El Camino Transmissions

I didn't go here but I talked to mr Israel and he really cares I will become a customer on my next car issue thanks for caring and taking time out to answer my questions.
Jan 28th, 2022

Jan 22nd, 2022

Two guys are so helpful when my truck battery died parking next door and they helped to jump start it. Great guys!
Dec 6th, 2021

Great work by Israel and his team. They saved me $3000 on a repair that was misdiagnosed by another mechanic. Will definitely take my vehicles here in the future.
Oct 8th, 2021

Truck’s transmission failed, 158,904 miles. Taken to El Camino transmission on approx Jan 8th 2024. Went in with P1704 for transmission, and P1494 for EVAP leak detection pump. Was told it would be a couple days until transmission could be inspected. Called near daily after 3 days to find out when it would happen, kept getting promises of “it’ll get done tomorrow”, until finally a week later we got told the transmission melted all the clutches and steels together. Shop claimed that there was no friction materials left, that the torque converter was locked up on itself, and that all electronics were bad. Authorized $3,000 in repairs to replace all wearables, electronics, removal and replacement of transmission, and then 2 year/24,000 mile warranty. No calls were received from shop for 3 days, began calling daily to find out status of truck and what was going on. Shop then informed me that they had cut the harness when they were putting in the transmission because they “didn’t like way it looked like” and were now running into a multitude of transmission codes that there were trying to “iron out the bugs on”. Waited for multiple days, heard nothing. They were telling me that they were checking wires for continuity, that everything checked out and there should be no reason that there should be problems. I was told that it was dropping out of 4th gear, and that lockup was going in and out of lockup, ruining the torque converter. They said they have gone through multiple torque converters, that they sent it to a rebuild shop multiple times, and the solution couldn’t be found. They used an old PCM that I had left in the truck from replacing the factory one due to emissions issues. That PCM would lockup in 4th but not 3rd , the PCM that was in the truck when it went in would lockup in 3rd but not 4th . Would still randomly drop out. Finally told them I had the old case from after the last time I rebuilt it, they claimed that it may be a warped case causing the issues, so we took the old case in. Shop was informed that the pan bolts were stripped from previous work, they informed us that they would fix it by heli-coiling the bolt holes. Call was received 2 days later saying transmission was fixed with no issue. Truck was picked up and paid for, had 159,006 miles. Drove 52 miles to Melissa, 59 miles to work, and on the way home from work, it failed outside of town. No power to transmission, engine ran and would rev with delayed and lost, or no response from drivetrain. Paid for tow truck to take truck back to El Camino because warranty didn’t cover tow trucks. It should be noted that I had mentioned to Jason at El Camino the day after picking it up, after arriving at work, I mentioned that the transmission was shifting a little funky again and that I was concerned I had lost overdrive. He said that “These transmission are funky and sometimes it takes a little driving for them to get comfortable and broken in to drive right. Drive it for a couple says and after this weekend, if it’s still being wonky, we will take it in and look at it to figure out what is going on”. That is the same night the transmission failed. Transmission arrived at El Camino on Feb. 9, 2024. During this whole process so far, I had received 2 phone calls from the shop that I hadn’t initiated. One was letting me know they were going to swap the PCM, the other that the truck was working after swapping cases. After taking it back, I heard nothing for a week. I called for an update, was told that “My guys have been working on the truck non-stop and at this point I’m going to move onto other things right now because my guys are burnt out on it and need a break. The torque converter melted itself together again and everything inside overheated. We are going to rebuild it and check it out. I heard nothing for another week, after me and my mother calling daily and getting no calls back, even with voicemails. I then was able to get ahold of Jason again the next week. He said there wasn’t much they could do with what they had so he was going to get permission from the owner to “Get another core transmission, build that one, and try and figure out of this is our fault or not”. I attempted to drop off a part that may be causing the issue, was told it would be installed and heard nothing. I called 2 days later and was told it didn’t work so they were just waiting to see what they could do. While there, I had opened the hood and noticed that 2 of the battery cables had been almost completely cut through as if the battery had fallen off the tray and wearing on the engine belt. I told Jason and he said they would replace the cables with new ones the next day. Called daily for updates, sometimes I got through and was told he hadn’t been told anything by the owner, other times I wouldn’t hear anything for days. After weeks of paying for transportation to and from work, some hotel stays when promised the truck would be ready the next day, and no communication or progress from Jason, I decided to have the truck taken to Quality First Automotive in Richardson. Truck was taken to Quality First on March 6th, 2024. Looked at on March 19th, no transmission codes were found but the technician found improperly connected wires in the harness, stripped and grounded wires in the oxygen sensor harness, and multiple other wires that had been cut to exposed wire and were grounding out on various parts of the truck. The transmission had not been heli-coiled as told, instead holes were drilled through the case and nuts were put on the end of larger bolts to hold pan on, along with copious amounts of silicone. The transmission was leaking bad from the pan, nearly every electrical plug on the transmission was flooded with ATF and leaking through the connector, and the technician noted it looked as if the connectors had not been replaced as was charged for by El Camino. Technician did about 17 hours of work to find multiple sensors acting up, including all those in the transmission that had supposedly been replaced. Main engine harness wiring along the firewall had been taken out of the loom that protects it, and instead of being put back in, was instead just left open and had since been coated in oil and grease. The battery cables were not replaced, instead they had universal battery ends attached that were causing issues with the battery due to bad connections, and even being used prior and installed on my truck. All electrical issues that could be found were remedied, but Quality First does not do transmission work, so I was referred to Plano Automatic. Plano automatic transmission got the truck and said it was very visibly leaking from the pan and after getting the truck on the rack found an unknown substance inside the transmission, metal pieces, and damaged internals on the transmisson. In addition to the $1600.00 I had to pay Quality First to repair wiring and general maintenance parts from the damages caused to unauthorized "repairs" by El Camino Transmission, I am now facing the expense of rebuilding the transmission again due to incompetent mechanical work and El Camino's inability to honor their warranty. If we could give negative star review we would. The dishonesty of this shop has cost thousands in additional repairs, hotel stays, and additional transportation costs.
Apr 10th, 2024