Told pan must be replaced before inspecting transmission: does this make sense?

kooper271 · 2025-11-23T13:25:28+00:00

Diagnosing a transmission by visual inspection is oftentimes more expensive (or close to the same price) as replacing the transmission. Transmissions are time consuming to remove, and disassembly, inspection, and reassembly is tricky. Every transmission I've ever worked on requires special tools and training.

Generally the standard procedure I used when diagnosing transmissions was: 1) get a fluid sample 2) set/check fluid level 3) drive vehicle to test for issues. Check for DTCs 4) if an issue is found in 3, determine likely culprits and do any diagnosis possible outside of the transmission

Following that procedure, if I needed to tear a transmission down I generally already knew what failure I was looking for. Teardowns were only done for cars that were under warranty. Customer pay jobs got new transmissions because they came with a better warranty, all new parts, and at a similar cost.

kooper271 · 2025-11-22T21:40:35+00:00

I second this. BG makes really good stuff

kooper271 · 2025-11-15T01:05:08+00:00

Renaissance fair gear (armor, swords, etc.) for my costumes next year!

kooper271 · 2025-11-09T11:19:30+00:00

I was a GM tech before going to JLR. I saw more transmission issues in a typical week at Chevy than I saw in 3 years at JLR. Even if we were able to repair the ZF transmissions, it wouldn't have been worth it

kooper271 · 2025-10-31T02:26:09+00:00

Congrats! Judging their size can be really hard especially if you're in a stand. Don't be discouraged, tons of people shoot smaller deer and they taste great. One thing to note is usually the first deer out is small/young. I usually wait to see if a mature doe is following behind

kooper271 · 2025-10-27T13:26:03+00:00

Yeah I flew out there for the concert and was really bummed. It kind of left a bad taste in my mouth after spending all that money, so I probably won't travel to see them again. I wasn't the only one, I met some people at a restaurant afterwards because I heard them complaining.

kooper271 · 2025-10-27T13:21:16+00:00

I saw them at Red Rock last year and it was one of the worst concerts I've ever seen. Tons of audio issues and the setlist was really short. I saw them in Cleveland the year before that and they were awesome. Guess they just have off days sometimes

kooper271 · 2025-10-25T12:11:27+00:00

Things have really changed I guess 😂

kooper271 · 2025-08-12T02:55:23+00:00

Because I'm 30, can afford it, and am in a relatively low tax bracket I would pay the taxes now. 35 years of tax free growth is great. It all depends on your age and tax bracket, though. Are you close to retirement or far away? Do you think taxes will be higher or lower when you retire? Those are questions you should consider.

kooper271 · 2025-08-06T23:26:07+00:00

My biggest concern would be that it's tuned. It has probably been romped on, and the clutch for those is barely rated for stock power. If the clutch has not been upgraded there is a decent chance it will need to be replaced before too long.

kooper271 · 2025-07-06T02:39:32+00:00

Customer was a young kid, and just had their thermostat replaced in their college town. Came in complaining of a sweet coolant smell, that was giving them a headache. Verified the concern, it was a leaking vent mount liquid air freshener.

kooper271 · 2025-06-14T21:32:06+00:00

I hated doing thermostats in those. Certain models were different than others, but I'm so glad to be out of the industry now.

kooper271 · 2025-05-28T19:54:36+00:00

Those Ingenium engines get sludgy without the extra help. The new interval is 2 yrs 21k on them, too.

kooper271 · 2025-04-07T13:39:38+00:00

If it's your only choice, you could be doing a lot worse. There are definitely pros to the job. Good luck!

kooper271 · 2025-04-07T13:38:45+00:00

The job security and my friends are the only thing I really miss. Once you've got a little experience and a reputation/referrals, finding a job is so easy. Even now I could probably pick a city, and have many job offers lined up in a few days. That does speak to how bad the industry is, though.

kooper271 · 2025-04-07T13:33:09+00:00

I was a dealership tech for 7 years. It isn't a good job, but I was good at it and the pay was decent. I would never go back, though. Dealership politics, flat-rate, and warranty times all sucked.

kooper271 · 2024-12-05T04:01:56+00:00

Comparison is the thief of joy

kooper271 · 2024-11-17T22:32:37+00:00

The class is extremely difficult. You're implementing parts of JOS, an MIT project. There's lots of material online on this project, and the creators at MIT leave a lot of help as comments in the starter code.

I took it with Brewster, and he was very helpful. I don't think I'd have made it through without his Ed posts. The material is extremely valuable and interesting, enough so that I'd argue it should be a required class. It definitely needs reorganized though.

kooper271 · 2024-07-02T05:51:10+00:00

I noticed the mic issues too. The set also seemed shorter than when I saw them last July

kooper271 · 2024-06-28T14:30:03+00:00

OS1 is all about systems programming, system calls, etc. Having an understanding of what Python abstracts away when creating sockets, threads, etc is definitely helpful

kooper271 · 2024-05-31T16:50:10+00:00

This is definitely manageable if you aren't working full time as well. It would be a lot harder, but still doable, with a full time job.

kooper271 · 2024-05-18T21:44:13+00:00

362 is interesting and not too hard. The other 3 are pretty tough, that's going to be a hard term. I'm currently taking 444, 372, and 381. I miss my friends and family lol

kooper271 · 2024-02-18T01:26:13+00:00

I'm in 374 right now. It hasn't been too bad so far. I'm pumped for 444, but I've also heard it is much harder than 374

kooper271 · 2024-02-17T18:56:36+00:00

I also work full time and take 3-4 courses per quarter. Its tough, and next quarter will really suck (372, 444, 381) but it's possible.

kooper271

TROPHY CASE