Noticed my tranny has been leaking a little for the past couple days which I assume since what is being leaked is purplish fluid. I went to a GM dealership to change my oil and had the guy take a look to see if it was my tranny. He took me under the car to check it out and it does seem to be the problem. Guys says that it's a seal inside the transmission and to change it, it will run me $800. WTF???????????? Does this sound right??????????

 

A good dealership isnt out to rob you blind. They have to charge labor to remove and install the transmission as well as the seal. Its not gonna be done for free lol. You could do it yourself, thats always an option...

 

To me it seems a bit high. There's a guy local here who used to rebuild th350's and 4L60e's for $200 (given you provided the parts, but that seal itself wouldn't cost the other $600)

Dealerships always tend to be more expensive, though. I don't like them, and I'll never take any car of mine to one, unless it's free warranty work

 

Well, thats definately not the price of the seal alone. Im willing to bet that $800 is reasonable in the San Fernando Valley lol. Their labor rate is probably pretty high. Thats an easy $500 dollar Job here at an Ohio dealership. The best way to save money is to do it yourself.

You can always get a 2nd and third opinion

 

i'd go get a second opinion at a transmission shop anyways....that just ridiculous

 

That might be doing it 100% right.
Which is to take the pump out, take the halves apart, replace the bushing.
Then to put it back in using a new pump o-ring, pump gasket, seal and seal retainer, o-rings on all the bolts, dipstick tube seal, cooler line o-rings and clips, and since they have it that far they might as well do the rear bushing and seal, and fluid and filter.

And it's a bitch of a job. It cost me $80 to change all the parts I just listed.
And guess what.....it still leaks. This is where having a dealer labor warranty might help.
And I say might because I've done this three or four times on my car. I asked a sponsor on here and he said they had one doing this one time and it ended up being the trans case, and had to replace it.

I'd want a list of parts though, if they're going to drop it down, change the seal and put it back up, then yes that price wrong.

 

+1 on 2nd and third opinions. Youll likely find cheaper. Some people will only go to dealerships for peace of mind.

I will either do work myself(Mechanic) or take to a dealership. 9 times out of 10, if a customer isnt satisfied, a good dealership will make it right.

You also have to keep in mind that San Fernando's Median income is approx. $74,000. The shop overhead is most likely costing more to run then if it was in small town USA.

How much did that dealer charge for an oil change? What is their labor rate?

 

Yeah think I should get some other opinions from other shops. Don't really trust the dealership sometimes since I got rippped off $150 one time which is not much but could have been avoided. As far as the oil change it came out to $38.XX.

 

Plus the guy never said anything about changing any other parts. He simply said $800 to drop the tranny, change the seal, and put it back.

 

Sounds like its the input seal on the front of the transmission. Any idea on the labor rate of the shop?

Dropping the tranny isnt "simple work" lol. Minor Maintenance is simple aka Oil Changing!! I'd say that its gonna be at least $600 dollars for a shop to do it.

 

F*** that... Get a second opinion..

 

600 is not abnormal. 800 seems a bit high.

 

talk to Pro Trans in Lancaster..they do good work.

 

I would try a local "mom & pop" transmission shop, they usually make their businesses by doing good work and getting referals. They will also be cheaper than a dealership.

SteveC

 

Sounds more like Labor Charges and stuff like that..I know that has been already mentioned.

Anything with a Transmission is a pain in the ***, you have to pull everything out and apart to get to the internals. Auto's are a bitch because you have to have a bunch of special Tools to tear them down. A T56 is a little easier as long as you have a Press and an Extended Puller.