You guys arent really familiar with my trans problems, but this is what I posted on my forum where they know all about it, but this place is local so i want to help you all out too.
Long story short, I had a bad trans, got a new trans, and am having the same problems. But they prob put bad trans fluid in it....
To The Cottman Transmission Customer Service Team,
I was refered to cottman by my local mechanic, I was told that my trans fluid was shot and i would be looking at a replacement or a rebuild some time soon. I ordered a trans with 6k on it from Mazmart, they fully tested it and drained as much of the fluid as they could and it was all in proper working order when it left Mazmart. Once the trans arived at Cottman I took my car in and they had the car ready the next afternoon. I was pretty pleased about the speedy service, or so I thought. First: although it was not in writing, I was told that it should cost around 4-500$ to get the trans installed and filled with fluid. After the trans arrived at Cottman (and I was then locked into using them unless I wanted to get a lift and remove the trans from the shop myself) I was told that it was going to cost more then they thought. Turns out it was double what they thought, $1007, and thats including a "$500" discount that is marked on the receipt. At that point there was nothing I could do, pay them and take my car, or refuse to pay and they keep the car. So while driving the car for the next few weeks I have been having the same problems with the new trans as the old one, I am getting high shifts, erratic shifting, and hard shifts, I can feel every single shift the car makes. More recently I found that while doing around 60mph, in between 4th and 5th gear the trans seems to be getting confused, and half shifts between 4th then 5th and back again while maintaining that speed.
I talked to some of my Mazda Technician friends and they said that these problems are not normal and could be caused by putting the wrong fluid in the trans because the Mazda 6 is a very picky car. I see some black flecks on the dipstick which are most likely burnt trans fluid, which would result from improper trans fluid. So I then called Cottman and asked what fluid they put in my car, they had no idea, I was told "I'm not sure, just regular trans fluid I guess, probably dextron, maybe it was not dextron".
I have been told numerous times that the wrong trans fluid can be very harmful and destroy my trans from the inside. This would be very unacceptable in my book, if the shop did something to cause my 900$ trans to die.
I called back and told them about my problems, and they said that the trans was filled with fluid when they got it. This would be the beginning of them trying to deflect my questions about what was wrong with my car. I have been told by my Mazda Tech friends and Mechanics that I know that it is not proper protocol to raise a trans into a car with fluid in it. The people at Cottman then continued to tell me that the trans was filled with ALOT of fluid when it got there. I know this is not true for a few reasons:
1. Mazmart drains as much fluid as possible before shipping the trans
2: I personally know that there is no way that if the trans was shipped, that the fluid wouldnt have leaked out. I got my old trans back from Cottman and they said there wasnt any fluid in it, and then when I got home (it was in my trunk) my spare tire well was filled with fluid, and my carpet was destroyed. So if the trans was shipped with that much fluid in it, we would have some angry UPS drivers after us...
3: If the trans was lifted into the car with that much fluid in it the fluid would have gotten all over the shop, and all over my car. The fluid would have leaked out of the axle input shafts and it would have gone everywhere.
I went into Cottman today and they test drove my car again, and hooked it up to a scanner. They told me that it felt fine when they drove it, and they pulled a pending code that was linked to a wire harness not being tight, which I fixed a few days before. They said that this could be the cause of all my problems. This was another attempt to deflect the blame off of them.
Finally, a few days ago I brought my car to the Mazda dealership to see if there was a reflash available for my trans to see if that would help anything, and i went in and they told me there was no reflash for my trans. They did however find some loose wires and the trans ground was loose which they said could be causing some of my problems. After leaving the dealership the car drove a little better, but they charged me $50 to fix something that should have not broken in the first place.
I am extremely unhappy with the quality of the work I received, and the way that they are deflecting all of my issues onto something else. I think that your customer service department should be aware of this problem before the problem escalates if/when something happens to my trans because of something that they did.
Max Jackson
Im going back in tomorow with a list of **** so I dont forget anything, figured anyone who was intrested (tom) would like to see it:
1. Mazmart drains 95% of the fluid before they ship a trans
-either a very well respected company in the Mazda comunity and a great friend of mine is lying to me about the fluid, or you are trying to bail yourselvs out
2. Even if it was filled to the top...there is absoultly no way that the fluid didnt get every, all over your shop, all over my car, all over the UPS shop
3. I know this for a fact because when you told me the trans was empty, just the tq converter had some fluid in it, fluid went all over my trunk filling my spare tire well, and ruining my carpet, and the tq converter still had the same amount, so where did it comer from? If it was shipped with the amound of fluid that you say was in in then it would have spilled all over the UPS truck.
4. Not standard procudre to raise a filled tranny into a car anyway : fluid would go all ofer the place from the axle input shafts (thanks tom )
5. The wrong fluid could cause MAJOR internal damage to my trans, not good if YOU put the wrong fluid in.
6. So far you have just tried to deflect the blame, own up to your mistakes, or lose many possible customers.
7. You dont know what tranny fluid you used " maybe regular fluid, maybe dextron, maybe not" is what I was told when I called.
8. I went to Mazda and was asking about a reflash hoping that it could help me, but tere was none. BUT, Mazda did however find loose wires, and a loose trans ground, which they fixed, and charged me $50 for. The car felt a little better afterwards.
9.There is no reason that after spending $1000 with you that I should need to spend more money else wear.
10. I was assuming that the trans would be installed properly when I paid you the THOUSAND dollars
11. Why am I spending more money on somethng that should have been done right the first time around?
12. I want a full flush and then a UOA (used oil analysis) sent out to diagnose the damage.
13. We will work from there.
so bottom line is....im not happy with cottman, and tehy will pay!!!!
