plovell

I was getting a steady leak on my 05 / ES330 from the left hand side of the engine that I couldn't identify. About 3 tablespoons overnight. So I took it to the Lexus dealer.
They identified a "minor" leak from the transmission pan gasket and a power steering return hose that needed replacing.
The quoted me $1,024.00 Cdn. I gave the go ahead as it was the first repair ever in almost 12 years and I was at home, half an hour away when they called plus I was already enjoying their beautiful loaner car.
Seems very steep to me? Am I right?

ilkinandr

seems very steep man. I would say thank you and go to a private mechanic and get it done. They can get the same parts and do the labor for half price or just get parts from amazon.

artbuc

You got screwed and maybe a lot more than you think. Did you personally confirm the identified leaks? If not, how do you know what repairs were required? Also, did you confirm that identified parts were, in fact, replaced? You get screwed by the dealer's ridiculously high labor rates but paying for unnecessary work or work that was not even done is a bigger risk.

plovell

Thanks. Now I feel really pissed.

crwys

Yea even looking up the parts on rock auto they are $5 for the gasket and $20 for the return house, unless you are talking about the high pressure one then it's about $100. But even so, the gasket is a very fast, easy, job. Not too sure about the hose but just eyeballing it, doesn't look too bad.
if they didn't re use your transmission fluid thats another $40 or so for their over priced transmission fluid

plovell

For the power steering it required both upper and return lines. Those parts came to 217.00. Labor was 300.00. Looking at a video of what's involved in replacing these lines it doesn't seem too out of line.
What is a total rip off is the 437.00 in labor to replace the transmission pan gasket and clean the underside of all the sprayed fluids. Three and a half hours labor for that?
Obscene.

nsghtbrwry

I'll throw in my vote, you got hosed by the stealership (not trying to make you feel worse). Yeah pan gasket is easy, hope they used a rubber gasket and no sealant vs. a crappy cork gasket. I just dealt with P/S leaks on my '99 ES and it was easy, just replaced the two leaking bits of hose (Gates transmission oil hose, don't remember the size), then flushed with MaxLife...the piece down by the passenger CV axle I routed into a container to get most of the fluid out without a mess, only one little patch to blow away with brake parts cleaner/acetone.

Lol, I changed a similar leaking bit of hose on a friend's '04 Matrix recently...he dropped it off for the flush, parked it on the corner. I started it up and the hose blew off (clamps and all), spraying half the engine bay with nasty trans fluid...and here I was, wondering why it didn't have P/S when moving it 25 feet.