Approximately how many hours of labor will I be charged to change a rear main seal on an auto tranny?

 

You sure it's the rear main leaking and not the Upper Oil pan half moon seal?

 

+1 if it is the RMS I would be surprised. What side of the car is it dripping on? Would be driver side for RMS but if it is the passenger side it could be one of a few things

 

I was quoted 600-800 bucks for the rear main on my 99 auto...mainly due to having to pull the trans.

 

it depends were you go, I usually charge $350 plus parts but i'm an independent shop. at the dealership, closer to 700 - 800 total.

 

Dealership by my house quoted me $1400

I thought the rms was fairly common?

 

Upper Oil pan seals are on the Driver AND Passenger sides. I would bet Upper pan before RMS

 

People still get confused up to today with this. It is the half moon seal leaking which is causing your oil leak. If it was the RMS, you would have been seeing white-bluish smoke out the exhaust.

 

No, I am not certain it's the RMS, that's a guess. It could just as well be the upper oil pan seals. Would one repair cost any more labor than the other? Just don't want to deal with dropping the transmission myself without a lift.

 

To do upper seals you might as well do the rms seeing it all ha to come part anyhow.. replace any seal far and few in between any corroded or rusty as hell bolts.. clean it all up nice and reintall

 

does the transmission have to come off to do the upper oil pan seals?

 

Yup

 

$1400 is about right because it will take more than a day. Whoever said $700 is taking it to a cheap shop or doesn't know what they are talking about. If you can get it done for $1k then that is a good deal and I think fair considering the economy

 

Thanks all. For $1K it'll just have to continue to leak.

 

No it does not have to come off. You have to remove crossmember and y-pipe to do it. Tranny can stay there and the side mounts on engine and tranny will support the weight if they are in good condition.

 

is it a bad leak? have any other work that you need done in that area?

I had my clutch replaced in my car and had the rms replaced and it added appx. 4hrs of labor. So i would wait until your tranny has to come off to do anything.

 

What he said^ When doing expensive jobs it is best to go ahead and replace whatever is close and easily accessible. For example, I installed my axels myself but because I was already in there I went ahead and did the control arms as well. Save time and money where you can

 

Whoever thinks 1k is a fair price obviously dont wrench their own car...it takes 2 hours TOPS to drop the tranny... especially if you got a compressor. Thats the main part of price.. most places charge automatic 500 to drop a tranny... parts shouldnt cost more than 100 bucks total.. now way it takes 9+ hours to do a rms leak if you have a compressor and air tools ... 700-850 tops is what i would pay a shop... then again i refuse to pay shop prices and wrench all my own stuff for 2 reasons.. if it breaks its my fajlt and i cant argue with anyone but myself and for 2 mechanics charge by the book and not by actual time and add 10-20% on parts if they supply them

 

+1

You also need to drop the AC compressor to remove the upper oil pan.

I used this cool writeup to get the oil pan seals replaced.

http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...n-removal.html

I had the driver's side seal leaking along with a broken lower radiator support. To make it easier I installed a new OEM lower radiator support and replaced both upper oil pan seals all in one job last March. It took at least 15 hours over a week period.

Edit: Having the crossmember bar dropped for so long I placed a jack and piece of wood under the AT for support.

 

Yeah you are right. Forgot I did leave the compressor hanging.

 

why does everybody say replace the upper pan seal and not the rear main seal?? The half moon seal sits on the rear main seal. And your either gonna spend couple of hours or a couple grand, why not just replace a $50 seal?

 

This is why $1k is fair at a shop lol they are a business and they charge by the book so they can make a profit

 

The RMS actually sits on the Upper Pan seal IE, the RMS is above the pan seal (see my pic in post #8). We say to replace the Upper Pan seal because the RMS rarely goes bad on these cars unless you significantly overfill your oil. In order to do the RMS, you need to pull the tranny. To do the Upper pan, you don't need to pull the tranny. The seals for the Upper pan are about $10 the rest is labor.

Edit: See other comments on this subject
http://forums.maxima.org/8448016-post14.html
http://forums.maxima.org/8448065-post15.html
http://forums.maxima.org/8451011-post32.html
http://forums.maxima.org/8454943-post34.html

 

Ya I just saw the how to. When i re-did my gaskets, the motor was on a stand, so different situation.

BTW, i just checked ALL-DATA at my job, and you'll be charged 11.7 hours with an auto tranny, or 10.7 hours with a manual tranny at any reputable shop. My shop charges $90/hr, so thats $1053 w/auto and $963 w/manual. I know with big jobs like that, you can sometimes negotiate a lower price with a manager.