FerdinandF150

Prices will vary, your $6k also includes labor yes? A semi good rule of thumb is parts are usually 50% and labor is 50%. Not always, but a good ballpark.

BareBonesXL

There's another aspect of the core charge that would make you even more angry. If, for whatever reason, they decided that your old transmission was no good as a core, maybe it had a chipped case or something, they might refuse to refund you the core charge. That also is part of the business model, the cores have to be worth reusing. It's probably in the fine print. So it's very easy to get surprised by the core charge then get really surprised when they tell you the core is no good and you don't get a refund.

2015FordF150Platinum

No the $6k price is the tranny only. Labor is another nearly 2k, the whole estimate is just under $9k.

FerdinandF150

One of those times it's not a good ballpark method. Good luck on your repair.

2015FordF150Platinum

So far, I've not gotten anything but the estimate, with the 4 items listed.
1. Transmission $6050.
2. Fluid
3. Labor
4. Tax
Total = just under $9k
And that's another good piece of info, I've not been told. Possible refusal of old tranny. New one comes with a 3 yr/ 100,000 mile warranty.
Heres the funny, not funny, my factory warranty 5yr/100,000 miles, expired 5 days before the issue occured. And the company doesnt sell to the public, have to go through a public company, great all those spam calls, haha. But i was able to buy another warranty for another 24k miles/2yrs. For the rest of the truck, since it just rolled over 100,000 miles, from being in the shop and test driven. It was at 999820 when it's issue occurred.
I've signed nothing nor been given any other paperwork, yet. The new one has been ordered should be here this weekend. They should be able to start working on it Monday, and will have it for 3 to 4 days thereafter.
And I thank you, for your additional information. Have a great day.

BareBonesXL

Now that you know how the business works, it would be a good time to find out how much a transmission shop would charge. Obviously now you know the transmissions can be rebuilt. Places like Aamco specialize in rebuilding. Might be worth shopping around. And, dealerships might imply that they can't negotiate the price but they can. It's all business.

Back to the start of your story though. It's odd that the Ford dealership started with an electronic solution, that worked for a while, then immediately went to a mechanical solution for the same issue. This part here is a big red flag - "no clue why it’s still doing it, they say, so you need a new transmission." These aren't the words of experts.

Anyway, good luck with it. I'm a big believer in second opinions. Even going to a second Ford dealership in the same area would be worthwhile. There are good ones and there are bad ones. I used to drive an extra 15 miles to go to a dependable Nissan dealer when I had a Nissan. My local one was bad.

https://reman-transmission.com/trans...hoCwRMQAvD_BwE

BareBonesXL

Here's a video that might explain what the dealer mechanics did. Even the electronic procedure is pretty elaborate. The mechanic should have confirmed proper operation before you got it back. Shouldn't have failed an hour later, it should have failed for the mechanic. You can't fix a mechanical problem for just one hour using the electronic calibration. Something's fishy from the beginning.

Not an expert, just a new guy learning new stuff. Beware.

2015FordF150Platinum

That's when things got interesting and frustrating. They couldnt and owned that they had no explanation as to why it continued to fail. They said they got a code, to reset the computer and did that and test drove it for 30 miles. So when it started doing it to me again, they told me to let it relearn and give it a few more days/drives, i did and fear i did more damage. Because it would slam, like the brakes were hit hard or the rear axle locked up. So i asked why would only 4th gear fail and no others? And they dont know, and then if i were to pay just to fix, repair, theres no guarantee the other gears wouldn't do the same as well, which is why, I am going with all New tranny. And there'd be no warranty for 1 gear. So I'm not ok with that route. And yes, i am bothered by the "I dont knows" by these professionals. Which I am still doing my research other than here and googling. I am making calls to mechanics and independant transmission shops.
Thank you very much for your assistance.

ToasterEvil

Sounds to me like you should have gotten a second opinion.

Also, core charge is a bit of a misnomer. It's really more of a rebate. $7k would be full price and you get a rebate of $1k bringing it to $6k when you send in the old core. Pretty common. See it with an assortment of parts: headlights, taillights, brake calipers, transmissions, differentials.