A Street Automotive

In this case, the customer called our office and asked for a quote to replace a leaking rear engine main seal for a severe engine oil leak on a vehicle that he started to repair himself and could not finish. We quoted him the price for this work over the phone, and he had his vehicle towed in for this repair. The customer and his mother both came into the office and again requested that we replace the rear engine main seal. We quoted the price again in person, and they approved the work.

The customer did not express that he was unsure of where the leak was coming from. He had already started to remove the drive train components and exhaust system to replace the rear engine main seal. The removed parts were stored in the interior and back of the car.

The car was not operational, the engine and transmission were both covered with dirty black oil (no signs of red transmission fluid). We are unable to diagnose a leak on a vehicle that is in a non-running condition and disassembled and we did not charge for a diagnosis at this time.

After we had completely removed the rest of the components to replace the rear engine main seal as requested, we determined that the rear engine main seal was not the source of the leak as we had been told. We called the customer and he authorized us to go ahead and replace the rear engine main seal as requested, and to put the transmission and the parts he removed back together so we could run the car, and diagnose the source of the leak.

At that point, the customer authorized $120 of labor to diagnose the source of the leak. Our diagnosis is that there is a leak from the transmission, and it will need to be rebuilt.

We understand you might want to have a second opinion on this diagnosis, and we have already refunded the $120 diagnosis fee so that you can have the leaks diagnosed again at another shop.  -Rob