I would like to know if anyone can tell me a reasonable price for transmission service on my car (I asked them to do this in addition to the plugs, if you saw my earlier plug post). I was charged aa whopping $362.36 for transmission service. I have had it flushed in the past and it was something around $100. The breakdown is: $36.25 for clean kit, 49.92 for Castrol domestic ATF, $108.55 A.T FLT KT/Transmission filter, $25.22 pan gasket, LABOR $41 for trans service and $102.42 tranmission filter and reseal pan. Again, this all seems over the top, I do not care how good the mechanic is. Please, someone share their wisdom with me, I do not want to call out the mechanic if this is reasonable. I am in rural PA, by the way… Thanks in advance!
The $100 you paid for a flush was a waste of money. If you did not already have the fluid changed several times on this vehicle, the flush could have done considerable damage to the transmission.
The total seems a bit over the top; I’m assuming only the transmission was done, not the transfer case or differential. This service on my 1994 Nissan is $123 the last time it was done. That would include gasket, filter fluid and labor. I don’t know what a “clean kit” is; in my bathroom it’s soap and towel.
This charge looks like a dealer service. Parts for this vehicle do cost more, but it looks like you got charged twice for the filter. The labor should cover resealing the pan. I would ask to see the part numbers of all these things.
On the bright side, the fact that your transmission is still OK is cause for celebration. At that mileage after a flush they often fail.
This truck has a GM transmission so it shouldn’t be THAT expensive.
At rock auto there are no-name kits at $26 and $28, a WIX kit at $36 and the AC Delco kit is about $50. I’ll bet the shop opted for the Delco kit since it’s the OEM, but I would ask them about using a cheaper one (the WIX one would probably be a good compromise). The filter kit should come with the pan gasket.
Also, it looks to me like they’re going to drop the pan and change the filter and do a flush. Just dropping the pan and changing the fluid should be sufficient. The engineers who made your transmission were aware that a drop-and-drain won’t get all the transmission fluid and are fine with that.
Here is what you should have paid:
Filter kit OEM (Comes with pan gasket) $55.00 LIST price.
6 quarts of DEX VI @ $3.30 quart $19.80 + tax
Labor to drop pan, change filter, reinstall pan and refill $80.00 MOST
I come up with $154.80 + tax
I would question the price of the filter kit which comes with a gasket and why they charged another $25.22 for a pan gasket which was already in the filter kit. An OEM fiber gasket lists for $8.27.
What is this $36.25 for a “Clean kit”?? Never heard of a clean kit.
Some of this stuff is bogus.
transman
This is tremendously helpful. Thank you VERY much.
Please post back and let us know what you find out. By the way, who did the service?? Was it a transmission shop, dealer, or fast lube place?? or a general repair shop??
transman
Will do. The work was done by a local car repair shop. I am anxious about the convo tomorrow, finger crossed! Again, thanks!!!
Oh, there is one thing I should have mentioned. This transmission has 2 pans on the bottom. Only one of them is removed to access the filter. If the second pan was removed because the gasket was leaking that would account for a second gasket, but still, that second gasket LISTS for $7.50. They still have over $200.00 worth of explaning to do.
transman
What is this $36.25 for a “Clean kit”??
Wallet cleaning kit? A clean rag?
Not thrilled at all with the outcome of the discussions. They gave me about $20 off the filter price and took back the auto generated charges for the “shop supplies” for $66 total. In the price of the transmission work that would be fine, I guess, but in the overall cost of $799 it is no good. AND that is a shop credit, but I have no desire to go back…
They would not budge on the NGK spark plugs at $28 a plug, insisting that they gave me a good deal that the list is $29. I looked up the part number that they gave me and on the NGK site it says $12/plug, but arguing any more would be a waste of breath.
This was a hard/expensive lesson. I asked him if I called and asked for an estimate on the transmission work he would tell me $362 and swore that would be the price. It would be an empty shop…
I appreciate your help, I am certain that he was very annoyed that I came with my guns loaded. Of course, not annoyed enough to get down to a reasonable price.