My wife has a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The AC condenser got a leak in it and it was going to be over $2k to fix in a shop. I took it on myself to save money. The condenser mounts to the back of the radiator, so I had to get at it by removing the bumper and everything between that and the engine block. Also attached part of the radiator is the transmission cooler. Unhooking everything meant that I was going to lose some fluids, but that was fine, I’d top them off and pay to have refrigerant added.
After I reassembled, I when to check the trans fluid levels, and couldn’t find the dipstick. It turns out, like you said, if you crawl under the vehicle, on the back of the trans pan is a bolt you can remove, and if you have a special dipstick that you buy separately for this sole purpose, you can stick it in there to check levels. There’s not way to add fluid without pumping it in there, but at least you can see how much you have.
Since I only lost less than a quart, I took it into the shop, explained what’s up, and asked for it to be topped off. The shop guy calls back later, and told me that to do the trans fluid, the filter is only sold with a whole new pan, and because Chrysler, the fluid cost like $40 a qt, and I needed like 15 to fill it. It still cost more than $800 to just do that, then more than $500 for the refrigerant. I still saved about $500-1k in parts and labor for what I did, but, the lack of dipstick and fill tube was an extremely inconvenient and expensive thing.
cecilkorik@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
I thought it was hilarious when I saw that Briggs and Stratton has been selling small engines featuring “no oil changes needed” (or possible). They advertise that it’s “oiled for the life of the engine” … well, by definition, yes, that’s like saying “if you light a man on fire he’ll be warm for the rest of his life”. These companies are so predatory and transparently trying to turn durable products into disposable replacement services, it’s unbelievable.
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Can confirm; I used to manage a hardware store with an attached small engine repair shop. There’s a reason Briggs and Stratton abbreviates so readily to “BS.”
They’ve been trying to do the absolute bare minimum possible to maximize profits and making their machines flimsy and deliberately uneconomical to repair for several decades, now. All I can say is that we ought to be thankful for aftermarket parts.
dan1101@lemm.ee 10 months ago
IMO Briggs started losing their way with those automatic throttle engines that always wind up surging over and over for me. BRRRRrrrr BRRRRrrrr BRRRrrrr over and over.
Buelldozer@lemmy.today 10 months ago
IIRC that’s eithera damaged fuel pump diaphragm or a sticking auto choke valve. Either way its like 10 minutes and less than 1$ to fix using a common Phillips screwdriver.