How much does your indy charge for an ATF & filter change?
 

Curious whether I should do it or pay someone else to do it.

I spent about $20 for a filter/gasket kit and $7 on ATF with DIY for labor. Add on his labor charge, likely $30+ per hour, for about 0.5-1 hour.

Does the $75.00 include fluid and filter?

$125 includes torque convereter draining and all parts and 1 year warranty.I ofyen wonder if some mechanics bother to drain the tc.

Tranny
 

Hmmmmmm. Mine wants 2 hrs labor and parts. the specs on mine is simply "automatic transmission fluid." Does that mean Dexron III? or is there some other secret fluid that you have to get from the dealer?

If you drain the TC yourself DO NOT drop the plug when you try to put it back in. It can be a real BI*CH to get out of the housing.

If you can do it yourself, do it. You will save gobbs of money.

The fluid that came out of mine was light purple with lots of very fine metal "dust" in it. I still have a sample jar of it around here somewhere.

nhodges - year and model are important here. The 722.6 in my E300 requires a "secret" synthetic fluid only available from the dealer, and a very specific procedure and tools. (It doesn't have a dipstick.) That change runs around $200.

For the older cars (i.e. one's that don't require special secret sauce number 722.6 in the transmission) figure about a hundred bucks, give or take twenty. That's using plain old Dexron ATF.

I reluctantly do this job myself because for fifty bucks I can change the filter and use Mobil 1 ATF. Helps that it's only required every 30K miles - by then I've forgotten how much I didn't enjoy the last round.

It's not a difficult job, but can be a rather messy one. After draining and dropping the transmission pan, three phillips head screws permit removal of the filter. A nice shower of ATF comes down when you pull the filter.

Draining the torque converter isn't hard either. You'll need rotate the engine to line up the drain plug. I take the direct route and use a 27mm socket on the crank pulley bolt - even diesel engines can be turned by hand with a 24" breaker bar. Draining the TC is a bit messy because the fluid comes out in glugs and spurts, and tends to spatter everywhere. You need a really biiiiiiig drain pan to avoid showering your garage floor.

On a scale of 1-10 changing the fluid is about a 4, more for inconvenience and mess than any real difficulty.

Takes me about an hour in my garage, and I certainly don't have a lift. Any more than an hour of labor I find difficult to believe.

- JimY

Yeah I've done it in the past. I remember it being messy and a PITA and I wanted to see what the relative savings were, thanks guys.

Tranny
 

Mine is an S350 diesel. tranny lists as 722367 Does that mean Dexron III is the fluid to use? Is mobil 1 ok? I want to put all new fluids in mine. That way I will know from where I started.

$40.00 and I supply filter kit and fluid.

Ok, tgh93, where do you live?!

I go to a transmission shop that I have known for may years. I give him $35 cash and provide the gasket and filter. I never asked him to do the t/c, however. He would probably tell me that I am crazy.

The t/c holds a good 3 1/2 quarts. I kind of think it's a waste to change the ATF without doing thr t/c, just my $0.02.

Edge, you are probably right. I guess I'll have to force him next time.