I have a 1997 Sidekick JX 4dr Automatic.

Long story short, Midas was supposed to replace my engine, but instead they just rebuilt my old engine. (which I didn't authorize)  They rushed to get it done and did a really sloppy job.  On the way home from norcal to socal, the transmission "died". 

Park would work as park, but all the other gears acted like neutral.  Firends told me the torque converter may have went out, but I'm wonderinf if it isn't something that Midas did sloppily.  I read an online diagnostic guide for the tranny and it talked about some kind of lever that may be jammed so it's not releasing something when I move out of park....

Also could there be some electrical/computer issue?  They pulled my old engine and put it back in, they over filled it (5 quarts instead of 4) so they may not have known what they were doing when wiring it all up.

It just "died" all of a sudden it was like I was in neutral.  There was no noise, no gradual fade.  There is fluid in the tranny.

My Zuki is just sitting in a parking lot and I'm hoping there may be a way to get it rolling again.

First question is why did you let Midas do your engine in the first place? LOL! But as for your trans problem it could be a number of problems. You say the there is fluid right?  You checked it with it running? It is weird that it justed stoppped working with no warning and no abnormal noises. The only problem I could think with the torque convertor would be if they never tightened the bolts up and they vibrated out. That would do what you are discribing but should have made some noise. Nothing else on the trans should have been touched really. Or you have really bad luck and now the trans has kicked it! But that would be really wierd!

What's the time frame from when they rebuilt it to when the tranni died?
Did you call them?

First question is why did you let Midas do your engine in the first place?

I was on tour between LA and Seattle in a place called Tracey, CA.  I had to stay rlling to play shows, so I had to have it towed to the only place open on a sunday, which was midas. 

What's the time frame from when they rebuilt it to when the tranni died?
Did you call them?

It died on the way down from Dublin, CA to Los Angeles.  I was on the phone with midas back and forth and now Midas Corporate has suggested 3rd party litigation against the franchise.  They offered to have it towed up to their location, and they said they would fix the tranny, and then they finally agreed to pay to have it towed back down.  The problem is that I paid for a japanese imported engine with less than 40k miles on it, instead they rebuilt my engine with over 120k mi on it.  They admitted (when I came to pickup the car) that they ordered the wrong engine and instead they had to just rebuild my old one.  The original problem was that an oil leak bled the engine dry and a crank shaft bearing went out.  WHen I picked the car up, it was overfilled with oil and the flange that holds the throttle cable was unbolted and loose.  a bunch of other shady stuff went down...but at this point I just want my money back and I want to take it elsewhere to be fixed up.  I was considering a v6 and manual trans along with newer vitara drive train stuff. SO I wanna get it running nad hopefully be able to drive it up to Oregon near Strickly Suzuki and work on it at my GF's dad's garage.

I've got 235/75s brand new on rims ready to put on it.  Then I'm gonna try and sell my Bronco II and buy the calmini 3" lift.  And I was told to get gears from a manual tranny kick for the gear reduction.

So how should I choose a shop to look at it?  I'm uneasy about trusting any businesses at this point.  My GF's mechanic seems legit though.  How much should I expect to pay for a diagnosis and estimate?

Should I just swap in a remanufactured engine/tranny combo?  Should I just patch it up, sell it and get a 2000 through 2002 kia sportage 2dr convertible with 2.0l 4 cyl and manual tranny?  I been lookin for 2dr hardtop kicks too with no luck at all.

I vote for torque converter bolts fell out, there are only 3 of them.
take a look and see, could be an easy fix

Wild

Bummer of a problem. Don't let them take you to arbitration, as it's in their favor. In California you're protected very well against shops that do work they were not authorized to do. They're in BIG doo doo trouble if you can prove (note the bold) you authorized them to install engine x, but they rebuilt engine y instead. They'll likely be ordered to pay any other shop to slap in the engine you originally requested. They'll also likely be ordered to pay for any repairs due to their negligence (your transmission). But - you have to prove it. That usually means taking it to another shop, and having them take a look at what's wrong... and they'll have to be willing to testify if they believe the other shop screwed up.

Things to keep in mind about "Japanese import" engines (commonly called JDM).

1) They're technically illegal in California. But, most smog shops don't check the engine block # - so this isn't really an issue. Unless you're super paranoid.
2) The 40k thing is a total crock of crapola. They can't, and WON'T verify the millage on any JDM engine. The story most people tell:
"Japan has strict SMOG, so they have to retire their cars after x0,000 miles."

LIES! I dare you to find this Japanese law.

What really happens:
Japan is on an island in the middle of an ocean. It's also a VERY small island - where 80% of the population lives in only one harbor city. Like all coastal vehicles, they get eaten up by salt. Japan has vehicle inspections, and if a vehicle is getting too eaten up (especially in regards to the frame), it's retired. Since most the population lives in one city, and the island is super small, the OVERWHELMING majority of cars there see very few miles before being retired. So, they have a surplus of engines with (compared to America) low miles. BUT THERE IS NO GUARANTEE HOW MANY MILES ARE ON AN ENGINE BEFORE BEING RETIRED.

That said, I've known a lot of people happily running JDM engines for many years - even here in SMOG Nazzi country.

I say they broke it, they should buy it. It would be hard for me to trust it now that they totally jacked it up. At the very least, you get every bit of your money back and they pay for the tow to the shop of your choice.

Good luck.

-Adam

I agree with daddyizzle!