That's horrible advice lol. You don't let problems go...

it only includes the pan and gasket. this one had to be fixed, it is leaking on my garage floor. changing out the fluid would add another $160.
are these difficult to DIY? things like valve cover gaskets, hoses, etc? parts online are so cheap.

Buy the parts needed then have a shop install them.

Most shops won't install brought parts but the DIY route shouldn't be too hard.

Well, that's you're OPINION!

I guess that depends on how bad it's leaking and where it's leaking from. You can scream purist maintenance all you want, but the reality is these cars are pushing 20 years old in some cases and precious maintenance dollars can nearly always be spent on more pertinent driveablity/reliability issues than a few drops of fluid on the floor each night. People often over-react when they see tranny fluid, maybe because it's red and looks like the car is bleeding or something. Lots of cars leak a few drops of engine oil, but that usually doesn't get the same reaction.

That being said, I hate leaks as much as the next guy, but if it's not excessive, it's cleaned up once in a while, and it's monitored so as not to ever let it cause a low fluid condition, then often times it can be "lived with" as an alternative to an expensive repair; that's all I'm saying. If it's seriously bad and gushing out, then by all means, you pretty much have to address it as it rises to a reliability issue.

I think it's HORRIBLE if the OP isn't aware that there's an option.

Im aware, but if this is all it took to fix this, than I am fine with that.

The gasket may not be bad, the pan bolts could just be loose. I had an old Cutlass that started leaking trans fluid around the pan and putting some fresh tight on the bolts fixed it completely. If you haven't fixed it yet its something to try, it could just need a few turns on the bolts to fix it free.

It's most likely the power steering. My SC300 recently started leaking power steering fluid and it was red.