My 2002 ss is having trouble shifting. I been to multiple shops in the area and they will not touch my transmission due to the mileage. It has 217,000 miles. I am wanting to completely drain the pan, change the gasket and the filter. From what I know of the car it has never been changed or flushed. I am the second owner of the vehicle and I got it when it had 150,000 miles on it.
What are your guys thoughts, concerns, or advice?

 

Probably a rebuild! just had mine done, 03 SS, 100K, 1700$

 

With that kind of mileage on a stock transmission, id have to agree. The thing needs rebuilt if you intend to keep the car. I'd put the fluid and filter money towards the new trans fund rather than wasting any money on this one.

 

I'm in college right now and just trying to make it last another 6-8 months.

 

Feel free to dump money into fluid and a filter, but we're just trying to caution you that it may have no effect at all as the thing is just plain worn out, especially if regular maintenance has been completely neglected as you mention.

There is some tiny chance it could help it last a little longer, but IMO that $100 or so would be better spent on a used / lower mileage trans or a rebuild. If the rest of the car has been poorly maintained as well, maybe it's not even worth messing with though.

 

The trans fluid should have been changed no later then every 100K miles. Given common issues with these transmissions, it's not uncommon to change the fluid a lot sooner.

Over 200K miles, I agree, you are probably looking into a rebuild. My best recommendation, find a shop that specializes in transmission work and has a good reputation, have them take a look at it (this way you have an experience technician actually looking at the car instead of a bunch of Internet guesses based on what you provided).

At this point in time, changing the trans fluid and filter is a gamble. It might fix the issue, it might do nothing, it may aggravate the problem or any change could be merely coincidental.
I would not run the gamble unless you are willing to accept that you might loose that bet and be in for a trans rebuild.

 

Ok thank you

 

I also agree you need a rebuild. Changing the fluid could actually make it worse as the old fluid is gritty and grabs a little better where new fluid is clean and slippery so could make it slip even more.