“Took my -07 Mercury Mariner Hybrid to another mechanic to have the PTU rebuilt and the transmission serviced. He had it for two months. Two. Months.
When I got it back, it was making a couple new, strange noises. After a couple days, it began shifting hard. I started to hear the old 'siren in the distance' noise coming back from when the PTU had been bad.
Not having the ability to be without my car for another two months and not having an iota of confidence that the first guy would actually be able to fix whatever was ailing it now, I got a referral to Valley Transmission and took the car in there. The difference between mechanics was like night and day. From the get-go, Paul was friendly, communicative, accomodating, and conscientious.
And, you know, they do free whatever-you-call-its (sorry, not a cars girl)......like.... assessments of your car. To determine the problem. I've paid through the nose for this at the dealer before. Paul stresses that when they check your car out, they do it thoroughly. And thorough it was.
They found that the previous guy had left me 3 1/2 quarts short of transmission fluid (?!?!), hence the hard shifting. All the seals on the PTU were bad, so it was leaking like before. They replaced those, stopping the leaking. A couple bolts were loose, causing the transfer case fluid to look grey. I had been worried it was the beginning of bearing disintegration again, or a sign that the supposedly new (to me) bearings inside the PTU were not, in fact new or good after all.
So, they pulled my whole PTU, took it apart, inspected it, took pictures of what they found, and shared them with me. It was an enormous relief to find that, beyond the seals, my PTU actually appeared good and that once the loose bolts were tightened, the fluid stopped appearing grey. They cleaned up the PTU for me (it was a salvage part and had been installed looking like a 'dirt ball,' as Paul put it), checked and rechecked, test drove, kept the car overnight to check everything again, and basically solved all my issues.
The one noise they couldn't get rid of, they evaluated and ruled out it being transmission-related, and then admitted that it was something beyond their area of specialty. I love that they didn't try to sell me on their ability to fix every single thing without, in fact, knowing what they were doing (as the previous guy had, which was why he ended up having to keep it so long).
All of this work and time spent and actual problem-solving (amazing!) was done expeditiously and for a really reasonable price. I didn't feel like I was getting shafted. Paul communicated with me throughout the process. I never felt like my car was on the back burner or being ignored, even though they're busy guys. I felt like Paul was really honest with me.
I would highly recommend these guys to anyone. And Paul out front is a champ.”
READ MORE
Kimi H.