Schmoozer

So, I've heard that Jeeps have a problem in general with the diffs leaking once the cover has been removed. So after talking to a mechanic buddy of mine I decided just to put down a bead of silicone after I took the cover off and cleaned all the innards, put the cover back on and let it setup before refilling it.

Then I found out I'm needed 800 miles away on Monday, I'm driving it, I know the work schedule is gunna be busy, and I don't know for how long. I really wanted to get this done as its been 8 (almost 9 years) and 80K miles and it hasn't ever been done, so I took it to Midas today: $280. Labor was about $160 and the rest was split between fluid, additives and some other stuff (the receipt is outside/downstairs and I'm lazy).

I kinda of tried to keep an eye on what the guy was doing but the big chains (especially in big cities) are pretty strict about their 'keep non-employees out of the garage' policy. The guy used a machine to drain and refill the fluid through the fill plug and it took about 30 minutes. So the labor is pretty excessive, but $120 for 2 diffs worth of diff fluid? Am I crazy or is it the price?

What are your guy's experiences? Any mechanics out there want to put in their $0.02?

jeepfreak82

the problem is not only the old oil but the metal and such that coats everything after many miles... I always remove the cover and clean the **** out of everything, then re-seal it with hi temp grey silicone and fill it back up with Lucas 80w90 gear oil. I am very satisfied with my results and you would actually be surprised how much stuff comes out when you actually clean it. Draining it only will not get this out. Sorry to say, just doesn't sound worth the money to me when I did both my front and back difs for less than $60

hedbutter

im not a mechanic.. but i just changed my diff fluid, oil, gaskets, sealer, battery clip, oil filter and my bill for materials came to 101. So my $.02 is that they charged a bit to much for the fluid(i used all synthetics also)

I had 4 bottles of diff fluid, only needed 3 and a little bit more. I think they were like 10-15 bucks apiece for the fluid.

EDIT
After reading the above post.. i remembered the brake cleaner i bought to clean it

MasterShakeXJ

it's good to clean everything and make sure the gears and all are still in good shape. it also helps to clean the old RTV seal off and reapply it. if you do it yourself it takes longer bc you have to clean it, apply the new seal, and let it set for at least like an hour before you refill it and torque the bolts. so they just did a simple drain and refill on your diffs, not the best way to do it IMO.

Schmoozer

Yeah thats what I figured, damn job, I should of just stayed unemployed.

MasterShakeXJ

haha. eh, gotta go where the money is. lesson learned though.

radio flyer

Wow!! For 280 I would change ALL the fluids in your xj. I've seen your other posts and changing your diff fluids is easier than doing the prop rods.

Schmoozer

Nah, no lesson learned, I really was going to do it. But thats why I took it to a brand name place, so if ANYTHING goes wring with my drivetrain in the next 30k miles Midas is buying me two D44s. I hope they stirred up some crap that binds $hi+ up.

radio flyer

i didn't mean to make my response sound like a bash! I have 2 kids and a wife and fully understand the time constraints that tend to rule our day to day lives. Hate to hear that you had to entrust your toy to a shop and wind up with less than satisfactory results. Please accept my apology J.C.

01LimitedXJ

apparantly those people dont know how to do routine maintenance. its ridiculously easy to change the fluid, and you can dump it for free at autozone. why would you ever pay anyone to do it? IMO 280 is way over priced. It costs maybe 30-40 tops to do it yourself, and thats using good gear oil.

patnok

the midas touch is scary. but you right. they charged top dollar for a half ***'d oil change. hope you have a safe trip & working is better than not working.

I want to add that having a good honest local mechanic is priceless. Even if like a lot of us we do everything we can ourselves. Some times it is not good enough or fast enough. That's life. I feel blessed with mine. The old school guys are few & far between.......

G_P

It took me less than an hour and under 50 dollars to completely drain/clean/refill both of my diffs.

280 is outrageous and if you know what you are doing and use the proper sealant you wont have any leaks at all.

Sounds like they just used a pump to suck out as much of the fluid as they could then they refilled it. That means they left a small amount of old fluid and whatever crud had accumulated at the bottom in there when it was filled.

Schmoozer

No apology necessary, I knew exactly what I was doing when I agreed to the charge, and I wouldn't of asked about if I didn't want feedback. Honestly, I didn't even take it that way.



Yeah I agree, unfortainitly I've only been here a month before having to move again, thats life though.



Thats exactly what they did, but I called it a "machine" because the thing was huge it was probably about 46" x 12" x 8" so I was thinking (hoping really) it was more than just a pump. Probably just a pump with a couple of reservoirs though.

G_P

Most likely it was a pump system with a reservoir for the old gear oil and a tank containing new oil to fill it up.

They probably dont even check what kind of oil should be in there and probably use the same (cheapest they can buy) oil in every vehicle they service.

tcountry

Well I work at a Midas, its not really a chain. They are all induvidualy owned. Its only a chain by name. 280 is way to much, and I belive that anywhere that has a machine to do it is in for the money and not the actual results (In and out mentality). It's not always about the name but the mechanics that work there.