My wife came home in her 1998 xk8 with the transmission gear failure light on, car just did make it into the garage, now the car goes no where, you put it into D you can hear the transmission like it went into drive but it goes no where when to step on the gas,And the transmission clunks, it almost stalls the engine, but put into rev and the car goes backwards,
Is the the sign of the A drum breaking, also how tough are these transmission? Has 117000 miles on it, can I get away with having the A drum replace only and the rest of the trans be good, or should I have the whole thing rebuilt, first quote was $4000.00 for full rebuild without anybody really looking at it, just asking questions at the local transmission shop,

 

I have no first hand experience on this, but it certainly sounds like A drum failure. Do a search under drum failure and you will get a lot of information. Several members have found little additional damage, but the pieces can wreak havoc with the valves, etc. Good luck.
RJ_________________
97 XK8 85K mi

 

I agree, sounds like a classic a-drum, might as well rebuild if you plan on keeping it. And the $4k is just about right...I was quoted $4200 for the extra gear on mine.

If the drum didn't break apart, replacement could be very doable. The B-drum is suspect too, so might as well get two for one if they isn't any further damage and pieces of the drums are floating around in there.

 

My best advice is to shop around! I got rebuild estimates from $4400 to $3500 from 3 different shops and also someone said they can put a brand new transmission in for $4000. I got lucky and a reputable transmission shop offered to do it for a flat rate of $2500 through a friend of a friend, no matter what was wrong with the transmission without even looking at it. It took me several attempts for them to get it right, but they finally did and held that price. I would ask the shop these questions based on my experience:
1)What warranty would the repair come with?
2)Does the warranty cover just what was fixed or the whole transmission?
3)Should I decide to sell the car, is it transferable?

The shop I went to said
1) 2 yrs
2) Covers the whole transmission
3) Yes, it's transferable