How do transmission warranty claims work?

By John Goulden

I’m the warranty manager at ACE Transmission Remanufacturing. As a wholesaler buyer, you can call our office anytime you have a potential warranty issue (or a presale question). We’ll walk you through the diagnosis process to discover the cause of the problem, and we’ll come up with a plan to resolve the concern as fast as possible – so your customer can get back on the road quickly.

You don’t have to be a transmission expert

Are you having trouble diagnosing a problem with a vehicle? Do you suspect a faulty transmission? Let’s figure it out together.

Like many of our wholesale partners, you may run a general auto repair shop. You might have basic transmission repair knowledge but need more in-depth training and specialty tools to handle more complicated cases.

That’s where we come in. Call the warranty department at ACE Transmission Remanufacturing to speak with our industry veterans.

Simply describe the symptoms you observe. We’ll help you thoroughly examine and troubleshoot the vehicle issues. We have decades of experience interpreting scan tool data, listening for clues while test driving, and weighing other key factors.

We’ve worked on virtually every make and model of vehicle. Every vehicle has its own set of quirks. There are certain things to look for and certain types of failures that are common in each brand.

After just one or two phone calls (typically 10 to 15 minutes each), you’ll feel confident that you’ve arrived at an accurate diagnosis.

You can call us for diagnosis help – regardless of whether the unit in question is the original factory transmission, an ACE remanufactured transmission, or an inferior unit from another source.

Is it the transmission or something else?

I’ve worked in both general repair shops and transmission repair shops, so I can help decide if a transmission replacement will actually resolve your concern. Getting this type of expert advice helps prevent unnecessary repairs, wasted time, and frustrated customers.

Many driveability issues may seem like transmission failures but are actually caused by something else. As a transmission tech, you have to know what is or is not a transmission concern.

You don’t want to replace a unit that is working just fine, just to find out later that the problem was caused by another part.

Ultimately our goal is to take care of the end customer, the vehicle owner. That way, your shop gets great reviews and more business.

How to file a transmission warranty claim

If we decide that the transmission has failed, you can simply order a remanufactured unit from our massive inventory of ready-to-ship units.

If the unit that failed was covered by our amazing warranty, then you can also make a warranty claim. 

We’ll ship out a new unit. You can return the damaged unit in the same reusable shipping tote.

After we inspect the old unit, we will issue a full or partial refund for the newly remanufactured unit, plus the labor and shipping costs. There are certain scenarios – like installer error – when we might limit or decline payments on a warranty claim. (Request detailed warranty policies from our office.)

Using data to engineer the best remanufactured transmissions

When we receive the old unit, we’ll take it completely apart and look over every internal piece. We want to discover the point of failure for quality control purposes.

We keep meticulous records to discover which parts work well and which parts don’t. This helps us build the best transmissions in the industry—possibly even better than the original manufacturer’s units!

We track the entire lifecycle of each and every part of our factory:

• Where we purchased each core and part
• The core vehicle’s VIN
• Who built each of our remanufactured units
• Manufacturer’s part numbers for every part used to build every transmission
• Which dyno testing machine it ran on
• Which dyno operator tested it
• The results of the dyno tests

When we have a transmission warranty claim, we investigate the unit thoroughly to determine what went wrong and how to prevent that type of failure in the future. It may have been a problem with a parts dealer. In that case, we could consider switching to another vendor.

What if the failure was caused by an installation error?

Each remanufactured unit comes with detailed instructions, explaining how to place that particular unit in that particular vehicle. 

Sometimes it’s clear that the unit failed because it wasn’t properly installed. How does that affect a transmission warranty claim? We take it on a case-by-case basis. We believe in grace. If it’s a new client who has only installed one or two units and hasn’t filed any warranty claims in the past, we can be more lenient. We’ll probably go ahead and take care of the unit cost under the warranty. 

Remember, following the installation instructions is critical.

If there’s a repeat offender, who keeps breaking units and filing claims, we know that client just ignores the instructions.

If an installer is causing failures through improper installation, this could result in a warranty claim denial.

Most common causes of transmission failures (shortly after installation)

I’ve been repairing transmissions for a long time, the number one type of installation error is a failure to properly flush the entire system.

ACE owns and operates a successful transmission repair shop in Southwest, Missouri. We always use a Hot Flush machine.

MotorWeek explains why this is necessary: When that transmission fails, it fills the oiling system full of little bits of debris, and that can get trapped up inside the transmission cooler. The Hot Flush machine uses a heated chemical that … removes all of the debris out of the transmission cooler.  That means you don’t have repeated failures due to debris that has collected in the cooler and then moves back into your new transmission.

Decades of experience prove that without proper flushing, you’re dumping all that trash directly into a newly remanufactured transmission and setting it up for failure.

When those units fail, and we can determine that it’s due to a flush concern, we might reimburse only 50% of the unit cost – reimbursing without labor and shipping costs.

If a failure was not caused by a lack of hot flushing – or the failure of an internal unit part – then it might be caused by something outside of the transmission system. In fact, a component outside of the transmission, such as a computer sensor, could have caused both the failure in the original factory unit and the remanufactured unit.

It’s not always a part that fails physically. As manufacturers install more computers into vehicles, we’re seeing more problems caused by improper programming and software errors.

That’s why a proper diagnosis is so important. You have to make sure you’re repairing or replacing the correct parts in the first place.

We’re here for you

I really enjoy working in the warranty department because I get to help people. When people call me, they’re typically not having a good day. So, the best thing we can do is take care of the client as quickly and painlessly as possible. 

At the end of the process, the shop’s problem is resolved and the shop’s customer can get back on the road. Hopefully, everyone feels like they’ve been well taken care of.

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About John Goulden: John is an “old school” mechanic who spent decades turning wrenches and diagnosing automotive problems. But he’s also a technophile who’s earned top-level professional accolades. He’s currently the warranty manager at ACE Transmission Remanufacturing, fielding troubleshooting questions from auto repair shops around the country each day.

About ACE Transmission Remanufacturing: ACE keeps hundreds of units in stock at all times, so the one you need usually ships the same day! We include a 3-year, unlimited mileage nationwide parts-and-labor warranty. We build units that meet or exceed OEM specs. Set up a wholesale buyer account today, so you can run a more profitable shop.

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