Junkyard swap or rebuild?

[LeviMM]

Hello everyone. I'm trying to figure out if it makes more sense to swap my transmission out or rebuild what I have (87' Grand Marquis). The OD is toast in my current transmission. A local salvage yard has one from an '87 Crown Victoria with 130K miles on it for $250. The local shop has quoted me at $1800 for the rebuild. Should I go with that one to get back rolling or bite the bullet and pay for a rebuild. Thanks for the feedback.

[JeffBoudah]

if you can inspect that one in the yard before they pull it (if they do that sort of thing) make sure the TV cable isnt dangling off the TB, and there's a good chance it's fine. i'd try that once before an almost 2k shop bill. get a buddy and some beer you can swap in a weekend no prob.

[sly]

If the yard will guarantee 30 days, then it might be worth it. A rebuild usually comes with 2-3 years warranty, so there's that.

[LeviMM]

Okay. I'll stop by and see if I can get a good look at it. I'm leaning toward the swap route. It does come with a 30 day refund policy. While I do have a buddy in mind that could help me, I'm a novice at swapping transmissions. Should I still take a stab at it? Also will I need the shop manual for torque specifications? Thanks for the advice.

[gadget73]

As they said, its a gamble either way. if the used one works properly, and ideally if its still in a working enough vehicle that you can test it before buying you got a winner. Otherwise its pay and hope the shop knows what they are doing so you get one that actually works. The absolute worst shifting AOD I've ever experienced was a recently rebuilt one from someplace that claimed to know what they were doing. I think the guy got less than 10k out of it before it nuked itself. I rode in the car roughly at the middle of it's existence.

[Mainemantom]

Personally I would never buy a major part used like a transmission unless it has a 90 day warranty. I also have a problem buying a used AOD from a wrecking yard. A bad transmission without OD is a major cause of vehicles being junked. If the vehicle was wrecked then maybe, if the trans fluid looks decent. Many wrecking yards will not let the buyer inspect the insides of a transmission.
If you buy used, just have the mindset going into the job that you may be doing the job twice. Make sure you drain the converter. If you are planning to put allot of miles on your car, I would go the rebuilt route. Finding an excellent transmission shop is the major concern. Replacing a converter then is a must. Many transmission shops offer a extended warranty at extra cost.
Some shops have "off the shelf" rebuilt transmissions ready, saving you time.

[Rodentkiller]

Better off going to a shop and have the transmission rebuilt that suffer aggravation of a nuked transmission from a junkyard.

[sluggish91]

130K miles is pretty steep. You could always get one out of a Mustang and swap over the Grand Marquis TV cable and exterior components and make it work with the Mustang transmission. I guess its just a matter of how mechanically inclined you are. If you can do the transmission swap just go for the $250 transmission. Anything you can do yourself confidently you should do. Worst case you are right back where you started a month from now. Best case scenario you got yourself a $250 transmission.

[gadget73]

The AOD in my Mark VII has 237k on it and works mostly fine. maintained,130k is not a problem. The key is "maintained". Mine was owned by a guy who was extremely up on the maintenance and swapped the brass bushing in many years before it became a problem. This isn't really the norm. More common to drop the pan and find the bobber still in there, which tells you the fluid has never been changed.

[JeffBoudah]

Its a gamble, 130k can be a a lot or not. I've smoked a stock aod with 100k, but I've also put a baumann shift kit in a completely untested 160k mile aod and beat on it for a few more years.

[Brown_Muscle]

It's a shame you're not closer to NJ... I have my old AOD that was in perfect working shape I would sell for cheaper than $250.

That being said, I'd find a shop someone has had their AOD previously rebuilt at, and had good luck there, I know there's someone in Georgia I believe his name is Brian, he rebuilt my current AOD in 2001 and despite many owners, its going strong

Edit: here's his FB page: https://www.facebook.com/Ford-transm...8414635312478/

[clutch47]

I'm at the other end of this.
If the car is worth keeping, bite the bullet and put something good in there.
If you're OK with the car being out of service for a bit, get the transmission out, get it rebuilt, and put a converter in it while you're doing it.
Do it once. Do it right. What is your time worth?

[DerekTheGreat]

Yeah, unless that trans came from someone I knew, I wouldn't be putting it in one of my cars. Find a good transmission repair shop and be done with it. Let them take it out and put it back in, a good shop wouldn't do "carry outs".