PIE Transmission INC

I thought clutch was going out but said no it wasn't but it probably would last at least another 6 months.  That in itself told me more about this man's reputation than anything as many of the places would just replace it without looking.  He just tightened it up a bit and fixed a couple of minor items and sent me on my way. Very impressed!

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The service was excellent, I had no problems with them. They were professional in their craft, and provided a solid service.

How did it go?  As explained above.

I took my son's 1999 Taurus to P.I.E. Transmissions, Inc. to get a second opinion on the transmission slippage it was experiencing. But to make the story whole, I'll first have to describe the experience I had at the first shop I took the car to.
The first place is a regionally well known Transmission Shop chain store. They ran their $49.95 Diagnostic Package on it, and came up with error codes involving a Speed sensor control and some other codes that indicated transmission problems. Their "next step" recommendation was to remove and disassemble the transmission, and to inspect all the parts to see which ones needed replacement. Even if I chose not to have the worn parts replaced, this "next step" was going to cost $900. If this inspection revealed that the transmission would need to be rebuilt, the price I was given for that job was between $1600 to $1700. Since the car was 13 years old and only worth about $2000 Trade-In value, I decided to refuse any further work, and just asked them to replace the A/T fluid and install a new pan gasket. They did this for a fair and reasonable price, and I picked up the car and drove off, deciding that I'd get a second opinion from another shop. The first place did warn me, though, that a mere fluid change would not solve the slippage problem, and that the car would definitely experience more problems with the transmission a few months down the road.

Now for my review of the second shop, P.I.E. Transmissions, Inc. I took the car to them and described what happened at the first transmission shop. They told me that they would check the car out and call me with their findings before they would do any further work. They came up with the same diagnostic error codes as the first place did, but the first, main error code was for a defective Speed control sensor. I asked the mechanic if a defective Speed control sensor could actually cause the transmission to slip, even if there may not be anything actually wrong with the transmission. He replied that yes, a bad speed sensor could cause the transmission to slip because the transmission wouldn't know if the car was going 10 MPH, 60 MPH, or even whether it was in reverse or not. His recommendation was to replace the Speed sensor control and then see how the car acted after that. Since the Speed sensor is mounted on the outside of the transmission housing, and would not involve removing/disassembling the transmission, he said that it would cost only $160. This seemed to me to be viable, low cost, common-sense next step, so I agreed to the replacement of the Speed sensor. The outcome was great! It seems to have fixed the transmission from slipping, and the car has been running great for the 3 months since the Speed sensor was replaced. I feel that this honest, plain-talking transmission shop provided a low-cost, but effective alternative to spending a lot of money at the first shop, which seemed to be in business to talk people into getting a transmission rebuilt when it actually only needed a $160 Speed Sensor replacement.  P.I.E. could have agreed that the first shop had it right, that the transmission would need to be rebuilt, but they didn't do that. They were open and completely honest, and didn't try to use the deception that  too many car shops use on people. I highly recommend P.I.E. Transmission, Inc. for their care for the customer and the honesty they exhibited.