Took my car to a top rated transmission shop

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I did a little research into changing the factory automatic transmission fluid in my '10 Toyota Rav4 4wd.

Plenty of videos on youtube.

The book does not specify changing the fluid at all.

Vehicle has 79k miles on it now.

It takes Toyota WS fluid.

Stopped by a "top rated" transmission shop on yelp.

How much to change the transmission fluid and filter on my vehicle, just a pan drop no flush?

The owner comes out and talks to me, he says "is the vehicle shifting funny?"

I say no its just preventative maintenance.

He then throws a $450 quote at me, saying it will take his guys "all day" to do the job.

Then he changes his mind and tells me that I am beyond the point of no return. Too many miles to service the vehicle. He says just leave it alone, and don't change it at all.

I asked him why $450 for a transmission that takes 4 quarts of fluid?

He said there is no filter available, and they need to take apart the canister inside the pan and clean it, and it is a lot of labor, etc, etc.

So I get home, get on amazon and order 4 Quarts of Toyota WS fluid for $38.

I order a Wix transmission filter kit for this car, that comes with a gasket and an O ring for $13. The pan drops, then you unbolt the filter (3 bolts), then bolt on a new one. Clean the magnets out with some parts cleaner, and bolt it back up.

I'll do the job properly myself in my garage for right around $50 in about 60 minutes.

I took a look at the vehicle to size up the job, it even has a drain plug on the transmission pan with a hex head fitting on it. If I didn't want to change the filter, I could probably do the job in 20 minutes.

It's sad really what some of these shops do to people, he must have thought I was dumb.
 
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"top rated on yelp"... I would find it difficult to trust them on anything. good job on the perseverance to complete the work yourself.
 
I've had really good results getting people on yelp.

Found the guys to paint my house, screen all my doors, and other tasks that I don't want to do.
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
4 quarts...?


The two videos I watched both used 3.5 quarts of fluid after a pan drop. Both included a filter change.
 
I don't believe anything I read on Yelp. I remember a few weeks ago a guy on here posting on Yelp that a shop destroyed his engine because there was sand on top of it, then posted back here that it was fine.

He probably gets most people to pay that for a trans. service though because 99 % of people don't seem to care to look up what goes into servicing/taking care of their car.
 
My brother owned a trans shop up until about 2 years ago and he was very honest, he sold the shop and he always said the average transmission shop (not All) are crooks they have been known to do a trans fluid change and actually do something (maybe a little brake fluid w/water etc.) and other things so the customer has problems 6 months to a year later and they would come back to him because when they got their receipt there would be coupons for all kinds of things at big discounts including a "free transmission check).
He sold his shop because he said it was hard staying in business and making a profit being honest. There are lots of honest shops but there are also a lot of crooks also. If you were ever ripped of remember this what goes around comes around, and it keeps coming!

ALSO lots of reviews online are paid for and look great!
Write a review about these dishonest company.
 
The fluid capacity of the transmission is right around 7 quarts. I would say 4 quarts, a clean filter and pan is a good service for this vehicle.

I was shocked how little fluid it took. When I did my grand marquis, I remember putting 14 quarts into it.
 
A decent shop will look your vehicle up on the computer using the VIN, and they will know what fluid goes in it, and what the book is for labor. They just don't throw out numbers and see if they stick.

Then they should have no problem printing out a written estimate showing the fluid, the filter kit, and the labor.

I would have had ZERO problem paying $200 or $225 for this service if I had a written estimate and it looked good. Shops have overhead and their time is worth something.
 
Originally Posted By: Bluestream
4 quarts is nothing, you need to do a proper flush and fill

And, why have you made every sentence a new paragraph?


Drain and fill is just fine and recommended by many manufacturers. There is nothing proper or required about a flush.
 
The overhead is so high they have to gouge customers to make a profit. Why have a business with so much debt and struggle to stay in business? ??

I'll buy a case of Honda ATF and do drain/refills every 40K miles. No need for some idiot to touch my transmission.
 
I am curious what a quote from the dealer would have been for this service?


I paid $200.00 for a transmission fluid exchange with no pan drop for my Silverado.
 
Yelp means nothing. One of the shops I sell to a lot said that he had a person from Yelp calling him demanding thousands of dollars for them to remove a review that was a straight up lie. They deleted his response to the customer and told him he had to pay for the right to respond. Never believed a thing on there ever again.

As far as the trans shop, he probably didn't want to do it in case you were going to say the trans went out right after and blame him.
 
Originally Posted By: jsfalls
I don't believe anything I read on Yelp. I remember a few weeks ago a guy on here posting on Yelp that a shop destroyed his engine because there was sand on top of it, then posted back here that it was fine.


The sketchy Ford dealer that tried to shaft me on the 2015 Mustang GT I was looking at had received very good reviews on Yelp; I'm sure some businesses must pay someone to post a bunch of glowing reviews.
 
Originally Posted By: Nate1979
Originally Posted By: Bluestream
4 quarts is nothing, you need to do a proper flush and fill

And, why have you made every sentence a new paragraph?


Drain and fill is just fine and recommended by many manufacturers. There is nothing proper or required about a flush.


4 quarts is ok. I did the same thing in my 98 Sienna a few times and never had an issue. Glad you saved a bundle on the cost of a con job.
 
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