Dropped $340 on a junkyard transmission for my 98 Corolla and it lasted 11 days
I still think about this one. Back around 2019 I had a 98 Corolla with 240k on it and the trans started slipping bad on the highway outside Toledo. A guy on Craigslist had a pulled trans for $340 out of a car with "only 90k" on it, which I now know is the oldest line in the book. Me and my buddy Dave swapped it in his gravel driveway over a weekend, no lift, just jack stands and a lot of swearing, and I was feeling pretty good about myself until day 11 when it started slipping worse than the original. Pulled the pan and the fluid looked like coffee with glitter in it. I never got my money back and I ate the core charge too. These days I just pay the $150 for a compression and leakdown test before I buy any used part, which feels dumb in the moment but way less dumb than doing the job twice. What do you guys do to check a used trans before you hand over cash?