Cost of transmission fluid and coolant flush?

[purbeast0]

My wife’s 2008 Infiniti G35X needs transmission fluid and coolant flush due to it mixing when her radiator busted. The new radiator is in and now we need to flush it.

I’m just curious if anyone knows a ballpark price this should run so when I’m shopping around I know what’s good or not.

Thanks.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

**checks receipts**

A coolant flush in my last car cost $96. A few quarts of cheapo coolant and a half-hour labor.

A partial transmission drain/fill (four of nine quarts) on my current car, including a transmission filter replacement, cost $175, including 1 hour of labor. (It was actually done to replace the filter, which was noisy.)

I take it to a shop with a $90/hr. labor rate, which is cheap. The balance was parts and supplies, which they do mark up a little, but not much. (They usually come in well under what the local dealership parts counters are charging, about the same as NAPA or something, but are still a bit more expensive than, say, RockAuto.)

 

[mindless1]

You are going to install the radiator yourself then drive, or tow it to the place with the best rate?

I suppose I'm confused because if you put the radiator in then you should flush it yourself before adding coolant. If you're having a shop put it in then they should flush the system before adding coolant. I suppose you or the shop could just fill it with water, being summer and all, then drive it that way except the tranny may be fouled too, so tow it somewhere to get the coolant system flushed, but meh that seems a little much.

I would hope that the vehicle isn't driven with potentially fouled tranny fluid (but you should be able to see this on the dipstick "IF" it has one) and yet, would hope wherever it is, the rate there is cheaper than having to pay for having it towed somewhere else?

 

[Raincity]

Are you planning on doing a transmission flush or a simple drain and fill.

 

[purbeast0]

You are going to install the radiator yourself then drive, or tow it to the place with the best rate?

I suppose I'm confused because if you put the radiator in then you should flush it yourself before adding coolant. If you're having a shop put it in then they should flush the system before adding coolant. I suppose you or the shop could just fill it with water, being summer and all, then drive it that way except the tranny may be fouled too, so tow it somewhere to get the coolant system flushed, but meh that seems a little much.

I would hope that the vehicle isn't driven with potentially fouled tranny fluid (but you should be able to see this on the dipstick "IF" it has one) and yet, would hope wherever it is, the rate there is cheaper than having to pay for having it towed somewhere else?

I'm not talking about draining, I'm talking about hooking it up to the machine that actually flushes it.

All of the old coolant and transmission fluid was removed and drained overnight and new stuff put in after the new radiator was installed. My neighbor is a mechanic by day so he knows what he's doing as far as installation and what not, but we checked the transmission fluid afterwards and it's still got a little cloudy/pink hue to it so I'm going to get it completely flushed at a shop that has the machine to do it.

I drove it probably like 3-4 miles after he put the new one in to get the juices flowing and make sure the engine was being cooled and what not, and all of that was fine, but now he said to get it flushed before driving it anymore. Driving it a few miles to the shop should be okay in it's current state according to him though.

Are you planning on doing a transmission flush or a simple drain and fill.

I'm talking about flushing it as mentioned above and in the topic, we've already drained and filled both.

 

[C1]

- The cost of a coolant flush typically runs between $100 and $150, according to highly rated mechanics. Kauffeld says this can include four gallons of coolant, a conditioner and a cleaner. CostHelper.com estimates the cost between $54 and $144 for a radiator flush at a standard shop, with an average price of $99.

- The typical price range for a transmission flush is $125 to $250 – approximately twice as much as a fluid change due to the additional fluid required (12-22 quarts instead of 5-7 quarts) to completely replace the old fluid. The average you can expect to pay is $150 for the full service.



DONT have the work done at a Jiffy Lube or maybe even a PePBoys.

Take it to a known reputable dealer or service shop that services Infinity and be prepared to pay a little bit more than what a Jiffy Lube asks.

 

[purbeast0]

- The cost of a coolant flush typically runs between $100 and $150, according to highly rated mechanics. Kauffeld says this can include four gallons of coolant, a conditioner and a cleaner. CostHelper.com estimates the cost between $54 and $144 for a radiator flush at a standard shop, with an average price of $99.

- The typical price range for a transmission flush is $125 to $250 – approximately twice as much as a fluid change due to the additional fluid required (12-22 quarts instead of 5-7 quarts) to completely replace the old fluid. The average you can expect to pay is $150 for the full service.



DONT have the work done at a Jiffy Lube or maybe even a PePBoys.

Take it to a known reputable dealer or service shop that services Infinity and be prepared to pay a little bit more than what a Jiffy Lube asks.

The only reason I'm taking it there is because my neighbors friend owns it and I trust my neighbor that his guy is reputable. I wouldn't take it to a random Jiffy Lube though.

 

[Greenman]

Every transmission "flush" I've seen was done by sucking the fluid out of the dipstick hole. They generally get less than half of the old fluid out.

 

[paperfist]

How many miles on it? It's generally not advisable to flush them after 70k, but you're in a bit of a pickle on that.

$220 for tranny flush here but that depends on fluid and filter required.

Coolant flush around $100.

 

[purbeast0]

So this has become a complete cluster f...

My neighbor who is the mechanic told me to go to Jiffy Lube so I went, and to make a long story short, he told me the wrong f'ing place to go. It was a place called "oil lube" right near it or something. But the JL flushed my coolant and transmission system, but then the AC didn't work. So they ended up doing a full AC Freon flush/restoration or whatever and now it works just fine.

But ... my damn coolant still has a milky consistent to it when I open the radiator cap and look at it in there. I saw it doing this when I was at JL and they showed it to me. They were saying possibly I need to get it flushed multiple times to get rid of it completely. I also checked the tranny fluid and when I rubbed the dipstick on a paper towel, it had a pinkish color to it. It wasn't red like the other transmission fluid I had seen before, but it wasn't milky either. I'm pretty sure they used synthetic transmission fluid too based on the receipt so maybe it's just that color? It wasn't milky at all though, which it was prior.

I've only driven the car from the shop and back on Saturday. My neighbor said that as long as it doesn't overheat (which it didn't, stayed normal temp) that it was okay to drive it. He did say he recommends flushing it again, but wtf, this stuff isn't cheap to just keep doing. I also saw there are ways to "flush" it manually by draining and putting distilled water + flush cleaning stuff and driving for a little bit, then draining again, but I just want to know WTF is wrong with this thing so I can fix it.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions just based on what I have told you? At this point I'm starting to get skeptical about my neighbors mechanical skills even though I see him doing all of these side jobs all the time, and he's a mechanic by day too. It just seems so shoddy at this point. I now just wish I took it to a shop and paid the extra money to have them get this shit straightened out and just working.

EDIT:

Oh yeah also at JL when they showed me the milky coolant coming out of the radiator, they were saying maybe my mechanic put the hoses backwards on the radiator, so I told that to my mechanic and he was like no way they are on right. Then I looked at a video of installing a radiator in my car and it seems nearly impossible to even do that because of where the hoses are, the length, how they are angled, etc.

 

[mindless1]

So this has become a complete cluster f...

... is why I never let anyone touch my vehicles. No matter how *simple* something should be, the ability to screw up is still present.

But ... my damn coolant still has a milky consistent to it when I open the radiator cap and look at it in there. I saw it doing this when I was at JL and they showed it to me. They were saying possibly I need to get it flushed multiple times to get rid of it completely.

No. They were supposed to flush it until none of that remained, not do a half-flush. If all they were doing is no more effective than draining old coolant you could do that in your driveway with a bucket for free (plus coolant cost). I would go back and insist on either a refund or for them to do it over but only if I am allowed to watch them do it.

I am assuming you mean the coolant itself, not just some sludge on the cap gasket which they forgot to wipe off, and that it's really mixed into the fluid, not just a light film residue floating on top.

I also checked the tranny fluid and when I rubbed the dipstick on a paper towel, it had a pinkish color to it. It wasn't red like the other transmission fluid I had seen before, but it wasn't milky either. I'm pretty sure they used synthetic transmission fluid too based on the receipt so maybe it's just that color? It wasn't milky at all though, which it was prior.

Ask them exactly what they put in it then look up the specs for that.

Oh yeah also at JL when they showed me the milky coolant coming out of the radiator, they were saying maybe my mechanic put the hoses backwards on the radiator

This is a sign you were talking to an idiot. Not only is putting them on backwards impossible, even if it were possible with some freakish aftermarket bulk long length of tubing bent in crazy directions, it would be impossible for that to make a difference, to cause contamination [that they should have flushed out].

Your mechanic should have been able to do the coolant flush himself. Even a shade tree mechanic which doesn't have or want to put on a flushing tee, could just fill the system with water, operate engine to open the thermostat, turn on the heater, drive it around a bit, drain the coolant, let engine cool, refill and repeat, then when drained water is clean, fill with a rich antifreeze mix allowing for an amount of water left behind (use a coolant temperature tester). That's not as effective as a pressurized flush, but it would be just as (more than) effective as what you ended up with. He probably just didn't want to be bothered as that's a bit of waiting around for the thermal cycling of the engine.

 

[eng2d2]

If you want a thorough change of transmission fluid there is a dialysis machine like that will do that. I don't know the cost of either one as I do those myself.

 

[Raincity]

A machine assisted transmission flush will be around $400 to $500 that included the $100 bucks worth of tranny fluid needed for the job. Personally I would dump your coolant, Flush your lines and do a 4X tranny drain and fill. All this should have been done when the rad was replaced.

 

[purbeast0]

A machine assisted transmission flush will be around $400 to $500 that included the $100 bucks worth of tranny fluid needed for the job. Personally I would dump your coolant, Flush your lines and do a 4X tranny drain and fill. All this should have been done when the rad was replaced.

I actually think the transmission fluid is fine. I drove it a bit more last night and tested out the tranny fluid again after and I wouldn't really say it's milky but it's definitely pinker than the previous stuff. However after doing some googling it seems that the pinkish color is normal. So I'm going to keep an eye on the color of it and make sure it doesn't get worse.

The coolant on the other hand clearly has some crap in it still. It's clear too that the tranny fluid in there is denser because it's always at the top when I check it out and when I fill it with a little more, it comes up to the top.

One of my wife's coworkers husband works at a shop that has the coolant flushing machine and she's most likely going to do it there tomorrow. She asked him today if it would just be 1 flush to get it all out and he basically said that it could be but it kind of depends. I just don't want to be in a situation where it's like 5 of these "flushes" to get all that shit out and its like $100 a piece, but I guess in the end, that's what just has to be done to get rid of all that shit.

I am guessing that the contaminated fluid was just in the engine or something and it didn't completely come out when JL flushed it? If this other guy flushes it once and gets all of the crap out I'm going to call and complain to JL. God damnit I wish I never went there...