tech down the street who took it for a ride and noticed right away problems with the pump and torque converter. He looked at the bands and TV cable just in case and they looked fine. His price for a complete rebuild...$1500. I'm hoping to get 1 more year out of this thing and I'm buying a Toyota. My advice to anyone looking to buy a Chrysler product...don't! I'm extremely disappointed with Bettenhausen Dodge in Tinley Park for taking 2 days to tell me what the problem was and also try to rip me off at the same time. Better luck next time!

 

i am sorry to hear about your bad experience. they aren't called stealerships for nothing! [:@]

 

dodge transmission suck... 1800 for a rebuild for me.. i have airating fluid and gear hunting between 2 and 3 with steady throttle... shifts fine with slight or hard throttle... ****ing $5000 for a manual swap.... piece of ****

 

why would you rebuild it? just buy a used one off a junk yard for like 400 bucks and your good to go

 

No use in buying a used one, could be more trouble than it's worth.

 

rebuilt with better TC and whatever tweaks have been developed over the years, and add a big tranny cooler as well. Sometimes you just get a lemon, but imho you can do stuff to reduce the chance of failure. Keeping it cool is one thing.

 

automatic transmission are directly responsible for the pussification of America. (read that in hot rod or something)

automatics suck, i tried real hard to find a manual 4x4 but theres not alot of them out there. someone told me that Chrysler is the worlds largest manufacturer of automatic transmissions and because of that nearly all of their vehicles come with an automatic standard.

 

id have an manual put into my dakota to get rid of this auto piece of crap.. but thats $5000.. to hell with that.. i could do the work myself.. but i need my truck asap

 

before buying my 99' i did a lot a research and found that the automatics where weak and the V-6's were as well so i lucked into a 5.2 with a 5 speed and i am very happy i did ,even though the guy that had it before was rough with it ,guess he loved the power of the 5.2 as much as i do and loved showing it with smoke runs as i do as times ,but none the less i would not opt for a used tranny like had been suggested and grin and bear the cost of either a rebuild or a new 1

 

Thats interesting. And if its true, that really shows that just because your the largest manufacturer of something doesn't mean your the best...
I'd do what horatio102 said, rebuild it with better parts, and get a good cooler as well.