A friend of mine has a 91 245, M47 (5 speed manual) transmission. 180K miles. His wife was complaining that it was getting hard to get into gear. He brought it to an independant shop they have been using for about 8 years. Shop says need a rebuilt transmission, syncros are shot. $2000 for the transmission, $1000 for labor and new clutch.

They did not have the work done, got the car back. I took it for a drive, got to the end of the driveway and realized that it was not syncros, it was the shift linkage. The reverse lockout gate was preventing the shift lever from going to the left enough to get into first and second. If I pulled up on the reverse lockout, I could get into first and second with no problem. The shift lever bushings are worn, which is why this is happening. I adjusted the gate a tad bit to the left, and it shifts fine. I happened to have a couple of bushings in my tool box, gave them to my friend with instructions on how to replace.

Slightly cheaper than $3000.

Not done yet.

Another friend bought an 86 240. Had same shop look it over. They said it needed a number of things, including a new brush/regulator pack for the alternator. He elected not to have them work on the car. I was visiting him, happened to have my meter with me, checked the output of the alternator. 14 volts. Does not seem to need that brush pack.

This place always seemed honest in the past. But these two diagnosis's are pretty off the mark.

Mistake or needs money for the boat payment?

-David

Why not stop in and ask to talk to the mechanics that made the diagnosis ( what the heck is the plural for diagnosis - nosi?) You may find that that individual (s) are good, bad or just evil!!!! If they are certified, I'd let them know that they blew it and a bad rap is going around real fast...suggest they make good on their reputation or pack up and get outta Dodge cause the bad news will kill their business.

I had a mechanic that made 2 misdiagnosis on a '88 Taurus wagon. First time was a strut mount gone bad, it had same sympthom as a misalignment. After car was aligned it still acted up. He determined it was the mount and changed the mount at no cost. Mount job was more expensive than the alignment. He ate it.

The second was a steering rack that was bad. He initially diagnosed it as a bad pump, replaced the pump and found that exchange did not solve the problem. He thought at this point it was a bad rack, put in a rebuilt rack, still did not solve. Turned out it was the rack, bits of crud were pugging the valves and causing pressure to build up, he exchanged the rack but the rebuilt unit was defective, he exchanged it no cost . But the rack was much more costly than the pump job. He ate it to protect his rep as an honest mechanic.

So some learning was occurring and it was an inconvenience yet in the end he made good at his expense.

By the way he is very skinny ( guess he makes costly mistakes - can't afford to eat)
--
Happy Motoring Miguel '86 244 and '87 245

I'd stay away from a place that made a mistake that would cost me over $2000. If it's a fluke, you'll find out by how they deal with it when you bring it to their attention.

And the plural of diagnosis is diagnoses.

How new are the motor mounts? The clutch? Either of these can cause odd shifting problems.

Find a new shop.

Regards,

Bob

:>)

Perhaps the suggestion of replacing the brushes was based on an actual removal and inspection of the condition (length) of the brushes. Even extremely short brushes can deliver the required meter reading (for a little while).

I am at a loss for an excuse for the $3000 transmission adjustment!

Randy

People do get greedy every now and then, especially when they think that car owners are naive when it comes to the mechanics of it. Maybe bothg your friends had that dumb-founded look on them when they took the cars in. They oughta buy you a few lunches/dinners :-)

Cheers,
--
90 BMW 325is, 98 BMW 528i, 90 Volvo 240DL

Used to work in dealerships, the rip-offs just got too disgusting.

Often times with manual transmissions, the techs are either burnt out or having lazy days, and had rather try and sell a new unit or reman, to keep from actually have'n to think through and diagnose it.