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My $700 transmission swap turned into a $1,800 nightmare because I skipped one step
So about three weeks back I picked up a 2003 Civic with a slipping auto trans for $850 off a guy in Fresno. I figured I would just grab a junkyard trans for $300 and swap it myself in a weekend, easy money flip right? Wrong. I got the old one out fine, dropped the new one in, filled it with fluid, and it drove great for about 40 miles. Then it started slipping worse than the original one ever did. Turns out I never flushed the cooler lines and all the old clutch material and metal shavings from the dead trans got pushed right into the replacement and cooked it. I pulled it back out, bought another trans for $350, plus $120 in fluid, plus a $60 cooler, and now I am $1,800 deep in a car worth maybe $2,500 on a good day. The thing that kills me is the guy at the parts counter actually warned me to flush the lines and I brushed it off because I was in a hurry. If you are doing an auto trans swap on a high mileage beater, do not skip the cooler flush, it will cost you way more than the $20 it takes to do it right. Anyone else learn this the hard way or am I the only one who cut that corner?
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