Just wanted some independant feedback on this...

My 2000 explorer (94K miles) is starting to experience some clutch
slippage.  I notice it getting more and more worse as time passes.  I
took it in and the Ford dealer told me that I needed a new
transmission.

I pressed the guy on a few questions because it seemed like they wanted
$3200.00 (rebuilt tranny install, or 1700 + parts for rebuild) simply
because the old one slips and they don't know why.

Eventually the guy told me that they ran all the diagnostics and that
everything looked fine, so there must be an "internal failure", thus
the tranny is "hurt bad".  This seems suspicious to me, so I asked what
specifically had failed internally, and he said he had no idea, they
did not open it up and look.

Maybe the cost of opening the thing up far outweighs the cost of
rebuilding/replacing, I don't know, that seems like bad design.  Should
I take it to an independant transmission shop and have them look?

Thanks,
troy

Aside:  Does anyone think that owning a Ford Explorer is more cost than
it's worth?  I think I've spent enough for 2 of these darn things and I
keep it in good preventative care according to the documentation that
came with it.  Is 94000 miles too many for a Ford to handle?