Hey I just bought a 2000 Durango with 155000km on it. But needs some work. Does 350 for valve cover gasket replacement and 200 for a transmission service to get filters and pan gasket done sound right?

 

Welcome to the boards. I do all my own work, so I couldn't tell you on the labor prices.

 

Sounds like you're in Canada?

 

Yes I'm in canada, and would love to do repair myself but valve covers seen difficult to get to

 

Get a shop manual, you sound like you need one. Then read about what it takes to do the repairs you would like to do and decide if you are comfortable with tearing into it. Are you mechanically inclined? Don't be scared be informed. In my opinion 350 for cover gaskets is nuts, head gaskets maybe but not valve cover gaskets. Transmission service? I guess that all depends what they plan on doing, but I assume it would be a filter, band adjustment, flush and fill. These prices all seem like definitely stealership prices, but then I am not familiar with auto repair prices in Canada.

 

I personally just pay someone to do the work for me. I have no time or motivation to do the work myself anymore.

I know how to do most jobs (repairs) on a vehicle. I estimate how time I'd take to do it, then put in $75hr. I'm slower than most shops because lack of experience and tools so that pure $75 usually covers profit and part of parts cost.

 

$200 for tranny service is about right. Takes 14 quarts of fluid and it's right around $80 just for that, not including the filters. Not sure about Gaskets. Depends on the shop labor rates. I know on mine, my valve covers are under all my AC lines, so they have to come off and then be put back on and all, so, $350 might not be a bad price.

 

I agree if you have to dis and recharge the air conditioning then that would be a reasonable amount. For me its not the cost of my labor I consider, but the "therapy" I get out of doing the repairs myself and not killing one of my children or wife. Better than a shrink I figure.

 

Ya looked at the work involved in the two jobs and with the valves being kinda hidden on the sides I thought was more work then I was willing to or felt comfortable doing, Will be doing the brakes and rotors next week though but the one im trying to decide on is I have a leak on my rear and front differental so the job seems relatively easy only thing is I dont have a lift so getting to the area on jacks could make more troublesome

 

I did mine up on 4 jack stands. The rear pinion seal is tricky because you need to remove the pinion flange and there is a crush sleeve that sets bearing pressure which is important not to over crush. There is a video on youtube that shows how to do it without replacing the crush sleeve and getting back to the proper torque after replacing the seal.