As the title says, I bought another vehicle, was hoping my next would be a wagon, and I'm going today to look at something that is wagon-ish, a 80's Ramcharger that is the same color as my truck, might get it and yank the 318 from my '85 D100. Or I might just part out the Ramcharger if they'll part with it. The truck is a 1985 Dodge D100 with 130k miles on a 318 the previous owners cammed and put a holley 4bbl on with a edelbrock intake. It also has a new water pump, alternator, radiator, motor mounts, recently added shocks including Monroe air shocks in the rear, a sliding back glass, and a trailer hitch. Carb needs some work, and the truck needs a new exhaust, but that's no big deal. Either way, for now I have a '85 D100 along side my '77 Olds, the truck was bought so I could do work to my car, but that fell through since AAMCO screwed me on the truck and I can't get them to pick it up. Long story short, I had AAMCO change the fluid and filter about three weeks ago, drove the truck a whopping 60 miles in the two weeks before it broke down. It was sitting 'cause I was broke and didn't have money to put gas in the tank at the time, was still recovering from buying the truck, registering it, and changing the fluid / filter. I pulled it out of the yard, and, it blew off one of the rubber hoses connecting the coolant lines to the transmission cooler built into the radiator on the coolant line side of the hose. What came out was the same brown fluid as when I bought the truck, it didn't start bleeding red until the very end. I'm going over there today to stir up some trouble, I've been on AAMCO to pick up my truck since last Thursday. So yeah, the truck was great until I let AAMCO mess with it and take me on a ride for $136, I'm probably just going to take it somewhere else and eat the loss at this point.
Thanks, the truck is second on the list, but I'm not gonna pass up a parts vehicle, I know someone who has a shop, I could have that ramcharger parted out for the front clip, bumpers, tail lights, and whatever else it's worth in a weekend.
Good looking old truck. So why didn't you save a bundle and change your own tranny fluid and filter? I notice so many members who are "car guys" have most of those easy jobs done at a shop costing way too much labor and still don't get the jobs done right. It's a simple matter on a truck to just crawl under, remove the tranny pan and filter, clean, replace, add new fluid................. And check the hoses. Apparently AAMCO didn't bother to check the lines. Why does AAMCO need to come get the truck? Fix the line, add fluid, and drive the truck. A tow and another service bill will be more money you can use to work on your wagon. I am not picking on you alone. I'm an equal opportunity griper.
What wagon? I had to part with it, I've only got the Delta 88 sedan, though I'm gonna find another wagon eventually. I should've done it myself, now the transmission is possibly FUBAR'd, I reconnected the line, put in a pint of trans fluid, it doesn't want to go or stay in gear, limped it over there and they're supposedly going to fix it. I really hope I don't have to put a transmission in it, this is the last time I'll let a shop work on anything but exhaust on my vehicles. Most things I do myself, I'll wind up changing the fluid and filter on my Delta myself, I'm not going through this again. I paid to have the truck done 'cause I didn't feel like blood bathing the alley behind my house where I do most of my work. When the truck gets back out of the shop, I'll work on getting that Ramcharger, parting it out, seats, fenders, bumpers, few other things. Then I can work on getting both my vehicles ready for inspection in March. Truck needs exhaust, car needs an alignment, front tires, and a gasket between the Y pipe and manifold. Truck may also need brakes, not sure yet. Bought a truck to help the project that is my Delta 88 along so I could park the car long enough to work on it, and the truck wound up being a project. At this rate I'm gonna wind up with three or four projects in my driveway, much to the neighbors dismay. So yeah, ADHD version, my vehicles are keeping me quite busy.
One of the problems with doing a fluid/filter change is that if you just drop the pan, it's a $136 job, and it does not include flushing the cooler. Hooking up to a fluid exchanger to change out all fluids costs much more, and does include flushing the cooler. So as far as your rig goes, the cooler line popping off was only just "bad luck," and was likely going to happen anyway. If I was in your shoes, I would manually flush the cooler and lines, top off the trans and drive it to find out if the trans is damaged. As far as AAMCO is concerned, however, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you got what you paid for.
At this point, I'm aware of that, live and learn I suppose, I'll take my Olds to a local shop when it needs to be changed, my uncle has been going to the same one for about 20 years and never had a problem. I'm only changing it in my car because the pan gasket needs to be replaced and, again, I don't want to be bloodbathed. Live and learn, what doesn't kill you just hurts like hell the next day, right?
I don't blame you or anyone for having a tranny drained and a new filter put in. It can be messy and uncomfortable. But you will not get a bloodbath if you first remove a few pan bolts and let it drain into a bucket or oil collection pan. Doing many of these simple jobs yourself is part of the "fun" and pride of owning a collector vehicle. And your own labor is free.
If your years weren't wrong, I'd almost think you were copying me! I had an 82 olds 88, I've got an 83 d-150 truck, and my 81 safari wagon. Sorry to hear about your issues with AAMCO, that really stinks. Good luck with the truck though, you've got a nicer setup than I do, even with needing some work.
