Engine and Transmission Work
These are the jobs nobody wants to need. A slipping transmission or a misfire that won't go away means the car is telling you something is wrong at the core of it, not on the surface. We do this work carefully, because if it's wrong the second time, you've paid twice.
A few signs point here. A transmission that hesitates before it grabs a gear, or slips under load, or shifts hard and late. An engine that runs rough at idle, hesitates on acceleration, or throws a check engine light for a misfire. Coolant that disappears with no visible leak, or a thermostat that sticks so the temp gauge climbs on the highway. Oil showing up on the driveway under the pan. Any of these is worth a look before it turns into a bigger repair.
Diagnosis comes first. For a misfire or rough running, we hook up a scan tool, check the codes, and confirm what's actually happening with the ignition, fuel, and compression before we replace anything. Guessing on an engine job wastes your money.
From there the work ranges a lot. A transmission fluid and filter change is routine maintenance, cheap insurance against a bigger repair later. A full transmission fluid drain and refill on a car that's never had one done is a bigger job, since old fluid moving through worn clutches can sometimes expose problems that were being masked by the dirty fluid itself. That's a real tradeoff and we'll talk you through it before doing it on a car with high miles or a known shift problem.
Oil pan gaskets, coolant thermostats, and oil coolers are more contained repairs. Pull the part, replace the gasket or unit, refill fluids, check for leaks. Straightforward, but the labor to get at some of these varies a lot by engine layout, so the price isn't fixed.
Then there's the big end of it: full engine or transmission replacement. This is the point where we're honest about the car's value. If a 15-year-old car with 180,000 miles needs a new transmission, the repair can cost more than the car is worth. We'll tell you that plainly, and lay out what a used or rebuilt option looks like against just running what you have until it won't run anymore.
Nick Porter handles the diagnostic and engine work here. If you're in Graham, Puyallup, or anywhere around South Hill and want a second opinion before committing to a transmission or engine job, call (253) 375-7057 and describe what the car is doing. Often that's enough to tell whether it's worth bringing in.