Transmission question
 

New to the group. I have a 2005 Pacifica Limited that's done well since we bought it. Just turned 100k and started throwing a P0740 code. I reset the code, then drove it to see if there was any noises, and accelerated slowly and rapidly to see if the speed lagged. Nothing out of the ordinary occurred. Probably drove it 300 miles, then when my wife was following me in it, as we pulled into our neighborhood and stopped briefly, it wouldn't move. With the engine on, it's like it's stuck in Park. If the engine is off with the car in neutral, it can be pushed. Before I had it towed to the dealer, I checked the codes and got the P0700 on the engine, then P0740, P0720 and P0715 on the A/T, so the input and output were now coding. The dealer did a check and said it needs a new transmission, but the boards all have various electric/electronic issues that might be culprits as well. I have a couple other techs I trust who think there's something internal wrong when I tell them that it moves with the engine off but locks up with the engine on, so it may be that the trans. is shot. Vintage Parts is the only place to get a new transmission (I used them in my days at Caterpillar, so I know how they work), and the local Cottmann rebuild shop gets good marks from the techs I trust. Vintage will be about $5500 which is more than I'm willing to pay, Cottmann will probably be in the $3000 range by the time I'm done.
Wondered if anyone has any experience that I might try to see if there's anything other than replacing it. I've not tried the junk yards, but that's an option also, but I'd still need someone to do the remove/install, so I might end up just about as much as the Cottmann expense.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts, experiences or knowledge anyone can provide. I'm not sure which transmission is in it, but I could look over the VIN.
Regards,
Scott

How's the transmission fluid? I'd drop the pan & see what we have for debris before condemning the transmission. Not saying the techs aren't correct, but mine (with the same codes) was the TIPM.

With all due respect to the guys at the dealership, dealer mechanics are taught how to "remove and replace". I doubt that 1 in a hundred dealerships has a "transmission guy" on board who knows how to diagnose, tear down and actually fix a transmission. Most dealerships, if they can't talk the customer into replacing the transmission, will subcontract the repair to a trans shop, where they do that kind of thing all day, every day. If I were you, I'd get the car into a transmission shop and get an expert opinion.

I've been remiss in responding.... My apologies. This is exactly what happened. The dealer didn't do a thing. They didn't even move the car into the garage to look at anything. I wonder if they even plugged in the meter out in the parking lot where it was towed the night before. All the dealer could manage was to tell me to call Vintage Parts, who I worked with when I was a distribution manager at Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift. They're a great bunch. The business model is to buy an OEM's new aftermarket parts inventory at scrap value, then hang onto it in ultra high density storage and sell at the OEM's dealer or list prices, whichever is in their contract with the OEM.
I have a trusted mechanic for my BMWs who recommended the local Cottman transmission shop. They went through it, salvaged what they could and rebuilt it. It had a leak after about 200 miles which they fixed (had to pull it and redo some of the job...was a seal that curled).
They give a 3 year 36k warranty.
Unfortunately the wife now doesn't trust her vehicle any longer, so I'm going to have to get something newer....plus at about 100k it's started popping messages about the tire pressure monitoring system, which has been thouroughly checked at Discount Tire when I bought new tires about 3 weeks ago but it still pops the "Service tire system soon" message. Today it popped the air bag light, but it went out. I'm wondering if there's a fuse that's about half-shot that's causing some of this. I've had that happen before in Volvos, BMWs and Fords. Fuse looks good, but when you replace it, all the issues stop. Go figure. All that is in my current honey-do list to investigate and try to solve, sans dealer.