Complaint Review: Cottman Transmission - New Port Richey Florida

Congrats on sticking with it and winning your case. As far as recovering your money, here's an old trick a lawyer friend has used thru the years with some success - get a friend that Cottman does not know to go there any buy something - anything - but make sure they pay with a check. When your friend's check comes back thru his bank, it should have Cottmans' bank and checking account number on the back - race to the courthouse and get the court to attach that account.

WrongedByCottman.com This is apparently how they do it. Cottman Transmission has not paid as they agreed. I have filed an affidavit and motioned for a judgement. Owner Michael Passarella is making it as hard as he can for me to get my money back. I wish I had made a stipulation on the agreement that non-payment would require him to owe the full amount or more. This judgement will put a lien on the business.

The shop owner and myself had pre-trial mediation and came to a resolution. I should be receiving 83% of my claim in 30 days. I agreed to waive the cost of the clutch materials and taxes.

Over a month ago, Cottman submitted a rebuttal to my dispute, after I received a full credit. I submitted my response to the rebuttal. I received a letter today from Visa, letting me know that Cottman has won the second dispute. Visa refused the submission of my photograpgic proof, and simply went by the written word of both parties. Cottman's rebuttal was 99% an attack on me, and lacked facts, but still they won. I don't yet know if VISA is imposing it's fine of up to $500 on me. I now have to turn to the court system to get my money back. Any suggestions are welcome. To see the letters and photos go to www.WrongedByCottman.com

I sent ABC Action News my photographic proof, and they contacted Cottman. The shop said that they would rebuild the transmission while I watched. I obviously refused. ABC closed the case. I didn't ask, but I'm assuming that the practice is to simply mediate a solution, and if that doesn't work, they go on the air about it. Thus, Cottman made the "reasonable" offer, to avoid air time. I'm thinking this has happened before. To be honest, I didn't report this to them for them to mediate. That part is DONE. Perhaps I will get in touch with them again. Get this, the person I was working with was screwed a few years ago by the same shop! On another note, my credit card dispute was accepted by Cottman's bank, and I received a full credit. To be continued...

...even though it still leaked, just not as fast. The stiffener bolt still has a few threads to bite, even though most of them stay with the bolt when you remove it. It's a moot point though. The summary before my long story, and the information at my site is the real point. They did not replace ANYTHING in the transmission, as I was billed. Proof in the pictures. Do not go to this shop. I don't want to get away from that. That's why I posted to this site. Go to http://yrethguad.tripod.com (copy/paste) for all the information and pictures. Thanks again for your help.

James, This is a bit "Off the wall" but I recomend you get that emgine trans brace rethreaded and securely bolted down. I strongly suspect the jumping out of gear problem will fix itself. Why? Flex between the engine and trans will cause the input shaft to move slightly, this could cause enough misalignment to make the synchronizer "Walk" away from the engagement position. Where did I get such a weird idea? From an entirely different engine/trans combo that did the exact same thing. when the trans on my wife's car kept jumping out of 5th gear, When I removed the trans to rebuild it I found a cracked bellhousing, It also had a trans/engine brace that aparently stripped a bolt while driving. I found this on disassembly before finding the cracked bellhousing (When I removed the brace to bellhousing bolts, the brace fell out, ain't supposed to do that) and also had to helicoil it as the block threads were stripped, I decided to replace the bellhousing first and see if it was the problem, it worked, misalignment (Flex) was the entire problem. Just to see how entirely off the wall this is, the engine trans combo was from a 1973 4 cyl 2000 cc pinto station wagon with a 5 speed trans and conventional rear wheel drive. But the thing to remember is they don't put a brace anywhere that they don't absolutely have to. And a missing bolt or brace between the engine and trans is to prevent any motion (Flex)between the two. It ran another 250,000 miles and gave absolutely no further trouble. (Total of around 475,000 and no, not a misprint)

First of all, I want to thank you both for your responses. I really appreciate that you read all or most of my report. With the exception of the engine internals, and the fuel tank and pump, I have been over every square inch of this vehicle. With the exception of tire mounting and balancing, and alignment adjusting, I have either done, or had a direct hand in every repair to this vehicle, up until Cottman Transmission. What a deal, huh? Jim, I understand what you're saying about the vibration. I have had this before. The passenger side inner CV joint failed on me before, and it was a miracle I made it back to the house. I sourced a new driveaxle and installed it. Good as new. When this vibration started again, as stated above in my initial report, I suspected my driver side inner CV joint, even though the driveaxle wasn't very old, and I hadn't noted any problems the last time I inspected it (I know it could be damaged under the boot). After the car became immobile, I sourced the driver side driveaxle, and jacked up the car to install. I found that there was nothing wrong with the current unit. I also noted that spinning one wheel produced no movement in the other (while in gear of course), consistent with what Cottman reported as "a driveaxle popped out of the differential". I did not check to see if the driveaxle was firmly seated in the transmission. Hindsight is 20/20, I know. At that point, I believed the differential at fault, and began my search for salvage transmissions, and calling repair shops. Vehicle has almost 240,000 miles, and the transmission has leaked since before I owned it. You say tomato, I say tomatoe, you say transAXLE, I say transMISSION. I know the difference, and I know what I have. It's no big deal. According to countless members of online Honda oriented forums, when someone has a symptom of 5th gear pop-out, they tell them to check their fluid. They do. 9/10 it's low, they add, and it's fixed. I don't know how to explain it, and my Father also didn't agree, but who am I to argue? Aside from that, when we pulled the transmission apart, we did not notice that the driveaxles have been changed. They certainly didn't appear or feel NEW. I installed both of the units. Although, since you bring it up, I will inspect them much closer to be sure. Mounts are the same. Shift linkage is fine. Clutch was fine, showed no signs of imminent failure, and continued to work after vehicle became immobile. After pushed home, no fluid aside from previously dropped transmission fluid, and nothing hanging or loose. I will re-inspect the driveaxles and mounts to be sure. I know the clutch did not fail. Leak is not from stripped bolt. Stripped bolt was not in the transmission, it goes into the block. It goes into the engine stiffener brace (between engine and trans). The bracket mentioned was on top of the transmission, and in order for it to fall off, both bolts to the transmission would have to be removed, the bolt for the ground strap, and it would have to come loose from the lower radiator hose support. I figured I'd source one from a yard, like you said. Clutch vibration, as I said, either the disk or the flywheel machining was bad. The disk was only making contact toward the outside of the material. And he told me I was "power shifting". Please. They replaced, and the new unit is better, although I still get some slight chatter. I'm trying really hard to remember if the previous clutch did. Did you look at the site? I have all the pictures there: http://yrethguad.tripod.com I will double check the mounts and driveaxles. Thanks again Jim, I really appreciate your time and help! Nate, my suspicions are proven at the above site. Thanks for letting me know about the synchro availability. I received a printout of all the bearings, synchros, and gears, and also the sleeve sets, from Acura, so I have p/ns and prices, and generally a list. As for the popping out of gear, I failed to mention, it wasn't just under acceleration, or throttle change. It was under a steady cruise as well. You mention no movement associated with no fluid, and that was the case. After I found the driveaxle not at fault, I re-filled with Honda MTF, but no change. Although I agree with going to the dealer for repairs, I do not have the time or resources to use them effectively. The nearest is ~30 miles, whereas my garage is attached, and if I do the work, I know it's done right. If not I can only blame myself. I'm sure you can understand that. Not to mention the price of dealer service. That doesn't mean I don't use Honda parts. Timing belt, water pump, gaskets, seals, fluids, I wouldn't get from anywhere else. Nate, thank you for your time and input. I really appreciate it. I will look in to these things. Jim, Nate, thanks again.

I am an Acura Technician and have worked on many Integra transmissions. It seems to me that your suspicions about the transaxle being removed from the car and simply reinstalled are probably true. I agree with you that Cottman most likely only replaced the clutch set (and did a subpar job). What I can tell you is that all the individual synchros are available from Acura, and do NOT have to be purchased in a set with their respective gears. It is difficult to say whether Shawn was just lying to you or if he was given the wrong information. I can also tell you that I have personally rebuilt some manual transaxles that were just recently rebuilt by a transmission shop. This is due to the fact that most transmission shops use very cheap and substandard parts to rebuild them. I have seen a large number of missing bolts and damage to other parts that would indicate poor workmanship. As far as the issues with the trans you are complaining about, here is what I have seen as solutions to your symptoms: 1-Pops out of gear- I have to agree with Jim that the common cause for this is broken motor/trans mounts. Although, I have also seen the same symptom as a result of very low transmission fluid causing damage. 2-No movement in gear- This is almost always a clutch (or clutch master cylinder) problem in the 2nd generation Integra, however, it can also be caused by NO fluid in the transaxle. I have witnessed this firsthand. Although Jim states that a worn out universal joint can cause this (which is actually a constant velocity joint "CV"), the design on an Integra would require the CV joint to have completely disintegrated. I have never seen this happen on an Integra. 3-Vibration under acceleration- I will have to side with Jim again that this is most likely the inner CV joint being worn. Broken motor/trans mounts could also be suspect, but one or more of the CVs are likely worn on your car. The bottom line is that the repairs performed (if any) were substandard at best as they did not address your complaints of fluid leakage and popping out of gear. This is unfortunately what is to be expected when taking your car to technicians who are not familiar with your specific type of vehicle. I would recommend the Acura dealer in your area for future repairs to ensure correct diagnostics and repairs.

I'm a Master Mechanic, I have no connection with Cottman. First of all, a vibration under accelleration when driving is most likely not in the transmission at all, it's usualy a universal joint gone bad (Front Axle joint), a simple repair that has no need to work on the transmission at all. Second, A front drive has a "Transaxle", not a "Transmission". Third, a leak will not cause a transmission to "Pop" out of gear. If you lost your transmission fluid the transmission should have siezed (Locked) NOT Popped out of gear. Popping out of gear can also be a misadjusted or worn shift linkage, also can be caused by bad or worn engine mounts. Fourth, a clutch failure will indeed cause the transmission to not move in any gear, But an axle failure (Far more common) will cause the same thing, I hope that when you had to push it home you looked under the car to see if there was any fluid on the ground, and if anything was hanging down underneath? If not, I can't help you here. Fifth,The whole problem seems to me a bad mis-diagnosis, from your report I feel the one of the front axle universals failed, (Common) that would cause both the problems you stated, first the vibration when accellerating, (And the fact that you could not make it vibrate later) then the complete failure to move in any gear, those are the exact symptoms of an axle failure (It's really a quite common failure)Second problem of the trans kicking out of 5th gear can be caused by bad mounts, particurlarly the wearing out of the "Dog Bone" that keeps the engine/trans combo from rotating when you accellerate and slow down. I'd like you to do this, go to another unrelated trans place and ask them if either or both front axles are new, also ask if any of the engine mounts (Dogbone or supports)are new. If the answer is yes, then what probably happened is that after jacking up the car they discovered a bad axle joint, replaced it, and didn't tell you, (Yes that's fraud and theft) the trans was never touched and they tried to cheat you. The rest is "Cover Their a*s"' But you MUST first see if the axles and/or mounts are new, no new axles, then yes you had a clutch failure, but from your report it doesn't seem a bit likely. As for the stripped bolt and loose bracket, that's easily possible to happen while driving, So I must ask you a question. "Is the trans leak near, or at the stripped bolt?" If yes, then no it's not their doing. (The leak proves it's a previous problem) And also yes the bracket was missing, (Fell off while driving probably) this happens often, but be sure the leak is from the stripped bolt area. A "Helicoil" thread insert is a pefectly acceptable stripped thread repair, it's stronger than new. If you must, order a correct bracket from the dealership, but be prepared to hear "Not Available" junkyard brackets are good enough. As for hopping out of 5th gear, yep, IF THE MOUNTS ARE NEW AND GOOD then that's bad synchronizers, don't try to fix it, replace the whole transmission with a good junkyard unit Clutch vibration, again IF THE MOUNTS ARE NEW AND GOOD then the clutch is bad. In short, go for the mounts and "Dogbone" first, when you have replaced them, re-test drive.