Help! Should I take it back to mechanic and complain or live with it?

[DLW]

98 Camry 2.2L 4cyl 246,000 miles automatic transmission. Original owner.

Replaced leaking differential driverside seal 1.5 yrs ago. Started leaking a few months ago. 2 weeks ago I replaced the seal again myself and noticed alot of play in the drivers side axle. Put my finger in the differential box and the brearing was shot,moving all around.

I took it to the transmission shop with the best price for a rebuilt diff and trans and the one that was the most patient and listened and explained things over the phone prior to my taking it in. Its just a 2 stall garage in an old neigborhood, looks like a dump, but been around for years. My car has a lot of miles so I was not concerned about the coffee in the waiting room or the ambiance. Just looking for good price for experienced trans work.

Most of the shops would not talk aboutover the phone or give rough estimates. The price I was told prior to work was $550 if he could replace the differential parts without opening up the whole transmission and $1100 if he had to open the trans to get to the differential because you might as well rebuild it at that point.

I got the call to pick it up today. Total price was $497. They did not have to go into the transmission. The driverside differential bearing was shot as I suspected. He went ahead and replaced the passenger side bearing as well and both differentialbox seals. New tranny fluid. Totalprice $497 which was $350 for labor and the rest for the parts-fluid. I was glad as I was planning on having to drop the $1100 for a rebuild tranny. He said the bearing was fried and showed it to me and said if I would of kept driving it at some point it would have caused enough damage to ruin the trans, but he did not see any noticible damage just the bearing and replaced the other side since he was in there too.

So......I drive away and right away I notice my car rides differently. The steering and control are much tighter. Normaly my Camry's steering is floppy-spongy etc. It is tighter now like how my 95 Corrolla used to be. I am not imagining things....its definately tighter. Not a bad thing, maybe a good thing but obviously different.

When I got home I looked around. I noticed there was new fluid in the power steering resovoir as it was red instead of black. I know its awful, but I never changed or drained the old stuff for 246,000 miles. Just added a little ATF a few times. Total neglect of this, my bad

????? They may have had to remove many parts to work on the differential.......could taking them apart or draining and filling the power steering with new ATF instead of that dirtyslime I had in there really make that much of a difference in the steering? Or could the bearing have something to do with it?

Then tonight I noticed that if I am in the car with my foot on the brake and put it in reverse then back to park and take my foot off the brake it rolls backabout 3-4 inches(my garage has a slight slope). My wife saw this and said why does your car roll back. I took it for a drive and stopped at some hills and did the same thing and it was more noticable due to the hill. Not more distance, just 3-4 inches but still did it. Basically its like it does not lock in part at standing still if the car goes from reverse to park even with the brake pedal on until it rolls abck a few inches. It takes 3-4 inches to lock in park. Its fine on flat ground. No clicking or noise, just the roll back if on a slope. I know it never did this before. It does not bother me, but I want the car in proper working order and do not want this problem over time to be messing something up. I wonder if it was not put back together correctly or is this no big deal.

???????My dilema is........what is causing this? Do I take it back to the shop and complain that on a slope it rolls back when going from reverse to park when you let off the brake after shifting? Am I being petty. I just want the car to not be broken. I really do not want to be petty and bother the shop or mechanic over a small thing, but at the sametime, it did not do this before.

What do you all think would be the right action to take or not to take? Thanks!

[71Corolla]

Every car I've ever owned rolls back or forward a bit on a slope after you put the tranny in park. Only thing I can think of is the bad bearing was stopping the car from doing this.

[Tech1984]

First, in order to get to the diff, the engine cradle needed to be lowered. Since the steering rack is attached to this, all the fluid had to be drained.
So you got kinda got a free steering flush out of this. A + for you. Dex 3 is what he put back in there.
Second, what you are referring to in the parking situation is call the parking pawl. It locks in at a certain point. Something there has been disturbed in the process.
My opinion, not a big deal here, but you got a GREAT deal on that labor!
Drive the car, and if you feel uncomfortable about it, swing by and mention it. But if he has to tear back into it just for that, it may be asking for other problems . So live with it and start using that hand brake like it's designed to do.

[DLW]

Its possible that it did the roll back before, but I really do not think so. It was noticible right away and I have been in this car alot of miles. Maybe the fried bearing was holding it some how, maybe the only thing it was doing? Who knows. The mechanic said the bearing was badly worn and not much driving left on it probaly. He said it was held in place in the differential box, but fell apart when taken out.

Glad to hear the price on the labor was good. It seemed that way when I was calling around. I was expecting it to be worst case scenario and need a trans rebuild. You know....bring it in.....sorry its going to be alot more than expected.....needs a whole rebuild. I was glad the mechanic was honest about that. Its the first time I used this shop and am a little skeptical in general. It was even $50 less than the phone quote and a lot less than a rebuilt trans which I am sure some shops would have recommended.

Its nice not to get completely screwed by a shop! Pleasant, informative,good price, treated well, knowledgeable. It sems like a simple concept, but I do not think it happens that way often these days. Its funny.....I was treated better than I have been by many big shops or dealers. No fast talk or inpatience with my questions or bullshit that I was aware of. No trying to sell me extra stuff. No shop supply or disposal fees, ha!

Mainly was concerned about something not being put together right as I have limited knowledge about transmisions-differentials. I do not think it will bother me. If its noticible but not an actual problem then I can live with it. I do not really want to mess with the time and hassle and potential problems of having the case ripped back open etc. Generally do not like to complain unless I really have to. Its a machine with alot of miles on it. I will drive it and keep driving.

I was wondering about the power steering drain and fill, if thats what had happened. My maintenance schedule is one drain and fill every 246,000 miles. Will do the next one sooner ha!

Thanks for the feedback!

[fenixus]

yeah, all my automatic cars I've owned roll a few inches back or forth when shifted to park before the pawl engages. I'd say it's pretty normal and nothing to worry about.

I agree with above 71corolla comments on the probably shot diff/axle bearing was blocking that roll movement before and not anymore because the bearing is good now.

fluid flush is always a good thing, sounds like you found a trusty mechanic and received a decent deal over there

as per actual roll back (while in Drive and uphill) that is something worn out in transmission, my 5s-fe does that whenever I wait at red lights up hill and let the foot off the brake pedal, the car rolls back until I press on the gas pedal. I forgot what the problem with that was, but my wife and I just ignore it. My v6 doesn't do that though.

[Chris Crash]

Originally Posted by fenixus

as per actual roll back (while in Drive and uphill) that is something worn out in transmission, my 5s-fe does that whenever I wait at red lights up hill and let the foot off the brake pedal, the car rolls back until I press on the gas pedal.

Every automatic car I've ever driven does this as well. My 5 speed does it too, but that's different story hehe

[fenixus]

yeah hehe manuals of course do that, that's why you are supposed to use the e-brake when starting to move forward at steep hills

However automatics I think are supposed (at least when new) to do that on their own somehow to prevent that roll back, I forgot how though.

generally speaking, the front wheels are not supposed to roll in reverse when (forward) driving gear is engaged.
it should actually work both ways, so also the front wheels are not supposed to roll forward when the reverse gear is selected.

it's also same with manual gear boxes (unless the clutch is depressed) and that's how drivers are supposed to park their cars with manual sticks, locking in the reverse gear when parking down the hill and in 1st gear when parking up the hill.

Originally Posted by Chris Crash

Every automatic car I've ever driven does this as well. My 5 speed does it too, but that's different story hehe

[ghettosled]

Originally Posted by fenixus

yeah hehe manuals of course do that, that's why you are supposed to use the e-brake when starting to move forward at steep hills

i never use the parking brake when starting on a steep hill - it can be easily avoided with some practice.


OP - kudos on the fair price and work. i too vote not to worry about the roll when putting the car in park. i wonder too if there is some air trapped in the steering rack causing tighter steering - if so, it will work its way out after some use.

[fenixus]

yeah, I'm aware that you can even hold the car in equilibrium uphill by gently pressing on gas pedal (easy to do with automatic, harder to do on manual where you need to worry about clutch too) and not even touching the brake pedal
or quickly press gas pedal right after releasing the brake pedal, but then you are risking front wheels spinning especially if road surface is wet.

I was just saying that e-brake was supposed to be used to make it super easy for everybody, even a grandma driving with a manual stick

Originally Posted by ghettosled

i never use the parking brake when starting on a steep hill - it can be easily avoided with some practice.