Please Kiss me before you ***** me
 

So in my ongoing solution to this "popping sound" I thought I would go with the axle nut first, got my nuts today and have to procure the sockets and torque wrench, then do it, oh yeah I forgot Loctite.
I thought I would ask the dealer about the Differential service as it is one of the 3 three fixes. They say $149.50 :toetap: I ask what does this entail to which they say drain and refill with proper oil :toetap: about 2.5 qts I ask?? Yep.
So the gear oil looks to be at max $20 qt. so we'll figure $50, that leaves a fee of $100 to pull my car on the rack remove the drain plugs, reinstall, then put in oil. Total time, what, 15 minutes????
I am confused, they charge $69.00 for a Mobil 1 oil and filter change right, so am I supposed to just say great, go ahead with charging me double for less oil and same procedure, Geesus gimmee a break huh.
Needless to say that's about it for this dealer for me, somehow, someway I find a friend with a rack or pay them to do it, or buy ramps and get my ole ass under that car.
Rant over
NSF

It's slightly more effort than an oil change, but with the right tools (pump to get the oil in, you can't pour it in) and then the obligatory "figure 8's" after the fill.. then if you're doing it right, you check the diff level again... I pay more than $150 at my tuner shop for the diff change but I know he's doing it right and carefully. Once a season as I track my car. If you don't feel like doing it yourself, I don't think the $149 is totally out of line. just my ten cents.

You need to pump the grease in because the hole is horizontally oriented.

That is not outrageous IMO


That's what I would expect to pay.

I just paid $282 (tax included) for Mobil one oil change and Interstate battery installed in my 08' CTS 4. Talk about raped. Lol

No kidding, you guys don't think that's excessive??? Hopefully the axle nut fix works and I don't have to do this right off, I enjoy working on cars and have done rear end fills in the past so I'm familiar with doing it, the problem with a Corvette is accessibility for me, plus I'm older that dirt with a bad back. How I wish I would have built an RV garage when the house was done, darnit. Then a rack would already be in there :thumbs:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...d7443e8209.jpg

it's deep enough though LOL.
NSF

I bought a gear oil pump at Pep Boys for about $10 and did the rear end myself. It took longer to put all four corners on jack stands than it did to drain and re-fill the rear end.
If you do it yourself, make sure you raise the whole car so it is level or you will not get all of the fluid to drain. Another good tip is to remove the fill plug first. That way if you have any trouble getting it loose, you still have fluid in the car. Both of my plugs came out easily.
Anyway, four Jack stands, a floor jack, a 10 mm Allen socket and a ratchet is all you need (and the gear oil). Took me about 45 minutes start to finish including raising and dropping the car.
The popping noise could also be the sway bar end links. Another easy DIY. Four end links are about $35 each. Remove and replace takes about 15-20 minutes per corner. After the end links and the rear end oil, my car is silent.

As far as the axle nuts, make sure you let the Loctite cure for 24 hours before you drive the car.

$149? That doesn't sound excessive to me, I'd pay that happily if I knew that was what was causing the noise. Hell, it costs an average of $300 every time my wife takes her `10 Malibu in for service. (We have an agreement - I don't work on her Malibu, she doesn't complain about how much I spend on the Corvette)

:cheers:

One additional comment: if your car is making a popping sound, I doubt that the rear end oil change will fix the problem. Popping or clunking is probably axle nuts or the sway bar end links.

Rear end popping
 

Had this issue on my 08 under warranty. They did the nuts no help I said how about changing the rear end fluid did it clunking popping sound gone. By the way this was happening when I turned backing out of the garage.

do it yourself! dont let the uncertified techs at the dealer do it. do not enable GMs incompetence.

$149,,,what a deal!!!unless you have done it yourself, you dont know what this is worth...and that my friend its a great deal.

No, I don't. I consider it spot on, really. I was quoted that per unit in my Toy Taco from an indie recently.

If you think $50 is fair, then please open your own shop and I'll be your first patron.

My mechanic charged $35 labor and $56 for the gear oil.

I would think any kind of popping sound would more likely come from the sway bar end links and bushings vs. the axle nut. I thought the axle nut caused more of a scrapping sound when loose. I would be interested to hear about the outcome. Let us know.

Now your cooking with peanut oil J.H. :iagree: :thumbs:
if you all think its fair at $150 then good for you, I think its a crock and I WILL DO IT MYSELF OR FIND A RACK TO DO IT ON, the world has gone completely MAD IMHO, that's GOUGING.
I just finished the axle nut thing (MYSELF!!!!!!!) so we'll see if that was the prob. If not then the other remedies will follow.
I will say that if you haven't checked your NUTS, you should. I was surprised at how easy it was to take them off, meaning they were not torqued to specs or thread locked because they came off with almost NO EFFORT :toetap: Will inform after driving in a few days.
Oh yeah, it was a 33mm axle nut socket not 34mm as suggested FYI and the wheel has to come off to enable putting thread lock on the shaft because its recessed quite a ways. You could check your with the center cap off but that's about it.
PEACE
NSF

How do you check the level ???????

Also Gm changed their oil requirements for a 2005, no longer requires friction modifiers or did I misunderstand another post.

Thank you

The level should be right at the point where any additional fluid would immediately drain back out. i.e. fill to the bottom of the fill hole.

Factory fill was changed somewhere around Oct '07 plus or minus a month. The "figure 8's" were only designed to quickly get the newer fluid into the clutches in an attempt to eliminate customer comebacks. It's not required, especially on cars built with the newer factory fill.

Thank you!

One hour of labor at $100 per...sounds about right. $50 for the fluid. That's really not outrageous.:thumbs:

Here's my issue::: Motor Oil change and filter generally about $75 give or take right? About the same in labor right? About the same in materials right?
But the differential is about $75 more ????

Nuff said, you can spin it anyway you want but there it is in black and white IMHO.
I'm out on this, peace
NSF