1996 Protege Transmission Problem: Is Car Worth Fixing?
 

Hello

I'm giving the Protege forums a shot because I need some advice hopefully based on ypersonal experience with the Protege. The car is a 1996 Protege with a 5-speed manual transmission and 80,000 miles on it. A rattling sound developed about 10 days ago, seeming to come from under the floorboards.

The dealer took a look today and said that the transmission requires a $1200 overhaul. They are certain something needs to be replaced inside the transmission, but won't know which part until they open it up.

The question is, what to do? I'm wondering if this is a one time thing, I get it fixed and drive the car happily for at least another three years. Or could this just be the beginning of a steady stream of repairs?

Does anyone out there have any experience with having their manual transmission overhauled? If so, can you tell me how long the repair lasted? Or can you comment about the longevity the Protege in general - should I be looking at replacing the car rather than sinking $1200 into the transmission?

The car is not abused or driven hard, and has been maintained well.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Wether or not its worth fixing is dependant on many factors. If you decide to fix it do you have the money or will you have to sell your soul. If you decide to get rid of it, do you have the money for a downpayment on a new car??

80,000 miles isn't that much really even for a 96. There are alot of people with 300,000+ on their first gens and they've been completely trouble free, I personally have 230,000 KM on my 97 (not sure offhand how many miles that is) but they've been virtually trouble free except for a few things. I've spent less than 600$ in the three years that I've owned the car for unscheduled repairs. Then of course regular maintenance which is more than 600$ but I like to make excuses to do maintenance crap on my car.
You could always try and find a used tranny for a couple hundred bucks from a junk yard and see what happens, though I'd imagine that getting it overhauled from the dealer would have a warranty of some sort which isn't a bad thing.