Rep Power: 128

No problem. I know I'll find a lot of MAW's (might as well) once I tear into it. I'll just have to sort things out as I go and see if they are in my budget and comfort zone.
In the end if I mess up it'll actually be just like a can.
I can always recycle it.

 
Rep Power: 367

If you decide to go ahead and crack the can open, best of luck and come here if you hit a speed bump.

We will crack a joke here or there, don't mind it, though

 
Rep Power: 128

I don't mind the jokes one bit. I think I have a good sense of humor.
Anyway. I watched a video of the same transmission as mine being torn apart. It didn't seem too difficult but it's not something I want to try on this particular transmission. There were things in the design of this transmission that make me think it was not designed to last, mainly it has no serviceable transmission filter and I noticed there are places in the transmission case that debris can accumulate that can later break free and contaminate / damage the internal workings.
I'm going to leave it to my wife what she wants to ultimately decide since it is her car.

 
Rep Power: 128

My wife and I are so far leaning to have the shop that were considering to do the job.
My wife likes the car and she doesn't want to take any chances buying another car with unknown problems. We know this car very well since we've owned since it was almost new.
Stay tuned for updates.

 
Rep Power: 367

g'lucky

as mentioned, if you going to do, check the other things that will soon be due and easier to do now while the head is off.

 
Rep Power: 128

No head coming off here unless I lost my own head somewhere in the process.
However it will need a new timing belt soon but there's nothing happening here that'll make that job easier.

 
Rep Power: 367

LOL, now i am losing my head, for some reason (too many head gasket/overheating threads....) i thought your case was head gasket My bad...

 
Rep Power: 128

Oh-oh now you got my attention to another somewhat common problem on these cars. Fortunately our car hasn't had any issues. After reading various threads at least I know what to look out for before it became a really serious issue.

 
Rep Power: 128

We ended up getting rid of it. I think I got a really good price for it. I basically subtracted the cost of a transmission rebuild from what I thought it was worth in good condition.
It still needed an eventual timing belt replacement and the air-bag recall and who knows a head gasket in future. I just didn't want to deal with it anymore.
I had cash in hand no more than two hours after posting it.