A big [?|] [?|] [?|] [?|]ing red tow truck!!!!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v160/b3passatBMX/X-mastow2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v160/b3passatBMX/X-mastow.jpg

Was out for a drive cause it was really nice today. Heading to wash the car at a buddies house. Pulled out onto the highway from a sidestreet and hammered it. Soon as I did I hear a clunk, thunk, clunk...put it in nuetral and coasted to the side of the road. Horrible confused at this point and hoping maybe I just imagined it. I slowwly let the clutch out to try and start again and right past the friction point the car shakes bad and same clunking. At this point I had to refrain from punching my windshield clear out and sat for a second to clear my head. Called a few people, then called AAA to come tow it. As I'm waiting I'm trying to figure what just broke. Car was still on so I revved the engine a few time...perfectly fine, thankfully not the engine. Shifted through all the gears and shifted fine, but again shuttered bad when I started to let the clutch out. So my consensus and what I'm praying for is I snapped an axle or joint.
Then some more fun began when the tow truck driver got it all hooked up, started off. If you are from around the midwest and possibly elsewhere you may have heard of the gigantic Ricart megamall, this place is seriously massive, every car ever, RV's, heard they have a Miata test track or something. Anyways, I live like 5 min from there and was a mile or so past my house so we just headed there. Get there, totally gated up. Called the security office and asked the guy to open the gate.."Sorry, all closed up today nothing I can do [hangs up] ". At this point I was so pissed that the largest dealership in the midwest can't even help me I gave the guy the finger. Get back in the tow truck with my aunt following and head to another dealership where it sits now. Eagerly awaiting someone to tell me how much of my birthday and x-mas money I have to spend and how much more in debt I'll be.
Luckily, my g-ma is letting me borrow her car. An 01 PT crusier totally loaded and only 3400 miles on it. Car is terrible to drive but the heated seats are great. Anyways, tuesday morning I'm calling and hoping to find more about it. I'll keep you posted. Hope everyone else's x-mas eve went better. [cheers]

Damn, sounds like a real kick in the balls. Hope everything turns out OK.

that's pretty shitty........

jeeez that sucks, so wait, did you find out whats wrong with the car?

that doesn't sound like you had a great day...sorry that happened!

jeeez that sucks, so wait, did you find out whats wrong with the car?

Nah not yet. Dealership wont be open till tuesday but I'm calling ASAP to see if they have looked at it and can determine what is wrong.

I'm sorry dude that really blows. I hope everything works out for you and your wallet :/

That really sounds like a busted axle. Same symptoms when my 03zx3's axles went kaput.

I posted same thread on another forum and one guy said his buddy had an 04SVTF and his differential took a crap on him. Oh man, I'm so praying its just the axle.

This is the saddest look what i got thread i've seen on here. I got my car at Ricart. They have sweet deals but I've never heard great reviews on their customer service. Too bad you are so close to them. Otherwise I'd say go to Germain. Never heard bad about them and my family has just started going there and loving there service.

Is Ricart that place you can see off of I-70 about 5-10 miles west from 71?

That sucks...SVTF to PT is a major downgrade. Did you even pop the hood when this happened? I've read a few posts where SVT owners had a pre-TSB clutch pressure plate shatter and put a hole in the bellhousing.

On the bright side, if it is the differential you should be able to get a stock one for cheap from one of the vendors/shops on here that installs LSDs in SVTs.

damn Nick, sorry to hear about it. hopefully it's nothing TOO major. good luck on getting it fixed.

i hope they dont see the JRSC and try to void you warrenty bro !

Is Ricart that place you can see off of I-70 about 5-10 miles west from 71?

That sucks...SVTF to PT is a major downgrade. Did you even pop the hood when this happened? I've read a few posts where SVT owners had a pre-TSB clutch pressure plate shatter and put a hole in the bellhousing.

On the bright side, if it is the differential you should be able to get a stock one for cheap from one of the vendors/shops on here that installs LSDs in SVTs.

Its off rt 33 about 5 miles off rt 70. Probably what you are thinking of. Its huge. Yea I did pop the hood, looked underneathe. Nothing visable I could see, no leaking fluids or anything. I don't think it would be the clutch because I have a spec stg2 in thier with a fidanza flywheel. Pretty crappy way to celebrate x-mas this year...oh well, not much I can do now except wait and see how far in debt I'm about to be.

Well. A Donut is a cheaper route. Damn Man that really does suck a$$

It's nice to take the ride out for a cruise. My buddy who's up from Florida let me drive his 06 STi for a little while [:D] Man talk about a stress reliever!

Again, Sorry about your luck!!!!

man, that blows hard!!! sorry ur havin a shitty xmas. hopefully they can get a look at ur car 2morrow and give u a heads up.

Darn it man, Sorry about the car. Hope your Christmas gets better man.

Hey do you guys think that we could start a "Get Well Soon Card" thing for these SVT's? Just a thought....

Haha thanks guys...had a sudden thought today, a possible gleam of hope...Could it possibly just be a broken rear trans mount? I mean, that would kinda explain why it would only woble when load is put on the trans??? Would make my year if it was. Also, I kinda jinxed myself awhile back from a thread in thecarlounge.com where a guy posted his buddy had an 04 SVTF and had blown up his diff and I made a certain statement that may have sealed my fate...http://forums.thecarlounge.net/zerothread?id=2917073 ...Notice me (B3passatBMX) opening my big mouth about how mine has never had a problem...oops

Sorry to hear that. Nice to see how many central ohioans post here lol. I really wouldn't recommend going to ricart for...well anything. They get by on pure bulk sales. Having 100,000 cars on the lot means you can still make an ass load of money even with horrible service. Just my experience with them.

yeah...notice I don't say SHIT about the working condition of my car on here.......NOTHING....[:)][:)]

I heard that the axles were pretty strong on the Focus?? funny.......the diff may be it as well.....

Dealership just called...trans is shot..basically..i'm f[:(][:(][:(]ed. They quoted me $5400. Someone set it on fire for me.[chair]

HOLY [:)][:)][:)][:)]!!!!!!!!!

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! that's half the trade in of an SVT.....Jesus man!!!!!

soryy to hear that......

holly crap man! I'd maybe call Jeremy at FocusSalvage.com and see if he has a Salvaged SVT Trans instead of them getting you a new one. Dear god Jesus that's HIGH!!!!

HOLY [:)][:)][:)][:)]!!!!!!!!!

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! that's half the trade in of an SVT.....Jesus man!!!!!

soryy to hear that......

Yea I donno what I'm going to do. I would sell it but without fixing it I couldn't get near what I owe out of it and with fixing it I'll have so much more put in it, it wouldn't be worth it to sell. I have no idea what I'm going to do.

FocusSalvage.com

+1

you can't sell that car...i would have to kill ya.....

you COULD......

I don't wanna say it...

SELL THE JRSC....

and get a tranny.........

[cry]

FocusSalvage.com

+1

you can't sell that car...i would have to kill ya.....

you COULD......

I don't wanna say it...

SELL THE JRSC....

and get a tranny.........

[cry]

Well the blower would probably net me $2K max, which would help, but I'm going to talk to my g-ma and see if I could get a long term 0 interest loan from her. If I could sell it and pay off what I owe I would. I hate to say but I would. Id strip all my stuff off and out, take it near back to stock and sell it but that just won't work.

Well I just talked to my g-ma and she's frontin me the money for it so I atleast don't have to worry immediately but still have to pay her back ASAP. Gotta be thankful for my g-pa who had passed a few years back but was a lawyer for 50+ years and owned his lawfirm so my g-ma was left with a good amount of money and has helped me and my family with so much I could never thank her enough.

good luck, sorry to here about the foci

Do you know how much of that $5400 is for the new transmission and how much is for labor? If they're getting you on labor I'd just buy the transmission from them (if you can't get one from Focus Salvage or elsewhere) and do the install yourself. Its not that hard, and sure beats paying someone else a huge hourly rate to do it for you.

Do you know how much of that $5400 is for the new transmission and how much is for labor? If they're getting you on labor I'd just buy the transmission from them (if you can't get one from Focus Salvage or elsewhere) and do the install yourself. Its not that hard, and sure beats paying someone else a huge hourly rate to do it for you.

I believe a brand spankin new getrag 6spd is like $3800. I am gettin a used one and me and my buddy are doing it at his work, still being charged but not anywhere near as much as the stealership. Hopin to go thursday and pick up the trans, its up near canton area. Well I guess if you look in the long run. I'll basically get a new trans and a new clutch so atleast I won't have to worry about that for awhile and if/when the engine would fail, it can always be rebuilt. Just hopin it all goes well.

Yikes man... I haven't heard much of anything about these trannys being fragile. Given that, I assume it was a 1:100 thing, and that therefor, you will never hear a peep out of it, forever.

Keep us updated man.

$5400 is a rip off, you get a tranny and I'll install it for ALOT less than that.... the hardest part would be getting it to my place.

Seriously dont pay $5400 for that.

$5400 is a rip off, you get a tranny and I'll install it for ALOT less than that.... the hardest part would be getting it to my place.

Seriously dont pay $5400 for that.

OH hell no I'm not bro. Going to canton area to buy a used from an 04 with 9K miles for only $1200 with core. My buddy is going to do the install at his small shop, he estimated me $1900 plus I also need a clutch so add like $500 to that, also a crappy $100 for the stealership to tell me the horrible news and beg me to let them do the work and then I need to have towed up to his shop and AAA won't cover the tow cause its the same repair and 2nd tow. So, all in all, I'm guessing like $2500 or so. Not cheap, but far far better than $5400 [hihi]

^
Do you know someone with a truck? You could rent a tow dolly from u-haul for about $40/6 hours and tow it yourself...I wouldn't pay $2,000 for a transmission removal and reinstall, its not that hard to do. I did it with a friend of mine with a set of jackstands, floor jack, socket set and some air tools in about 16 hours which included replacing the clutch and getting the flywheel resurfaced.

If you have moderate wrench turning experience and can read a Hayne's manual you should be able to do this...it was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

He's charging you how much?????

You need to talk to me. I can beat the shit out of that price.... You buy all the parts and I'll install it for $500. I also have a truck if you can get a trailer.

lol....and he will give you his car for a loaner [rofl].......

....well......maybe no...lol.....

yeah, hit up 03 Orange man...sounds good to me man....

thats a sweet deal orange

thats a sweet deal orange

He's charging you how much?????

You need to talk to me. I can beat the shit out of that price.... You buy all the parts and I'll install it for $500. I also have a truck if you can get a trailer.

Holly Hell Nick! Dude i'd be all over that. 24 Pack of beer for a night and chip in on gas for there and back you'd be around $600.......Not too shabby at all [pray]

Bummer

Holly Hell Nick! Dude i'd be all over that. 24 Pack of beer for a night and chip in on gas for there and back you'd be around $600.......Not too shabby at all [pray]

Well, the car is already up there and we talked about the cost and its all goin be done for right around $600 so I'm just leaving it up there. First thing tommorow morning I'm ordering a spec stg 1 clutch and hoping thats here by the weekend then soon as it comes in, hopefully be like 2 days then my car will be done. Probably looking at early next week. I still have my g-ma PT loser which is good, but sucks to drive and I'm soooo afraid of anything happening cause my G-ma would never forgive me. Hopefully I'll have my car back..i miss her so [bawling] Thanks for the offer John, I really appreciate the help [thumb]