Rear Pinion Seal Leak

[MattStarr]

Hi. I went to the dealer today to get my oil changed and while they were looking over the car, they found my Rear Pinion Seal was leaking. They filled the reservoir up with oil to get me by till next week when I take it in to get it fixed. I went out and looked at it to verify the leak. I noticed oil dripping from there before but never thought anything of it .... Well, since I hake 98K miles, the rear diffy needs its synthetic oil changed. They said while they have the drive-shaft off, they might as well change the oil in the diffy to save me money later. They said about $200-250 for the whole thing including new seal and changing the oil and labor. Seems reasonable to me. They said it was caused by sand getting in the seal and eating away the seal. Thats my fault though. Does this seem right? Price/problem/etc? Anything I should be aware of?Thanks guys

I wonder how the sand got in there??

 

[MattStarr]

..

 

[Nick26]

thats pretty pricey for a pinion seal replacement, its a real easy thing to do, but I paid $40 plus $10 for seal for a mechanic to do it cause you need some serious tourque to get the pinion nut off.

 

[MattStarr]

Its not something I can do myself... and remember, they are doing more than just that replacement for that price..... they actually have to take the drive shaft off.

 

[Nick26]

removing the driveshaft takes 2 minutes, there are only 4 bolts that come right out and its off. If you feel more comfortable with the dealer doing it thats fine, but if your looking to get the best price i would cal around a little bit first. Just my 2 cents. Good luck!

 

[MattStarr]

Thanks man....

Can anyone else please jump in and offer some advice....

I feel most comfortable at the dealer here, they do really good work, and their prices are reasonable compared to other shops in the area...

I dont know what to do!!

 

[RiverRat]

It sounds expensive. Have them break it down to how many hours the repair is supposed to take. I doubt "book" time on a pinion seal can be much over 1.0 hours.

 

[MattStarr]

He said it would be about 200.... I trust them and like the work they do.... I would rather pay more and have it done right......

 

[aldive]

They are charging you too much.

pinion seal F89Z4676AA $13.87
labor 0.9 hr.

 

[Harry5150]

I changed mine fairly quickly. It was on very tight but I just used a breaker bar to get the nut off.

I think you could do it yourself.

 

[MattStarr]

Remember I'm at college with no tools to do any of this......

 

[MattStarr]

Also, that price is to change the oil back there too, i guess thats an additional .5 hours
so 1.5 hours at $69/hour =105 +plus parts...somewhere around 160?
eh, its kinda close


Atleast at the dealer I know it will get done right and I trust their work.

 

[aldive]

Originally posted by MattStarr
Atleast at the dealer I know it will get done right and I trust their work.

Sorry to disagree, but I have never seen a dealer that I would trust to do anything to my truck.

If you insist on having someone else do the work, find a good independent garage' better price and better work.

 

[MattStarr]

All I know is they have saved me alot of money on all my work. They even said that their brake pads were more expensive, so they went and got Bosch pads or something aftermarket just to save me 30 bucks! They said max it would cost is 225, but it would probably be lower than that. And the mechanic who works on it, I really trust him.

But does it seem right to change the rear diffy fluid while they have the axle off? They could kill 2 birds with one stone. It sounds right to me.

 

[aldive]

Originally posted by MattStarr
All I know is they have saved me alot of money on all my work. .

I see, $200-250 for a $13 part and 5 quarts of oil and a filter, hummmm., thats saving you a lot of money.

 

[MattStarr]

I dont know what to do.. I dont know any other shops around here b/c im at school...