After servicing my Corolla...

[Oblique]

Ok, before I begin, may I just add that I know 100% nothing about cars other than how to drive one, change a tyre and check my oil.

Now, as the title suggests, I just had my 2001 Corolla 5dr Hatchback serviced and I upon collecting my car, I was presented with a somewhat un-pleasent surprise.

My gearbox is apparently screwed and buying a 2nd hand one would be the cheapest option. Here is what they wrote on the quote:

*Oil leak from rear main seal. (they actually didn't put a price here).

* 2nd, 3rd, 4th bearings very noisey

2nd hand gearbox - $2,600

They were the 2 "major" problems. They then listed other stuff:

Rear brake shoes - $260

Fuel filter - $84

Spark plugs - $84

A/C clean/disinfect - $85

Brake flush - $65

Wheel alignment - $65

Coolant flush - $175

________________________________________

Ok, did I just pay $170 for them to vaccum the sand off the floor on the inside of my car and to tell me I need to pay them another $3,418 to fix my car?

I'm stumped at this price. I mean I really have no idea what it should be.

I just drive the damned thing.

Can anyone who knows more about cars than myself please give me any advice or options I have?

Sell car and spend $3,500 on a new car?

No idea. Thanks,

Oblique.

EDIT - Oh and admins, please move this if it is in the wrong section.

Edited May 28, 2008 by Oblique

[dannywss]

*Oil leak from rear main seal. (they actually didn't put a price here).

* 2nd, 3rd, 4th bearings very noisey

2nd hand gearbox - $2,600

They were the 2 "major" problems. They then listed other stuff:

Rear brake shoes - $260

Fuel filter - $84

Spark plugs - $84

A/C clean/disinfect - $85

Brake flush - $65

Wheel alignment - $65

Coolant flush - $175

Brake shoe $260? isnt that just around $120 or less?

Fuel filter $84? is that the small round thingy under the car? it cost less than $30 rite?

spark plugs $84? Does it include the new lead? or just plugs?

A/C clean/disinfect, what does it have to do to solve your car problem? delete that.

Brake "fluid" flush? meaning taking the old ones out and putting new in? brake fluid itself is around $20? labour cost him $45??

... ... ...

I think, you go to another mech, and re-access your car.. see what will happen.. that gearbox should be less than or around $2000?

[Hiro]

Is it manual? You can pick up a C52 pretty cheap these days (couple of hundred dollars, more for a C56), and if you get a friendly mechanic I'm sure they'd install it for a few hundred too (usually means dropping the engine, so a bit of work there).

$2600 for a second-hand Corolla gearbox is an absolute rip though.

[Buddha]

Ok, before I begin, may I just add that I know 100% nothing about cars other than how to drive one, change a tyre and check my oil.

Now, as the title suggests, I just had my 2001 Corolla 5dr Hatchback serviced and I upon collecting my car, I was presented with a somewhat un-pleasent surprise.

My gearbox is apparently screwed and buying a 2nd hand one would be the cheapest option. Here is what they wrote on the quote:

*Oil leak from rear main seal. (they actually didn't put a price here).

* 2nd, 3rd, 4th bearings very noisey

2nd hand gearbox - $2,600

They were the 2 "major" problems. They then listed other stuff:

Rear brake shoes - $260

Fuel filter - $84

Spark plugs - $84

A/C clean/disinfect - $85

Brake flush - $65

Wheel alignment - $65

Coolant flush - $175

First of all, in regard to the brake and coolant flush, can you tell from the service history when these were last done to the car? It may be that your mechanic is assuming these haven't been done in a long time. The brake flush and wheel alignment prices sound about normal to me, but the other parts are overpriced. Did the mechanic tell you how much wear is left on the brake shoes, i.e. is it urgent now, or do they have, say, 5k or 10k left in them?

The main rear seal is potentially a $500 job, we had a similar repair on our Starlet a few months back, but thankfully it was still under the statutory warranty, and the dealer knew about it from the safety inspection, he just chose to leave it that way.

As for the gearbox, how does it feel to drive? Is it hard to select gears, or do they crunch when you change gears? Is there any noise you can detect from the gearbox? From my experience, Toyota manual gearboxes, generally, are pretty hardy sort of devices, you'd have to be pretty brutal with them to kill them.

I agree with dannywss, take the car to another mechanic for a check over and see what their opinion is.

[Keisari]

Replacing the rear main oil seal involves dropping the engine or removing the transmission etc, and will be expensive (although the seal itself is like $8). If you have an auto, I've heard that you don't need to worry about it until you need to do something to the transmission, otherwise you're just doubling-up. However if you have a manual, you might be having oil leaking all over the flywheel and messing with your clutch. This is bad.

A MANUAL reco gearbox + labour to install it is not a $2600 job. Take it to a gearbox specialist and see what they say (I'm saving $1500 for mine which should EASILY cover it, and my car is 17 years old). On the other hand, I've seen some AUTO gearbox work exceed $4000 in 4-wheel drives. If you have an auto, this price is probably roughly right. These are complex devices.

You're getting taken for a ride with the brake pads (aka brake shoes). Brake flush... you could do it yourself for $10 and a bit extra for a brake bleeding tool, though I myself am not confident enough to mess around with the brakes.

The fuel filter is a bit expensive, although these can be an absolute pain to remove if the previous one was over-tightened.

Spark plugs $84 eh... If they're putting in iridiums or something, maybe (they're about $13/ea or so), but if they're just putting the copper ones in, they're like $3/ea plus $5 for a spark plug wrench + $5 for a gap adjuster. DIY.

A/C clean / disinfect? What, they're going to spray some disinfectant into your vents? Maybe they'll replace the cabin filter too, but this is so cheap and easy it's not funny. I fail to see how that's $85 of work, though maybe I'm just ignorant... DIY?

$65 for a wheel alignment is fairly standard, though many places do it for free when you buy tires from them.

My favourite... $175 for a coolant flush?! LOL. I think he's looking for a bit of weekend pocket money.

[rthy]

try and find a wrecker to do a swapover with.

paid $900 to get my falcon motor swapped over with a 120,000kms motor. prev motor had 360,000kms and a crack head

[Rolla Boy]

Firstly with the gearbox, should try changing the oil and adding in some 'Nulon Diff and Gearbox Treatment'... It comes in a white tube and you can get it from your local spare parts store... Works wonders...

Drain out your old gearbox oil... Squirt the full tube of Nulon into the gearbox and then fill the remaining up with a good quality 75 - 90W Gearbox Oil...

Should quieten the box down and help to reduce more wear...

Brake shoes seem a little expensive to me... For that price I would hope that the rear wheel cylinders were also included...

Fuel Filter sounds about the right price for a genuine Toyota Part, aftermarket would only be worth around $20...

Spark Plugs are way too expensive... Your car doesn't need platinums, the ones you need are only worth around $4 each and thats for Genuine Denso plugs...

A/C Flush is the right price and disinfects the A/C system and helps to keep the bad A/C smell from appearing... But this is only just an add on thing, if you don't want it you don't have to have it... Just get yourself a $2 Air Freshener :) :) :) ...

Brake Flush and Wheel Alignment sound about right price wise but they would have to flush the rear fluid when replacing the shoes so the price should be dropped a little due to that I would think...

Coolant Flush seems expensive too... Your car will need 3 Litres of coolant and thats worth around $35 for the Toyota Long Life Coolant... Labour shouldn't be $140 for this...

And also, as previously said, your rear main seal isn't worth that much, it's just the labour involved in removing and refitting your gearbox thats the expensive part...

[dannywss]

no reply from the owner itself.. weird.. knock knock* have you thrown your car?