I bought a 2002 330ci convertible last year. The previous owner had all the records for the 10 years he had it. 14k worth service in that time and nothing major was replaced. The mechanic was an independent shop that specialized in European vehicles and they upsold and charged this guy every single thing you can imagine.

He goes in for a complete brake job, drops and grand in parts and labor and they charged him to top up his fluids :rolleyes:

There's quite a few things they charged for that I think is sort of hitting below the belt. Along the lines of going in for a bad bearing and the mechanic charging $75 for a diagnostic fee which I'm pretty sure would consist of wiggling the tire.

I bet that mechanic will be sorry buddy sold the car.

:iagree:

over the years I've learned that even if I do all the work myself I'm still way ahead in cost (At least for my pay grade anyway) AND I get to keep the tool.

Many of the high ticket jobs I've done myself were high ticket because it was mostly grunt work that takes time, specially here with the winter and salty roads. Ball joints can take an hour or days depending on what I'm dealing with and where I'm working, like a driveway...in the winter...while it's snowing.

The internet makes it almost too easy. I watched a guy on youtube tear apart a transmission literally in 40 minutes. He did it all pretty much in real time and presented everything in a way that made it look fairly straightforward. Depending on the cost of a rebuild kit I might want to give it a whirl once the transmission on the convertible goes (please don't jinx me, please don't jinx me)

There are some fantastic resources out there for us car guys and I've been on forums where there were literally guys who built or designed the cars we're talking about pop in and give advice.

Before I bought my first x5 I searched for both a complete motor and a complete transmission. I found both at reasonable price so I jumped in head first.

I have a customer has a 328xi it's more like e70 than e53 but I've done some major repairs including the electric water pump and the biggie! Transfer case! Found a decent used one for $500 including shipping.

Funny oversight in my pre purchase research I missed that it took premium gas. Oops.

You’ve got the right attitude, but don’t do a transmission yourself. That’s the one thing that’s almost impossible to do correctly. You need very specific manuals and tools and testing.

You can swap a transmission mostly DIY might need help to wrangle the thing around, but I don't think any fancy tools are needed, I even saw a trick where a guy put a dolly under the xm, blocked it tight with wood blocks and then lifted the from of the car up to pull the xm out the front of thre car. Clever no lift solution. I would probably use a floor jack and some wood like I did with the transfer case.

Especially on a vehicle that isn't worth that amount. Not even close. Money to burn I guess. :dunno:

I tell people all the time as long as you do all the work not too expensive to maintain but clearly once maintenance is more than a lease payment no point

Watch the videos on youtube with Gary Ferraro tearing apart the ZF5HP19 and maybe you'll feel the same way as I did.

The teardown doesn't involve any special tools and I can't imagine putting it back together is any different.

50s kid also rebuilt his own transmission in his garage and he's a software programmer :dunno:

I'm sure it's not easy per say, but I think transmission work is something that most people (myself included) think of as sorcery but it's obvious from the shops I visited not everyone is a necessarily a wizard :D