Ok, 2001 Ford F250 with the 7.3 engine. 363,000 miles.
I knew something was going to get me and it turned out to be the tranny. Theses trucks are notorious for transmission problems.
The question is, how much, on average, will a transmission repair cost? The truck is only worth about $6000. Am I totalled?
After wallowing in grief all afternoon I decided I'm going to rebuild it myself. Zero experience with trannys but I'm going for it!
Hell yeah my man! You should definitely consider posting some pics throughout the process!
One invaluable trick I learned when going into a big auto project: As you remove bolts, push them through a piece of scrap cardboard in the same configuration as they are on the vehicle, and label the cardboard with the location and a number that indicates the order each set of bolts was removed in. I've torn apart entire engines with zero experience and put them back together with nothing but this trick and some torque specs.
Also, the following advice might be insulting if you're otherwise good at working on vehicles, but its worth putting together a list of all the tools you'll need before you start pulling things apart. There's probably dozens of forums and youtube guides that will have that info.
Good luck! I'm no expert, but feel free to ask me questions as you go!
I will. I've done the cardboard trick before but only with push rods, valves and such. I probably don't need to on a transmission repair. I've got a fully stocked shop so tools shouldn't be any issue.
Assuming this is an automatic transmission: Check that the transmission dipstick to make sure fluid is still at the correct level. If the fluid level is good, there's a chance you might be looking at a bad torque converter. The good news is that this would be one of the less expensive kinds of transmission repair, though I can only guess at the cost on your particular truck.
If its a manual trans: your clutch might be totally shot. Also one of the less expensive transmission-related repairs.