how long should this take?

[BlackbirdWS6]

drain trans fluid, put new stuff in.....take off diff cover, let fluid come out, new gasket and refill?

i dont have a decent way to get under the car myself, and my dad knows a guy at a garage thats gonna be doing it. I dont need to be there all day so i wanna know how long so i can pay accordingly

[jmd]

The shoppe sets the labor hours, not the customer. At a shoppe with a lift, probably 2 hours, one for each job.

[BlackbirdWS6]

yeah i understand this, i would just like a general estimate on how long this should take. thats all thanks

[2002ws6_mn6]

Did you see what jmd wrote?

Originally posted by jmd
The shoppe sets the labor hours, not the customer. At a shoppe with a lift, probably 2 hours, one for each job.

[30thbird]

I would be surprised if it took more than 1 hour for both.

[SlowLX]

Expect to pay for 2 hours, a decent shop (that isn't busy) could have it out in less than an hour. This work is affectionately referred to as "gravy"

[2002ws6_mn6]

Originally posted by 30thbird
I would be surprised if it took more than 1 hour for both.

Get keys.. drive in shop.. set up lift.. raise car in air.. locate drain pan.. wheel over to car.. remove trans pan bolts with 3/8 impact gun.. carefully let fluid drain from one corner.. remove pan.. remove filter.. take pan to parts washer and clean pan and magnet.. get pick and pull out filter seal.. install new seal.. sick new filter in hole... screw in about 20 bolts by hand... get torque wrench and torque trans pan bolts in.. lower car.. Fill with fluid.. run car.. take for road test.. check fluid...

Now I can go through a similar process for changing diff fluid.. I'd say 2 hours is fair..

[30thbird]

Have any of you done this? Spew on. An hour max. and deal for it.

[jmd]

Originally posted by 30thbird
Have any of you done this?

Yes.

But I do my work without a lift. So it's hard for me to relate to the lesser skilled people of the world who pay others.

[BlackbirdWS6]

so just because I pay someone to do it for me that leads you to believe I am any less skilled than you are? I know I'm not any professional mechanic or anything of the like, but I do have a general idea in my head for how long it would take and have read how to do it. Doesnt and wasnt hard at all, but if I have access to a lift from a friend then why not take the opportunity. Besides, maybe I dont have as much free time as you may have to do this kinda stuff whenever. I appreciate the response but that comment wasnt necessary.

[jmd]

Originally posted by BlackbirdWS6
so just because I pay someone to do it for me that leads you to believe I am any less skilled than you are? I know I'm not any professional mechanic or anything of the like, but I do have a general idea in my head for how long it would take and have read how to do it. Doesnt and wasnt hard at all, but if I have access to a lift from a friend then why not take the opportunity. Besides, maybe I dont have as much free time as you may have to do this kinda stuff whenever. I appreciate the response but that comment wasnt necessary.

I was replying to 30thbird, not you, since he doesn't seem to care for my responses. I've had some training on work orders & estimates, I just don't happen to work in a shoppe so I don't deal with them day-in, day-out. Onebad93z works in a shoppe and agrees with me. :shrug:

I fully agree that you should do it yourself. And I totally understand that your time carries a certain value to you, which is why you might take it to a shoppe versus doing it yourself.

-Matthew

[2002ws6_mn6]

JMD - I worked as an A-Tech in a Pontiac/GMC/Buick dealer for 3 years and I agree with you..

I've done more trans services and diff services then I can remember.

Flat rate time a trans service paid 1.2 hours and a diff service paid 1.0 hrs (back in 1999)..

[mics2fbodies]

Originally posted by jmd
Yes.

But I do my work without a lift. So it's hard for me to relate to the lesser skilled people of the world who pay others.

Hey maybe he's just lazy or has more money then time. Anyway why are you removing the diff cover, unless your installing a new cover or aluminum TA cover? I just used a siphon hose to remove the old gear oil and a hose and funnel to refill. Nice and quick.:cool:

[Calypso Coupe]

Originally posted by mics2fbodies
Hey maybe he's just lazy or has more money then time. Anyway why are you removing the diff cover, unless your installing a new cover or aluminum TA cover? I just used a siphon hose to remove the old gear oil and a hose and funnel to refill. Nice and quick.:cool:

Better hope you don't have any metal shavings or other contaminants in there. I much prefer pulling the cover and thoroughly cleaning the housing out

[mics2fbodies]

Originally posted by CobraMike
Better hope you don't have any metal shavings or other contaminants in there. I much prefer pulling the cover and thoroughly cleaning the housing out

What contaminants could have possibly got in there that you couldn't siphon out? Sure there's bound to be some small metal shavings from the brake-in period but there is a magnet in the cover that will catch those.:cool:

[2000 Tran Zam]

Originally posted by jmd
The shoppe sets the labor hours, not the customer. At a shoppe with a lift, probably 2 hours, one for each job.

whats the difference between a shoppe and a shop? :dunno:

[jmd]

Originally posted by mics2fbodies
Anyway why are you removing the diff cover, unless your installing a new cover or aluminum TA cover? I just used a siphon hose to remove the old gear oil and a hose and funnel to refill. Nice and quick.:cool:

For the same reasons that the tranmission "flush" jobs don't do as good a job at cleaning things out as a pan-drop fluid / filter change.

To do a visual inspection and to clear more particles out, including those stuck on the magnet.

[SlowLX]

Originally posted by jmd
For the same reasons that the tranmission "flush" jobs don't do as good a job at cleaning things out as a pan-drop fluid / filter change.

To do a visual inspection and to clear more particles out, including those stuck on the magnet.

I disagree. Simply dropping the pan and filter leaves old fluid still in the TC and cooler, you are just dumping fresh fluid into old fluid. I recommend dropping the pan, replacing the filter, then doing the flush

[jmd]

Originally posted by OneBad93Z
I disagree. Simply dropping the pan and filter leaves old fluid still in the TC and cooler, you are just dumping fresh fluid into old fluid. I recommend dropping the pan, replacing the filter, then doing the flush

It's unfortunate that a flush leaves some olded fluid behind as well.

I've gone with a different home-done method of this. After doing the pan & filter, cranking the eng. briefly will turn the pump and purge some of what is in the converter at the cooler line fitting to the TOC in the radiator. It's been a while, so I don't remember the quantities. But as long as you don't ovecrank, this is a safe way of accomplishing the same thing.

As far as cleaning things out, the pan > the flush, I think we can agree on, because of my first statement. The combination of the two should be better, but I'm skeptical of the flush because of the marketing of it as a replacement for the pan.

[SlowLX]

I agree, nothing is better than pulling the pan and giving things a good once over, which is why for the most part I try and sell the drop pan/flush service. I basically use all the points we've gone over to sell the job