Had major trani work done 1800km ago now the tech is telling me the rear main seal is leaking which wasn't at the time the transmission was done.

Should the shop have advised me of the $150 additional cost to do what at the time was minimal extra work...?

Need input as I now have trouble trying to accept an additional $1000 + repair.

The work was done at a local Toyota Dealership... I have no doubt that nothing was tampered with at the time of the repair, however, collateral damage may have occured due to unecessary stress on an old seal which now is extremely costly to repair.

How should I resolve this with the dealer?

 

I don't think you have any arguement. If the rear main wasn't leaking at the time of the service, why would they change it?

An individual repair shop may make the suggestion to you but NO dealership will. They want you to bring the car back.

 

correct...

but who in the hell is charging you $1000 to replace a $20 seal?

the book (mitchell) calls for about 6.5 hours if I recall, I'll look it up in a bit...

it shouldn't even cost $150 with the whole trans out anyways... again, it's like a $20 seal, maybe $35 tops...

 

talk them down the price, but it's a good thing to do, because if it goes even in 12-24 months, it's going to be a major PITB.

 

ok, looked it up...

total labor time R&R rear main seal: 5.5 hours includes dropping exhaust and trans, installation of seal, and putting everything back together...

costs $39 for the seal from the dealer...

our shop labor rate is $74 / hr (pretty typical for a large metro area), so, if you walked in the door of my shop, we would charge you $407 + $50 (typical markup on the seal) plus maybe a couple bucks for miscellaneous shop supplies...

 

Thanks for the input.

The tech called me back this morning and said the book called for 10.5 hours labour and $29 for seal on '99 Rx300 AWD...

Why the difference in your labour time and his?

 

Maybe Mitsuguy thought you were referring to a SC300/400 and not an AWD RX300 since this is in the SC300/400 section??

I would think the time involved on an AWD vehicle vs a RWD vehicle would be different.

 

you are very right

lemme check the book to confirm for ya though...

ouch...

mitchell calls for 14.5 hours actually... eek

 

This forum is always good for a few laughs

 

Youre correct, Although, I personally dont think its how it should be though. Since its a fairly cheap part, not much extra work, and thats frankly expected to fail. (And a good Toyota mechanic knows that)
I would highly appreciate a mechanic suggesting replacement if it were my car .
Also their reasoning is flawed. I would bring my car back for future service at a shop that DID recommend replacement. And recommend them to other people also. Whereas i would not go back to a shop thats trying to bend me over.

 

I’m so glad this forum exists! I am experiencing a pretty heavy oil leak on my ’94 SC400 w/120,000 miles that has appeared rather suddenly within the last month. My first guess is the rear main seal. I can see some evidence of it coming from that area.

I have a few questions regarding this issue if it’s ok to just keep it in this thread…..I am not very experienced with automotive mechanics. Though I have done my power steering pump/alternator replacement with help from this board.

I have concern that this seal might completely blow out and cause a sudden loss of all oil? Is that something that I should be immediately concerned about? I am keeping a close eye on the oil level and it appears to still be full. I’m currently a few hours away from home.

What suggestions are there from you guys on how I might confirm that this is the problem and is there any advice on not getting ripped off on the repair? This will be my first repair that will require a shop to perform it. Thanks.

 

clean the bellhousing to block area with parts cleaner... run the car... look for oil coming out of the small hole between the trans and the block... if there is oil coming from that, it is the rear main seal (if it's red in color, it's a trans leak, but if its motor oil, its the rear main seal) rear main seals rarely ever (if ever at all) fail catastrophically, they usually just leak so much you hate your life and cleaning up after the problem...

the repair should cost no more than 5.5 hours times whatever their shop rate is per hour, and then no more than $50 worth of parts...