maint. work... what do you think??

[doubleA]

I used to do all my own auto work... had a 2005 Subaru WRX and my father had every piece of auto related tools you could want. Car lift, engine hoist, tranny drop, welder... a full craftsman's mechanic set, I mean the 1000 piece one. Today, I live way to far from him, and I do not have any tools or a good work space. So I called a shop near my in-laws in PA... they want $1,640 to do the following:

Replace Radiator, water pump, timing belt, upper/lower rad hoses, flush the diffs/t-case/tranny, clean/replace tranny filter, change thermostat, and change the oil/filter. The timing belt change also includes the pully/crank seals as well. They say about 1000 in parts and 600 in labor. I say its about 1000 in labor and 600 in parts.

Keep in mind that if you could NOT do this stuff yourself, does this price sound reasonable. I will hope to start change the oil, coolant flushes, brake, and other misc sh*t down the road, but for now, I am stuck!!

 

[koulee]

Only thing you might not be able to do yourself is the timing belt and pulley/crank seals that go with that. Everything else is easy.

 

[Elton H]

just bring them this kit as for labor it should take them the better part of a day to do it

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Timi...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

 

[doubleA]

just bring them this kit as for labor it should take them the better part of a day to do it

Timing Belt Kit Toyota 4 Runner 3.4L V6 5VZFE 96-02 - eBay (item 300477596470 end time Jan-04-11 12:53:19 PST)

thats the kit they are doing...

 

[brian2sun]

I would break it down this way (this is about what I would figure a reasonably priced non-dealer shop would charge w/ tax included):
TB/WP/Thermo & labor - $650
New radiator - $150
Radiator labor - $100
diffs and t-case fluid & labor - $200
ATF and labor - $200
Oil & filter & labor - $75
TOTAL - $1375.00

 

[004Gunner]

Sounds like a good reason to start building your own tool collection. Also, a lot of stuff on your list is not critical to replace or service. Why does the radiator need to be replaced?

Priority level (imo):
Oil/filter change
Tranny flush/filter change
T-case/diff fluid change
T-belt/WP/Seal replacement
Rad hoses
*Radiator priority unknown since it is not normally a replacement item unless faulty.

 

[doubleA]

Sounds like a good reason to start building your own tool collection. Also, a lot of stuff on your list is not critical to replace or service. Why does the radiator need to be replaced?

Priority level (imo):
Oil/filter change
Tranny flush/filter change
T-case/diff fluid change
T-belt/WP/Seal replacement
Rad hoses
*Radiator priority unknown since it is not normally a replacement item unless faulty.

after reading about the pink milkshake issue, I decided to go ahead and get peace of mind by just replacing the radiator. I could bypass with a tranny cooler as well... have not decided yet. the quote seemed a little high, but the mechanic gets a good rep from my father in-law.

in reality, I could just do the diffs, radiator swap, hoses... and let the shop do the TB and tranny flush.

 

[brian2sun]

after reading about the pink milkshake issue, I decided to go ahead and get peace of mind by just replacing the radiator. I could bypass with a tranny cooler as well... have not decided yet. the quote seemed a little high, but the mechanic gets a good rep from my father in-law.

in reality, I could just do the diffs, radiator swap, hoses... and let the shop do the TB and tranny flush.

Actually, flushing the tranny usiing it's own internal pump is really easy to DIY. I did mine about 2 years ago. Here's a link...
Dropping Pan And Flushing Transmission

 

[004Gunner]

in reality, I could just do the diffs, radiator swap, hoses... and let the shop do the TB and tranny flush.

That would be my recommendation. The pink milkshake would be better avoided with an external cooler imo and it would save you money

Edit:

Actually, flushing the tranny usiing it's own internal pump is really easy to DIY. I did mine about 2 years ago.

The filter change is kind of a pita though. That gasket took some work to bust through on mine

 

[brian2sun]

That would be my recommendation. The pink milkshake would be better avoided with an external cooler imo and it would save you money

Edit:

The filter change is kind of a pita though. That gasket took some work to bust through on mine

Yeah, the pan gasket can take a little time to bust through on some trucks. Luckily, mine came off pretty easy. The crappy part is scraping all the FIPG off the tranny while you're laying under it and it's dripping in your mouth and eyes. Wear goggles if you do it.

 

[doubleA]

well maintenance work is done...

In the end I had the a local shop change:

Timing Belt, Water Pump, Pully, Drive Belts, Tranny Flush, Diffs/t-case, and the rear axle seals were starting to leak, so he changed them too. Next (which I will do) is a new radiator/tranny cooler, upper/lower rad hoses, spark plugs, wires, clean MAF and throttle body... and then the real fun stuff. In the spring I will change the engine over to amsoil...

 

[DH4Runner]

well maintenance work is done...

In the end I had the a local shop change:

Timing Belt, Water Pump, Pully, Drive Belts, Tranny Flush, Diffs/t-case, and the rear axle seals were starting to leak, so he changed them too. Next (which I will do) is a new radiator/tranny cooler, upper/lower rad hoses, spark plugs, wires, clean MAF and throttle body... and then the real fun stuff. In the spring I will change the engine over to amsoil...

What did that end up costing if you dont mind my asking.

 

[doubleA]

What did that end up costing if you dont mind my asking.

in all: ~650 in labor and ~750 in parts. seemed a little high but I trust the mechanic, so to me is worth the extra.

 

[J-money$$$]

well maintenance work is done...

In the end I had the a local shop change:

Timing Belt, Water Pump, Pully, Drive Belts, Tranny Flush, Diffs/t-case, and the rear axle seals were starting to leak, so he changed them too. Next (which I will do) is a new radiator/tranny cooler, upper/lower rad hoses, spark plugs, wires, clean MAF and throttle body... and then the real fun stuff. In the spring I will change the engine over to amsoil...

good lucky with that change. my 4runner burns synthetic oil like crazy..... thats what you get with 233,000 miles with conventional oil

 

[BTO]

Actually, flushing the tranny usiing it's own internal pump is really easy to DIY. I did mine about 2 years ago. Here's a link...
Dropping Pan And Flushing Transmission

Thinking of doing this.
How about using the ATF lines disconnected from the external cooler running output into an empty 5 gallon bucket and the input line in another 5 gallon bucket of fresh fluid and just let 'er run? Would the input line have enough suction to keep up with the output? Would I instead need some sort of gravity feed arrangement? I was thinking that maybe best with a petcock on the line to regulate flow.

 

[brian2sun]

Thinking of doing this.
How about using the ATF lines disconnected from the external cooler running output into an empty 5 gallon bucket and the input line in another 5 gallon bucket of fresh fluid and just let 'er run? Would the input line have enough suction to keep up with the output? Would I instead need some sort of gravity feed arrangement? I was thinking that maybe best with a petcock on the line to regulate flow.

I don't think there would be enough suction on the return line, but I could be wrong. I found it very easy to just dump a qt. in the dipstick, turn the engine on for 10 sec. or so and let it pump a qt out, kill it and repeat about 16-20 times.

 

[BTO]

I don't think there would be enough suction on the return line, but I could be wrong. I found it very easy to just dump a qt. in the dipstick, turn the engine on for 10 sec. or so and let it pump a qt out, kill it and repeat about 16-20 times.

Which method would be a better use of the new ATF? Using the dipstick tube or the cooler return line? I'm wondering how much good fluid is dumped with the bad.

 

[brian2sun]

I dropped the pan and changed the filter before I started the flush part of the job, so I started with ~6 qts. of fresh fluid in the pan. Once I started flushing, it came out dark until about the 12th (flushed) qt. When it started running out of the send line clean, I let one more clean qt. drain out and stopped. I think I used 19 or 20 qts. total for the whole pan/filter/flush.