Just out of curiousity how much should it cost to swap out all the fluids in your truck

 

as in, front and rear diff, transfer case, tranny, and engine oil?

 

yeah, but everything. Like all the coolants, radiator fluid, diff fluid, tranny fluid, transfer case, powersteering fluid, brake fluid.. etc everything but engine oil and wiper fluid.

Im new to working on my truck and i need to know about how much this is gonna cost me

 

well when I worked at valvoline i think coolant was $150 tranny was $150, t-case and diffs are $40 each. Coolant is pretty easy to do yourself though, i wouldn't worry about changing powersteering or brake fluid unless you have problems. And brake fluid isn't really something you change. If there is a problem there I would take it to someone who knows brakes.

If you go to the dealership to have all these done I wouldn't be surprised if you spent $600

 

These can all be done by yourself for cheap. i don't know off hand what a jug of everything runs. but i know its way cheaper than 500 bucks.

 

obviously if you do it yourself it will be very cheap relatively speaking.

 

Brake fluid is something you change, the problem is nobody ever bothers to. Regular DOT 3 brake fluid is hygroscopic, and must be replaced every 3-5 years or so. Most folks don't ever bother to, until something rusts out or the fluid becomes so contaminated that a mushy "soft" brake pedal occurs.

As for fluid change prices...

Oil change $30-35
Coolant change $100-150 or so
Trans fluid $100-150 or so (depends on manual or automatic)
P/S $100-125
Brake fluid $100-125
Axles $80-100 each. More for front axles if serious labor is involved to gain access to the front cover, like on my '05. I have yet to change the fluid for that reason. Not that it needs it.

 

i guess what i meant, its not just a drain and fill, you have to bleed brakes and all that. is that correct?

for coolant you can get a flush and fill kit for like $20 and then just need your coolant. real easy to do yourself.

 

Yes, you are right. You have to bleed out the old fluid, while topping off the master cylinder reservoir with fresh fluid, until fresh comes out of the bleeders. This is easy to do if you have a pressure bleeder, takes a half hour tops.

If you are using a vacuum bleeder, or using an assistant to pump the pedal, you'll be at it all day.


For coolant, it is very easy to flush out the radiator, but almost impossible to replace the couple gallons in the block unless there is a block drain plug. Depending on the design, sometimes you can simply remove the knock sensor or coolant temp sensor and achieve the same results. This is dependent on the sensor location.

For example, on a 1994 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer with the 4.3L Vortec V6, the knock sensor is in the side of the block on the driver's side, down low. It threads into the block, and goes to the water jacket. Removing it effectively drains the block of coolant.