hikerguy

My wife's aunt took her car to the mechanic recently because of an oil leak. They told her she needed to have the oil pan gasket replaced. The cost was $1700. When I called them to ask how in the Hell a gasket can cost that much to replace, they began to explain how involved it was. My question is, is $1700 reasonable to replace in this make and model of car?

Thanks,

Andy

tech2

Which engine; it effects the labour time.

the 3.6L time is 10.5 hours x the door rate...add parts, gasket/sealant, filter and oil...then 1.5hrs for wheel alignment as the subframe must be removed to drop the oil pan.

12 hours x say $120hr door rate= 1440 labour
$60 parts =1500 plus tax and your pretty close.

hikerguy

Sometimes I'd just like to clock engineers (and company executives) who do sh*t like this. This is some **** poor design. I can't believe all of that is required just to change the drain pan. Thanks for
the info though. At least now we know she didn't get screwed over like we had thought.

tech2

you aren't wrong. I deal with it everyday but usually am getting hammered on the other end.
I was commenting to my coworkers on the flat rate time for this repair. Warranty time for the same job on a cummins 3500 diesel is under 4 hours. You would think a tiny car would be easier with computer assisted design. They make it to go together fast on an assembly line.
Gm engineers are pretty good compared to some brands.