1999VR-4EVO

Well it has to happen, my transmission needs a rebuild, though, I don't blame the TC-SST for any reason and here is why.


I bought the car on the 20th of October as a private sale. The car is a base line Rallairt with 87,000 miles on it. The body is healthy, interior is healthy, engine is healthy. When I test drove the car I noticed that the transmission didn't really feel 100% healthy as in the clutches were slipping some. So I talked the sale down from $11,500 to $9,000. The owner had the car a year and bought it from a Honda dealer who he claims told him "that this is just how the TC-SST feels". He didn't get any maintenance records from the dealer either. So I asked him if he had done a transmission flush and filter change since he had owned the car, which was a no. So I assumed that the car has never had the service done and expected some work needed to be done.


So I took the car to Jacks Transmissions yesterday and the below pictures are what we found.


Filter Date





Filter Sludge 1:





Filter Sludge 2:





My theory is that since the Ralliart started production in 2008, the factory was still using filters from that year in the 2010 models. This means that this poor transmission has probably been whomped on for over 87,000 miles with no flush or filter change. As you can see, the filter is terribly dirty. It looks as though someone packed it with mud which would significantly decrease flow. The fluid was really dark too. I am surprised it has lasted this long to be honest. It should be on it's 3rd fluid flush and filter change and it has never been done! It is absolutely insane that people buy a car like this not knowing what services are essential to car...


So needless to say, the transmission could have multiple points of failure even if I just replace the clutches. I would be worried about other stuff that might be barely holding on the life such as the torque dampener and shift fork. So I am having it fully rebuild by Jacks Transmissions just to have a clean slate. This way I know it has been taken care of and will be healthy.

SharkyPR

iTrader: (1)

Put stronger clutch now

silthos

iTrader: (23)

I would highly recommend another place besides Jacks. Too many horror stories of people paying for a built sst and not getting what they paid for.

1999VR-4EVO

I have never really heard anything bad about Jacks until now, do you have some examples of these situations? I am not building it up for more power or anything, I am not modifying my RalliArt at all so it is just to get it running the way it should from the factory. I got a tour of Jacks facility and noticed that they had around 20 transmissions there between the TC-SST and the Nissan GTR transmissions. I can't imagine that they have that volume of customers if the always do a bad job. The 3S community seems to absolutely love Jacks too.

silthos

iTrader: (23)

Ive personally seen some sst trans that came from their shop that were built wrong. If you search on here im search you will find some people with issues. If you join the rallart specific page on fb, there is a few experiences laid out in detail of what went on. Again its your choice and i hope everything turns out well for you.

1999VR-4EVO

Thank you for the concern, I will look into it

RazorLab

iTrader: (8)

I already warned him as well silthos...

1999VR-4EVO

Yes, you two have been the only people that have mentioned issues with Jacks to me. It is hard for me to believe that EVERYTHING Jacks does is bad based off two peoples experiences with them when I have had 10 years of countless 3S people praising their work. No matter what the business, there are bound to be mistakes/problems at some point. If Jacks builds/fixes 100 plus transmissions a year, and you hear about 20 problems over the course of 8 years (amount of time the SST has been in production), that is not a bad failure rate at all (2.5%). Do we know how many people have had problems with them? I have been searching since you told me, and I haven't found nearly enough to justify writing off Jacks as a bad company.

silthos

iTrader: (23)

Not saying that everything they do is bad. Ive just seen a lot of people get taken advantage off with this platform/transmission. We as a community just hate to see that and offer opinions on what we see. Hopefully everything goes well if you decide to go with them. There are just better options to with when dealing withh the sst transmission.

LetsGetThisDone

iTrader: (1)

If you want your SST built right, go to Kozmic. My experience with Jack's is with an SST, but an extremely simple 5 speed from an Evo X GSR. It was for a client's car, and the experience was far less than satisfactory.

1999VR-4EVO

I do appreciate the imput, thank you. So how common do you think it is that the torque dampener is bad? The only thing wrong with my car right now that we can tell is that the clutches are burned up. My plan was to have them open it up and see if there is damage due to the fluid and filter never being changed. Do you think that I should just change the clutches, and pray there is no other damage? All I feel is clutch slippage in 1st. If you were in my shoes (forget about the shop you would go to), would you just change the clutches, or rebuild? You guys have been part of the platform well longer than I have and I respect your opinions.

russ72

iTrader: (1)

Not to hijack the thread, but it kind of covers the importance of getting fluids changed.
Got mine changed for the first time on my car(30k) and it makes a world of difference overall. I do understand why some people don't change it, judging on the price of the change. Unfortunately, it costs more to repair or replace than it does to change the fluids. Dealer told me they had to replace a guys CVT which costs 11k(I about ****, that's like a whole new car), because the guy didn't change the fluids properly.
So, I do understand why some people don't change the fluids, but it sucks for people like you who have to put in time/money to fix it.
It cost me a little under 900 bucks to get SST fluid changed, Diff's fluid, oil change, new battery, fixed a nail in tire, rotated tires. I did get some discounts for SST/Diff fluids, mechanic didn't charge me for Diff fluid, and got some discount for SST, but can't remember why. So, I'm overall happy with the price for what I actually had to do or end up more inconvenienced.
Good luck with SST rebuild, hope it does work out, let us know....

RazorLab

iTrader: (8)

Just because the filter has a 2008 date on it doesn't mean it was the OEM one still in the car. Although that does look really nasty.

I can pull a filter out of my garage right now that is still sealed that has a 2008 date on it.

1999VR-4EVO

You're right, however, since there are literally zero maintenance documents for the car, I feel like it is safe to assume that it has nit been done. Especially considering the way the fluid and filter looked. People aren't use to having to change the fluid and filter in a transmission so frequently. It is pretty uncommon. Since the transmission shifta smooth, I am leaning to a simple clutch change versus a full rebuild. It may be a gamble, but could save me thousands. Now my debate is an upgraded clutch pack, or stock. I don't want to mod the car, and if I did, it would be to get the power of a stock EVO.

silthos

iTrader: (23)

Its a gamble with the sst. Hopefully its just the clutches but im going to say about a 85% chance the torque dampner has some springs broken inside. Plus i would change the internal filter in there also. Check the bore plug on the valve body and make sure its not stuck. Replace/upgrade 2/4 shift fork also. If the price difference isnt much i would upgrade the clutches to like kozmics hp10r kit. I've been done this road and hopefully i wont have to do it again unless i go all out drag car.