onderdonk

Hi Folks,

Thankx for this nice community.

I just bough a 2000 es300 with 127 K mile on it.

The dealer told me today that thier is a slight leak which I have to look out for and mostly needs a rea main tranny gasket and tranny pan gasket.

The leak was not significant.

Heres the question:

How long can I go along before I fix it ?

If I replace those two gaskets ( its about 1400 according to the dealer) will the transmission run Ok after that or will it have issues ? I am trying to understand if fixing this is not going to open another can of worms.

Thanx in advance for the guidance.

Regards,
Jason

ArmyofOne

$1,400 is not a bad price as the replacement of the rear seal on this (and most) transmissions require removal of the transmission to replace. However, if you look around, you can have it done for under $1,000.

As far as "will it be ok if i leave it?" yes...if you keep fluid in it at the proper level. If you have (or can get) the money I would fix it, but more important than that, I would look for another dealer. Any dealer that would sell the car that way to you then charge you to fix it is shady IMO. Reputable sdealerships take a trade in, the first place it goes if its staying on their lot is to the maintenance bay. Any problems will be fixed on the spot, thats why alot of cars trade in values are so low.

whatever course you choose, DO NOT LET THEM POWERFLUSH THE TRANSMISSION. If they say they have to take your business elsewhere. It will ruin the tranny.

onderdonk

Thanks . That is a good piece of information. I will try and negotiate. Also This deler did not sell the car. I bought it from a individual.

But as you said let me see if he asks me to do a powerflush. I hope not. The service guy did mention that they guaranteee thier work for 1 year. Hope if thier is any problem it should show up by then.

Thanks again though.

Cheers
Jason

ArmyofOne

Oh well in that case, yes, Thats a decent price. Does that include a laoner car so you can get from "A" to "B" while its in the shop? If so, have them do the Timing Belt and Water Pump too. Chances are those are factory as well and they need to be changed every 90,000 miles.

As far as the powerflush, you will know it right away. I would say 3 weeks tops is how long you could go before the trans dies, if it does. If you make it to 6 weeks, your clear.

it sounds like they are a decent delearship, just request to have the trans fluid drained, the work done, and then ask them to only replace wha they removed. It will be a substantial amount, but much better than shoving clean fluid through the system at 2000+psi, taking all the stuff thats holding the bands and clutches together out with it.

EDIT: Jason,

Something else just came to mind. Is the "rear main" the seal on the engine or the transmission? It is VERY rare for a FWD to have a main seal on a tranny go. If it is leaking engine oil (which is what im guessing) you will have NO problem driving it, just keep the engine topped off. I drove my ES when i had it, and it was leaking so bad it took 2+quarts of oil a week. On the interstate i was adding a quart everytime i filled up with gas.

So yeah, you will be fine.