Dear Tom and Ray:

I'm frustrated. I have a '94 Dodge Grand Caravan with approximately 90,000 miles. Recently, while my wife was driving to work, the transmission literally blew (parts shot from the gear chamber to the torque converter chamber). All totaled, it cost $3,000 for a new, rebuilt transmission and a new starter. I know the mileage is kind of high, but it's my opinion that a transmission shouldn't need to be replaced at this mileage. I asked Chrysler to split the bill with me or credit me $2,000 toward a new Chrysler product. They told me to get lost. What do you think? Was I being unreasonable? Do you feel it's normal for a transmission to need to be replaced at this mileage (assuming proper maintenance)? I happened to check on this vehicle in Consumer Reports used car reviews, and it gets a poor rating. -- Brett

Ray: Well, you should have checked in Consumer Reports before you bought it, Brett. I'm afraid you're out of luck now.

Tom: It's true that some cars are built and designed better than others. Consumer Reports tracks this information, and so do we, at the Car Talk section of cars.com (and the '94 Dodge Grand Caravan has much higher than average repair costs). But at 90,000 miles, you're pretty much on your own.

Ray: Right. If it happened at 40,000 miles, you'd be able to make a case for having them participate in the repair. But at 90,000 I can't blame them for turning you down.

Tom: You say the vehicle was properly maintained and driven judiciously, but how do they know your wife doesn't drive like Maria Andretti when you're not around, stomping on the gas pedal at every green light? It's just really hard to tell after 90,000 miles whether the transmission failure was due to a defective part, owner abuse, or just the normal life expectancy of the parts they used in this vehicle. My guess is the latter.

Ray: I understand why you're upset, Brett. That's a lot of money to spend. And we'd all like our cars to last 150,000 miles without a problem, but they're not all up to that. That's why you check out their repair histories before you buy, which I'm sure you'll do before you buy that new Toyota Sienna, Brett.

Changing your oil regularly is the cheapest insurance you can buy for your car, but how often should you change it? Find out by ordering Tom and Ray's pamphlet "Ten Ways You May Be Ruining Your Car Without Even Knowing It!" To order, send (check or money order) to Ruin, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. You can also order online.

© 1998 by Tom and Ray Magliozzi and Doug Berman Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

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