My 7 is leaking oil, the mechanic says I need to change the rear seal but it will cost about $500.00. Is this a realistic price?

 

for a shop. yes. it involves the motor being separated from teh tranny. the seal is behind the flywheel, which is not easily accessable.

 

The seal itself is only 25 bucks from your local parts store : )

 

man your gettin hussled. i paid i think less than ten bucks for both of them from atkins

 

Yea but atkins doesn't charge for labor....

That is a crap price but it's about standard. The rear seal is actually not that hard of a job with a decent set of tools, a jack, and some jackstands. In summation, you need to:

Remove the tranny and clutch assembly.
Remove the flywheel (not hard to do with the right tool)
Pry out the old seal and seat the new.
Re-assemble.

And if you should choose to do it, you can replace your pilot bearing / seal, throwout bearing, and assess the condition of your clutch for future reference. And it will cost you in the neighborhood of $45 to do it all, plus whatever a six pack retails for in your area. And half a days worth of wrenching. And you can get a buddy to help and cut the time in half. And get your months worth of male bonding out of the way. But you might need another six pack.



But if it sounds like too much I'd just pay the guy to drink beer with his buddies and work on your car.