Transmission valve body "FULL" of metal

Hello Good forum People and Happy Holidays
I have a 2004 158" tall roof with just about 125K miles,,I bought it back in October, I've taken it on several trips with out incident. early December I drove from Massachusetts to Miami and back without a problem..last week I had loaned it to a friend to collect some windows for a job about 2 hours away..on the return the trans quit..as he was running had to coast to a stop..no forward, no reverse..all the gears showed on the dash but no movement, what-so-ever..if a gear was selected the revs. would not go beyond 2500..if neutral was selected it would rev normally.. There are no CEL lights on the dash..and no codes on the scangaugeII to be found..it was towed to a shop in East Providence R.I. Alturi Bros. yesterday they said they were 99% sure that my valve body would need to be replaced @ somewhere around +$1000 bucks today I received a call that they pulled the valve body and it was "FULL" of metal and my only option was a new trans. at a minimum of $4400. I of course have an email out to Andy Bittenbinder to see if theres a better option.
Also while i was in Miami, due to a bad parking decision the van was towed..not sure how it was..if put on a flat bed or hooked up from front or back and it wasn't towed far maybe 5 miles,,I do remember reading a warning about towing before..any ideas if this had some cause in the transmission fail?
Michael

CSF&C said:

Hello Good forum People and Happy Holidays
I have a 2004 158" tall roof with just about 125K miles,,I bought it back in October, I've taken it on several trips with out incident. early December I drove from Massachusetts to Miami and back without a problem..last week I had loaned it to a friend to collect some windows for a job about 2 hours away..on the return the trans quit..as he was running had to coast to a stop..no forward, no reverse..all the gears showed on the dash but no movement, what-so-ever..if a gear was selected the revs. would not go beyond 2500..if neutral was selected it would rev normally.. There are no CEL lights on the dash..and no codes on the scangaugeII to be found..it was towed to a shop in East Providence R.I. Alturi Bros. yesterday they said they were 99% sure that my valve body would need to be replaced @ somewhere around +$1000 bucks today I received a call that they pulled the valve body and it was "FULL" of metal and my only option was a new trans. at a minimum of $4400. I of course have an email out to Andy Bittenbinder to see if theres a better option.
Also while i was in Miami, due to a bad parking decision the van was towed..not sure how it was..if put on a flat bed or hooked up from front or back and it wasn't towed far maybe 5 miles,,I do remember reading a warning about towing before..any ideas if this had some cause in the transmission fail?
Michael

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Michael
When there is metal in the pan it means something is coming apart, time for a transmission.

You can get an exchange transmission from Silver Star trade for $2000 with fluid and free ship one way.
The book time is 5 hours to R' n R.
Now costs,
A shop will charge you for diagnosis time--I would estimate 1 hour to drop the pan and inspect, my shop rate is $97.55/hr.
Hence
R & R the unit $487.75
Add I hour for cooler & lines clean out 1 hour est $97.55

Pack and ship by road one way to Oklahoma $500 est. Fed Ex has a good consolidated rate for Silver Star

Mark up on transmission I usually add 20% as the supplier will cover parts & defects for 100,K So I am responsible only for labor to R 'n R should it go "phutt" within the warranty period.
Hence bottom line:-
Transmission $2400.
Estimate labor including diagnosis 7 hours $682.85
Sundries shop charges etc add $25,00
Shipping/Misc expenses $500
Total $3607.85.

Now remember shop rates are dependent upon overheads regional pricing so you may get some drift on the price for labor and mark up.
Hope that helps in a decision making scenario.
Merry Christmas.
Dennis

I hate to disagree witha pro, but here goes anyway.

The transmissions on these t1ns is one finicky beast.

When I first bought mine, at 115,000 miles, my transmission did the same thing yours did. I was stranded at a dealer after a long tow, hundreds into a transmission investigation. Of course, the dealer had the $4000 transmission ready to go as the solution.

They opened up and there were metal shavings everywhere. All over the tcm, in the pan, you name it. They pronounced my transmission dead.

Then I came on the forum (while sitting at the dealer all day) and asked questions.

There are some transmission speed sensors that are magnetic and were covered with shavings. After thoroughly cleaning these sensors and the tcm (or whatever the board in the transmission is called), and a proper full transmission flush, it behaved well for a year. The Sprinter techs could not believe my idea (the Doktor's idea) worked and I was driving away without their $4000 transmission. It would fail soon, they said!

Well, I did need 2 more flushes.... about one a year. I did them when it started acting up the same way with transmission limp home. Every time, the basic flush (without opening the transmission) did it. Then last year or theyear before, it just stopped having the transmission issues at all!

Here I am, at 180,000+ and still using this "dead" transmission without any problems at all.

So it's worth the gamble to thoroughly clean all the sensors and board, get a proper transmission flush, then spend $4000 if that doesn't work.

Michael.
I am 100% agreement with Sullyvan. Eric.

A ScangauageII will not access the TCM so it is unusual to see transmission codes even if they are in memory. That said, the SGII or other basic OBDII based scan tool may see transmission related companion codes in the ECM aka ECU.

It will be well worth the effort for you to at least review these threads.

https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2476

https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7891&highlight=transmission

https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14684&highlight=transmission

vic