Just how much is all this costing?

Let's take a look at the invoice from the repair shop. We'll start with the parts first.

Parts:

• 1 USED TRANSMISSION - 350.00


• 11 QUARTS DEXRON (TRANNIE FLUID) - 2.72 A QUART - 29.92


• 1 TRANSMISSION FILTER KIT - 24.99


• 1 SEAL - 20.89


• 1 SEAL - 4.24


• 1 SEAL - 4.09 (That's how it's listed on the invoice. What those 3 seals do I have no clue)


• SHOP SUPPLIES - 17.89 (No clue what those are. Nuts and bolts? Rags?)


• TOTAL COST OF PARTS - 452.00

Now onto the labor.

• MYSELF - 57.00 On the invoice it has my name and 57.00. I'm guessing that's the flat fee to have the car looked at. I probably should have asked.


• DIAGNOSTIC SCANNER - 25.00


• TRANSAXLE ASSEMBLY - 501.60


• 3 GALLONS OF GAS - 12.00 (Hey, gas is only 3 bucks a gallon at the repair shop!)


• TOTAL COST OF LABOR - 583.60

With tax, that came to a grand total of $1079.07. I guess that's about what I expected to pay and it's pretty close to what they quoted me. Here's the problem though. Half of what I paid went to labor. Ouch. If your a mechanic and you're reading this, you probably think that the price of labor is justified. And I agree with you. The guys at the shop know their stuff. They ripped out my old trannie and put the new one in, and it only took them a day and a half. They could have probably done it blind-folded. I have no idea how long it would take me to do it. That's the whole purpose of this little adventure though. Just because I don't know how, does that mean I can't? '

Again, no disrespect is meant to professional mechanics. If mechanics were doctors, a transmission specialist would be a brain surgeon. But at the same time, working on cars isn't brain surgery. It's not rocket science.

The way I see it, there are two main reasons why people don't work on their own cars. Time and money. Time, because who has time to read and try to make sense of a service manual? Who has time to pull an engine? Who has time to try and diagnose a problem, then troubleshoot it?

Money. Ah yes, never enough of it when you need it. Just a basic set of tools will run you... well, tell you what. Go to the MAC tools website and check out how much a set of regular old wrenches costs. Here, check out the link. No, they aren't kidding either.

http://www.mactools.com/Mac/Mac+Products/Catalog/Hand+Tools/Wrenches/Sets/Fractional/SCl15K2KS

Time and money. Those two bastards are such a buzzkill. I know I don't have nearly enough of either. But I'm not giving up. Not yet anyway.