Well...if you remember a few weeks ago I had a topic about my transmission making a whining noise (alllottt like SC whine but I have an SE) and shifting sloppily and shaking the car. Took it to Aamco and of course the guy (kinda redneck w/ a mullet..used car salesmen/scam artist look to him, lol) immidietly starts in with the "oh yea...man, thats an expensive tranny..and by the way you describe it, its gonna need completely rebuilt. Thats about $1600-$1800."

The guy hadn't even looked at it yet, lol. Of course he started w/ the "you shouldn't drive it, it'll go any time" scare-tactic crap. And then after a few hours I come back and he makes it all seem so grave and terrible. His mechanic tells me I also have a broken tranny mount. Well that accounts for the sloppy, shimmying feeling shifts...bc the tranny does NOT slip or anything. It sounds like its shifting perfectly, but you can really feel it jerk the car..and I'm assuming thats due to the broken mount. Initially I thought it was the tranny going.

The tranny mount seems to be a relatively straightforward thing...I got one from AutoZone for $51. As for the whining sound...the mechanic claims that its the tranny pump starving for fluid. I'm no mechanic, so I have no clue if thats true. It does NOT whine all the time...only sometimes, and usually after I've been driving for 20-30 minutes, and typically under load...but sometimes I can floor it w/ no sound at all. Sometimes its fairly low, other times it howls louuddd as hell.

I'm wondering if perhaps bc the tranny isn't held down well, when that torque moves it around things could be rubbing or being put under stress causing that noise. But again, I don't really know if thats something that even makes sense.

I've also sorta followed the talk about the phantom side markers in 00-05 Bonnies. Mine were out, and I replaced them...looks muuuccchh nicer back there. Damn manual doesn't even mention them.

DO NOT LET AAMCO TOUCH YOUR TRANS!!
$1600 to $1800 is a lot cheaper than the dealer'* gonna charge you, but there'* a reason for that. They use cheap parts, and do sloppy work. In the long run, it'll cost you more money than you'd save.

My own experience with them involved a 90 Ford Taurus. I got it free from my Great Aunt, with an AAMCO trans already in it. That trans lasted less than two months after I got the car. I took it to AAMCO and had it rebuilt again, and got the lifetime guarantee. Twice more in the year I had that car, the AAMCO trans blew up, both times leaving me completely stranded on the side of the road. The only reason I ever went back was that the guarantee made the second and third rebuild free. Truthfully, though, they cost me towing, twice, bus trips, taxi fares, and inability to get where I needed to be. I would have spent far less money if I had gone to a Ford dealer for a factory rebuild.

Unless you are seriously broke, don't let AAMCO anywhere near your car.

Thanks for the warning against Aamco, its definitely not the first time I've heard it.

I'm hoping though that now that I know the tranny mount is bad, that when its replaced it will clear up most of the problems I was associating with the tranny going bad (rough shifting, etc). I put in Lucas Transmission Treatment..it was like 14 bucks. Not sure if its good stuff or not. I'm probably going to get the tranny flushed and use SeaFoam as well. I'm hoping everything will be A-OK after the new mount and fluid change/seafoam.

Change mount ASAP and see how it is.

Well, myself and a neighbor changed the mount last night. Purchased it from AutoZone for $61.99. The mount was DESTROYED...torn all around the bolt. The vibrating/shimmying stuff has stopped and its a big difference. The tranny is still making the whining noise but its DRASTICALLY reduced and much less frequent. Which leads me to believe the noise was caused by the broken mount. Driving it around for a month with a broken mount was probably not the smartest thing to do though. I didn't know it was the mount until last week.

I plan on doing a little more research into SeaFoam and will probably do a full SeaFoam throughout the car (engine, tranny, w/e else people recommend).

Glad to hear you got it fixed. And a lot cheaper that having the mullet mechanic rip you off for a couple grand