Thread: How much to fix..... OUCH!!

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

Since hes got an AUTO in there sparky when the auto blows out the front seal and rapes the rest of the box from following your "advice" will you be willing to fork out for a share in the repair bill?

as for paying $80 for a td5 gasket? whoever billed you for that saw you coming unless it was a head gasket.

Oh on the Tcase leak... since you seem to know better than a mechanic, whys it leaking? is it because the Orings failed or is it because the shaft has fretted in the casing and is now out of position?

If its the latter whats the long term consequence of continually running the Tcase in that condition? (other than you have to keep topping the oil up)

Genuine gaskets cost around $80 here in Australia. I think I paid a little bit less, maybe around $65 or whatever the trade price is. You can get aftermarket gaskets for $10, but it's a job I rather get done properly first time.

Anyways, if he wants to fix the leak just for the peace of mind I'd get the whole box overhauled at the same time, because $2000 in labour just to replace a seal which is only a small fraction of total cost is very steep.
Might as well get the whole thing overhauled at the same time if he's paying this much for pretty much just labour. It's going to cost a bit more in parts, but at least he won't have to pay $2000 again in a year time to take the box out when something else stuffs up. That's at least my opinion.

hehehe, dodged and weaved Dave.

Your purchase cost of a vehicle is only a small amount of the on-going costs involved in owning and operating a vehicle.
My thoughts are that you should get your oil leaks fixed when you first notice them. As an ex-mechanical business owner, nothing is more painfull and time consuming $$$$$ than cleaning 12 months of oil leak from underneath an vehicle to correctly diagnoise where the leak is coming from. Motorcyclists suffer dearly from oil drops at traffic lights.

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

hehehe, dodged and weaved Dave.

Still bracketed though, watch this...

Originally Posted by Rocky88

Anyways, if he wants to fix the leak just for the peace of mind I'd get the whole box overhauled at the same time, because $2000 in labour just to replace a seal which is only a small fraction of total cost is very steep.
Might as well get the whole thing overhauled at the same time if he's paying this much for pretty much just labour. It's going to cost a bit more in parts, but at least he won't have to pay $2000 again in a year time to take the box out when something else stuffs up. That's at least my opinion.

ok so lets say... he goes to the workshop and pays his $2K to get the front seal set done on the auto and he drives away... his vehicle could be 20K km old but out of warranty on time.. you'd pay to overhaul a near on new gearbox?

or he's got no mechanical knowledge and will have to pay someone to take it out, replace it with a Reco box for $3k (minimum) and then put that back in. lets say all his seals he gets from the same place you get your td5 seals from and pays $80 for the pump seal and another $80 for the pump gasket and $40 just because I cant be buggered taking $160 out of $2k and like nice round numbers for rule of thumb ball park guestimations

so its $1800 to pull and replace an auto, including mounting and demounting it to the Tcase (which If its the place I think it might be it wont, they'll ping him $300 for that) thats a $4800 repair bill. Cash he just may not have on hand to spend compared to $2k just to fix the problem.

Originally Posted by Rocky88

There's your first problem - you took your car to a mechanic for a service. Those people will always find something wrong with your car just to make you come back and spend more money.

Just forget about it and keep topping up oil.

well aside from the first problem is that its leaking oil....

lets look at the top up procedure for a D2 auto.

remove filler plug add oil.
start engine
top up oil and drain through filler plug with engine running untill a 2mm bead of oil is observed coming from the filler plug. Not exactly as convenient or easy as remove oil cap, pour in oil, check on dipstick or remove fill bung, pump in oil, wait till it stops dripping ,replace fill bung

so lets look at the seal.. ITs probably the main TC/pump seal thats going which means unlike a weeping gasket its under main pump pressure most of the time and will leak progressively more AND will leak a varying amount depending on driving style (the pressure on the pump seal varys with the demand pressure, oil temp, engine RPM). Given that its under the vehicle and is set up with a drain that empties the oil onto the road without too many catch points how do you judge how much its lost so you know when to refill it? More importantly what happens when you get it wrong? what happens when you strip the filler plug from doing it up and undoing it all the time?

When in all of the above does

Originally Posted by Rocky88

it's a job I rather get done properly first time.

come into effect? Before you've totally killed the seal, run the box low on oil, roasted the TC filled the box with swarf then toasted the clutchpacks and bearings mandating a rebuild or after?

Remember in an automatic transmission the oil is a part of your driveline, its not just a lubricant.

How long did it take you to type all that !!!!

probably <15 minutes, I had to go back a couple of times to get the quotes right (sometimes multi response quote doesnt work for me and it drops off the extras) and I'm watching T2.

Well Done

You guys are most entertaining. Who needs a mag on the throne when I have Aulro on the iPhone. Better read hear.