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How Many Labor Hours??

rdnkcpa

By rdnkcpa
in Ask A GM Technician

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rdnkcpa Enthusiast

rdnkcpa

Posted
Posted

How many shop labor hours are required to replace the torque converter seal in a 2001 S10 2WD with a 4.3 and a 4L60E transmission?

 

I pulled the engine to replace the oil pain gasket and timing chain cover. I ended up pulling the torque converter, don't ask very long sad story there. Anyway before I put the torque converter back in, I put a new seal in. I lubed up the torque converter before sliding it into the seal and reassembling. I've got a drip coming from the rear inspection cover, so my seal repair job must have not done the trick.

 

I'm going to call tomorrow to a local independent shop that I trust. I was just curious how many hours an experienced tech would take to remove and replace the transmission. I could probably do it, but I'm tired of wrestling with the truck. It has been a long winter with it....

 

Thanks in advance.

Doug_Scott Senior Enthusiast

Doug_Scott

Posted
Posted

I think you will find it is not done by how long an experienced tech takes to do the job, it is done by flat rate. The job is listed in a Chilton Flat Rate Guide. You may even be able to locate the book online, I have never checked for it though.

Duelin Enthusiast

Duelin

Posted
Posted

How was the seal surface on the converter? Sometimes you will get a wear grove from where the seal contacts and rides that will cause the leak.

Jsdirt Senior Enthusiast

Jsdirt

Posted
Posted (edited)

Holy crap! When I was living in CA and laying on my back in a gravel parking lot trying to jam my transmission back into my '72 El Camino. only to find out my seal replacement was an entire weekend for NOTHING because the pump bushing was wasted, I gave up and had it towed to a shop. The price with the tow was $300!

 

Was tired of riding my motorcycle in the rain - had to get her done, but that was a damn good price I thought, especially for Cali.

 

7.3 hours is crazy! :eek:

Edited by Jsdirt
rdnkcpa Enthusiast

rdnkcpa

Posted
  • Author
Posted

7.3 hours is what I figured.

 

It is no fun working on the S10. The top two bolts on the bell housing are an absolute bear to get at. GM crammed the body in around the transmission/engine and makes access challenging to say the least.

 

The converter looked pretty good. Everything was smooth and shiny. I did not see a groove that I can remember.

Jsdirt Senior Enthusiast

Jsdirt

Posted
Posted

Oh, I know - I yanked the engine out of our '00 Jimmy and installed it in our '89 S10 Blazer .. then a year later yanked it again to do every gasket & seal in the engine from top to bottom. You'd think I'd have been smart enough to tackle that the FIRST time I installed it .... :shakehead: Saving a buck always bites me in the ass in the long run. Every time.

 

I'll probably yank it again once the body rots off the frame. Maybe. So sick of dealing with it! That one bolt above where the gas pedal is took me an hour to get out. If you think the bolts are tight in either 1st or 2nd gen models, you should see how tight they are when you put a 2nd gen engine in a 1st gen body! Not fun, that's for sure ...

 

I was about ready to drill a 3/4 hole in the firewall ... :lol:

Doug_Scott Senior Enthusiast

Doug_Scott

Posted
Posted

To remove and reinstall tranny pays 7.3 hours.

 

That seems really high to me. Having read the other posts in this thread, I understand it is a tight fit, but, is the engine so tight to the firewall that you can't lower the trans down enough to access the upper bolts from underneath? It being a 2wd, I would expect that once the cross member that the rear transmission mount bolts to, and the driveshaft removed, you could lower the transmission down, that would rock the engine on its mounts, allowing you to get to the upper bell housing bolts. I have never seen what it is like, just going on what I have run into myself over the years, and none of those were a S10.

 

It used to pay 10.1hrs to R&R and overhaul a 904 transmission in a 77-80 Plymouth Volare with the slant six. I used to be able to do 2 a day if everything went good, and I was able to take 2 bays.

SILVER SLED Senior Enthusiast

SILVER SLED

Posted
Posted

7.3 is right out of the motors guide. It's not my opinon. There are two guys at work here that pulled out my 97 trans in 20 minutes.

rdnkcpa Enthusiast

rdnkcpa

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I found a local transmission shop that quoted me $500.00 in labor to pull it and put it back in. New seal and other parts will be added on to the bill...

Doug_Scott Senior Enthusiast

Doug_Scott

Posted
Posted

7.3 is right out of the motors guide. It's not my opinon. There are two guys at work here that pulled out my 97 trans in 20 minutes.

 

Never thought it was your opinion. I was assuming it was from flat rate guide.

 

Be interested in hearing the door rate for the trans shop that is doing the work now.

 

BTW, where is this transmission's vent tube? Are we sure that the fluid level is not too high?

 

Back when I was overhauling transmissions at dealer, the old guy that trained me used to pack the rear of the front seal with grease. He did this because he once had a seal pop the spring out of the actual seal when he was putting it in and he did not see it. I did the same thing, only because it cost nothing, and made me feel better. Not sure if seals still have a spring around the seal or not.

Jsdirt Senior Enthusiast

Jsdirt

Posted
Posted

Most oil seals still have a spring - at least in the motorcycle world anyway. Fork seals, shift shaft seals, crank seals on a 2-stroke, etc ...

gmtech4 Senior Enthusiast

gmtech4

Posted
Posted

Never thought it was your opinion. I was assuming it was from flat rate guide.

 

Be interested in hearing the door rate for the trans shop that is doing the work now.

 

BTW, where is this transmission's vent tube? Are we sure that the fluid level is not too high?

 

Back when I was overhauling transmissions at dealer, the old guy that trained me used to pack the rear of the front seal with grease. He did this because he once had a seal pop the spring out of the actual seal when he was putting it in and he did not see it. I did the same thing, only because it cost nothing, and made me feel better. Not sure if seals still have a spring around the seal or not.

Yes springs on almost every seal,

rdnkcpa Enthusiast

rdnkcpa

Posted
  • Author
Posted

My local trusted shop, is doing it for $425 + new seals. I'm also having him put a new output shaft seal in as well.

 

The leak is coming from the rear inspection cover, the little one. That is on the back side of the bell housing right up against the transmission. I suspect I screwed up the torque converter seal somehow. Not sure how, but it did not leak until I pulled the converter and put a new seal in.

 

Hopefully this does the trick. The truck just has to last another year or so, until my son gets out of college then he can buy his own transportation.

 

On another note, every time I hear somebody spout off about American cars not being any good, I tell them about my son's S10. It survived being given to my son at age 17. He's now 23. He has put 100,000 miles on it. It starts and runs great. It is smooth quiet and still gets pretty good gas mileage. We got our money's worth out of it and then some.

 

I did get stuck with repairing the intake manifold gasket. If GM would have spent just a little more and put decent gaskets in I would be even happier. It was leaking oil out of the timing chain cover, I can't really complain too much the gasket made it to 200k. Parts were inexpensive, but took a bunch of my time to fix. I put a new oil pan gasket, valve cover gaskets, rear main seal, and intake manifold gaskets in. So it should not leak any oil for a while. I should have really broken down and had it rebuilt while it was out of the truck, but I didn't have the $$ in the budget.

Jsdirt Senior Enthusiast

Jsdirt

Posted
Posted (edited)

An '88 S15 was my first vehicle. Iron Duke 2.5, 5-speed, 2wd, manual brakes, manual steering, no A/C ... and no power either LOL - it used to SLOW DOWN on hills on the highway hahhaha! Granted I was doing 85 and it would slow to 70, but it used to piss me off. :lol:

 

I only had it 3 years and barely 40k miles, but that vehicle suffered more abuse than any vehicle in history. Sailed it airborne several times, several feet in the air, took it down trails that 3-wheelers and dirtbikes normally took, chirped second and 3rd gear thousands of times per day, jackrabbit starts, high speed cornering, etc etc. Never let me down ONCE! Granted I didn't have it long, but lesser vehicles would have failed spectacularly.

 

Never got more than about 14 mpg out of it. I used to go through tires and shocks every 10k miles. My ol' man was dumbfounded - "How the f*** did you burn through those tires already?? AGAIN!!" HAHAHA! Good times. Still have a 2 page driving record from it ...

Edited by Jsdirt
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