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I ask because I have no idea because I can't recall every having these done before. I took my car to a shop and they quoted me $500 and frankly that seems a lot more than what I expected it to be. Am I wrong?
How much should I pay to have transmission and differential fluids changed ?
Depends upon the car but I would think it should be under $300. I do my car myself and it takes about an hour (including cleanup and oil disposal) and I spend about $40 for the lubricants.
That doesn't sound out of line, really. Just to change my rear diff fluid on my Jeep GC Overland, it was $120 for the fluid, because there's a special additive that you buy along with the fluid itself. Then it took a couple hours to remove the diff cover, clean it up extremely well, remove all the old gasket material so there would be no leaks, reseal and replace cover, and then fill. So along with labor and doing the tranny fluid too, $500 could be a reasonable price. Just look up the cost of the parts needed to do the job. You may be able to get away with any kind of lubricant, and that will cut down on the cost significantly. The Jeep dealer charges $350 to do the rear diff only for me.
I looked at my service manual for the Acura TL SH-AWD and the rear diff fluid change wasn't as complex.
It was a simple drain and fill so i guess it depends on the car and with not knowing what procedures are required for the Subaru... i guess it would be difficult to say one or the other.
That price suggests the shop was selling you a "flush" instead of a drain/refill service. Flushes are almost never recommended by the manufacturer. They use a special machine that recirculates fluid and claims to get all the old fluid out. But the recirculation also sends contaminants everywhere in the transmission. Flushes are a high profit service.
I don't know about Subarus, but on a V6 Honda 4 qts of Honda fluid costs about $45. Open drain plug, let drain, reinstall drain plug, refill with prescribed amount. Takes about 30-45 minutes at home. With a lift it would be faster. Differential is similar.
Call around to some local shops. Tell them what you have and the services you want. Then compare the prices. On the surface, $500 does sound high (sounds like a dealer's price to me), but it would really depend on the details on what is involved for your particular car.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Last time I had a transmission service (at a transmission shop) it was $90, $70 for the rear end. That was about two years ago. Dealers are almost always higher.
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