If you had a 2,000 pound transmission jack and an engine support beam, then you would not have needed so many men to remove and reinstall the transmission. You can get them from Harbor Freight. You can make an adapter for the subframe out of even wood to work with the transmssion jack. You can also make your own support beam.
Were you to have serviced a customers transmission, would you be able to break even on parts, labor and overhead? Could you give more than a 90 day warranty? Could you return the car after 3 days, instead of 3 months. Where would you find transmission mechanics who would not want more. How will you find the customers? Will you be able to compete against large chains or dealers?
Most small businesses fail due to overestimating the profits, poor marketing, etc. In recent years, many transmission shops have gone out of bussiness. The investment in diagnostic equipment and tools for the many different vehicle manufacturs may make this type of bussiness difficult to justify.

 

It is kind of you to be a bit self-depricating about your career path, but it must be a bit more than that if you are "doing what you love"

Sometimes where someone stands is closely aligned with where (or, how) they sit?
If you find that doing what you love (oops- if one finds that what one loves is ) is running a soup kitchen for the homeless, the money won't come. Or, if you find your niche is in public service for the government, it is also not going to come to any great extent, at least until you bail out for the private sector. But I guess that leads into the weeds of a broader discussion of other types of satisfaction...I felt compelled to (repsectfully) make the observations with respect to salary though.

 

You are partially correct. First, I can't imagine anyone loves working for the government and you are correct the pay tends to be minimal. Second, I can see people who love to work for charities and there is a lot of money to be made working for charities. As an example, I read in this morning's paper that:

1. Director of the American Museum of Natural History made $1.14 million last year,

2. Director of Lincoln Center made $1.26 million last year.

3. Director of the Bronx Zoo made $900,000 last year.

4. Director of the Brooklyn Museum made $600,000 last year.

5. Director of the New York Botanical Garden made $400,000 last year.

Not bad pay for what is typically a part-time gig doing something that the person enjoys doing.

With that said, if a person enjoys sweeping the side of a highway it is tough to make money doing that.

 

I just bought a 1996 Audi A6 Quattro wagon with 2.8L AFC engine and automatic transmission for $3000. Probally the second owner forgot to change the ATF at 45,000 miles, as the transmission is noisy. It now has 78,550 miles. I plan to change the ATF and filter to see if that makes the noise go away. Eventually, this lack of maintenance by the previous owner may require that the transmission be rebuilt. Also, it is unlikely that the center differential fluid level had been checked, as the exhaust manifold and catalytic converter bolts are the original. The wagon got traded in at a Toyota dealer and then sent to a used car dealer. Both dealers missed a broken vacuum hose and a loud hissing noise.
Perhaps after I retire I will have time to rebuild several transmissions.

 

It's not the working for the government per se that is to love, but serving the public interest or pursuing an inherently public path. Like, say, defending the country. Or enforcing laws. Or teaching children in public schools.

And in the end, 4500/day (or more) handily triples the income of our nation's Executive, the President.

Now, the examples cited would certainly stray from what I consider to be charities. They may be non-profits or not-for-profits, but they don't fit my conception of charities. I take your point though, I'm sure the CEO/COO of Red Cross (for example) does fairly well.

 

SMT,

I agree with you. Million buck salaries to run a charity is not my idea of a charity. For one, they have taken a million or the better part of the contributions TO that charity FROM that charity's mission.

Elizabeth Dole, of the Red Cross, was a poster child of one who got way too much in salary, AND redecoration of her office to allow me to contribute TO the Red Cross. (Another reason is that when I was in the marine Corps in 1962, and we were about to go to war in Cuba, there was a huge blood drive, and when war did not come about, the Red Cross made a mint selling that blood. I don't know if the Marines still have ambivalence to the Red Cross, but in my time they all hated the Red Cross as "blood suckers".)

On the other hand, I can't recall ever passing a Salvation Army Red Kettle without dropping a buck or 2 in it.

Cheers,

George

 

Site does his own work. he could make 500 an hour, but after hours he fixes his own cars.

So he isn't doing as Kevin intimates, taking time off from work, and losing 4500 bucks because he wasn't there.

Kevin makes a good income, but I think maybe Jay Leno makes a bit more per day and HE loves working on his antique cars. NOT on shooting times, as I think Site too doesn't do.

My older Audis, I did all my own repairs on, and I will tell you now that I have pulled and rebuilt the tranny on my daughter's 85 5000 Turbo at least 15 times, just because I bought a replacement from a yard that had garbage in the pan and in the TC and scrapped the original TC.. I didn't need a tranny, needed the differential, had to buy the unit, replaced both, and failed after day One.

My kid's car. Drove it a week or 2, start slipping, or not shift, pull it, clean the sump, clean the valve body, replace, refill, run a couple more weeks or so, repeat, etc. Had to go to Indiana one time to bring it home to fix it.

Wonderful daughter that I have, came home for my birthday and to drive her car back to college after it was fixed. Found out later that I also paid for that surprise visit.

That tranny, about a 1 foot cube, was WAY easier to pull repair and reinstall than the monstrosity in these Quattros. Theses suckers are about 4 foot long.

Still, I would estimate I could pull one, were I still capable of my own work, in a couple hours, dismantle and rebuild in max 4 hours, and just possibly get back in in a possibly couple hour longer than normal shift. Say 10 hours, rather than 8.

I have never been an auto mechanic. I have torn down and rebuilt some precision machinery that was upwards of a million bucks and a couple hundred tons, and more precise than a "means of propelling a vehicle".

Great as they are, I have worked on more complex systems.

Kevin,

Kudos to you on your business. I doubt that many here are envious of you. Yo have a calling that is obviously needed, else you would not make the money you do.Cleaning your own car falls in amongst what most of this board seems to be able to do, anyway. Those like Site who do their own work are the minority, here.

Is it because of the economy that people who would, as you do, ordinarily just go to a dealer and have their brakes renewed, at 4 or 500 bucks thinking they should get their hands dirty? You may still. As you say, you like to wash and vac your car, and I hope it is an Audi. You ARE here, after all.

I keep saying in other forii that we are in for a world of hurting, and we have not seen the end of it, and with all the loss of jobs, many here will have to either learn to fix their own cars or go buy Ford Escorts, and they will be surprised to find that they, ALSO, cost lots of money to maintain. Not as much as an Audi, maybe, but when you are out of work, and running out of money, at least as catastrophic.

I feel for some of the posters, here. I think some are rather desperate.

HX or NH, one, mentioned that Audi trannies have to be at SUCH a level. I have read the technique. I wonder, should you add a quart, and run it, and it is not QUITE right, add anothe pint, and it is better, and add a bit more, and get to running "good", what is the bad effect? Can an overfill affect anything?

Adversely?

NH, I think, from a post a bit up, indicates he is NOT a tech, or maybe it was HX. I would think a pint over is better than a pint under on a tranny fill. Overheat may be a bit of a problem, if even that. I do not think it will blow seals, or the like.

I have the symptoms of Site's car, and my mech says I have a bad plug, maybe a bad wire, and I may have, the code reader says I do, but I have an 0734, "incorrect 4th gear ratio", as he did, so think I have both low fluid, and a bad coil.

Low fluid, because when they changed out the motor, then had to pull the tranny, they lost some fluid. How much, neither they nor I know. It may have been a couple ounces, it may have been a quart.

I DO wish they had added a tube and a dipstick to these damned things. Are they the same through the 2009 model year?

Cheers,

George

 

What do you mean if I "had a 2000 pound jack and an engine support beam I would not have needed extra men"???? Have you ever installed (put in) a transmission of this size by yourself with a 2000 pound trasmission jack and a support beam with no help from anyone whatsoever??
I did removed it by myself thanks to my friend "gravity". What I wrote was that I did need help installing this monster. It took three guys. Two to get under the car and wiggle this huge transmission in while checking that the 100 pound(feels like it) torque converter doesn't slipoff. One person needs to be screwing in bolts from the top by hand. One or Two guys need to be underneath guiding this train in slowly.Transmission jacks get in the way alot, and even if you had the perfect tools, who will put the bolts in or wiggle this 500 pound BEHEMOTH?(feels like 700)
It takes alot of effort guiding into the engine while laying on the floor.
One guy mentioned that this transmission is 4 feet long. I think that's accurate.

I didn't order from your favorite vendor "Harbor Freight" because I have Advance Auto a block away. I also have WalMart nearby.

Why would you suggest making an adapter for the subframe? Subframe has to come out completely! I don't think you ever removed a tranny from this type of vehicle. The engine and transmission rests on the subframe. Engine has to be suspended on a beam or what ever you feel like using, in order to remove the subframe out completely from the bottom. I chose to use a 6000 pound (limit) engine crane/hoist. I bought it for $200 at Advance, assembled it and secured engine with chains. Removed the subframe, lowered the entire assembly engine and transmission about 1 foot downwards, and unbolted the transmission from the moter. Later, I dissaembled the crane, cleaned it up put it back into boxes andI took it back to Advance and they gave me my money back no questions asked!I would have removed engine/transmission from front as a whole unit, but that would have taken forever removing bumper, airconditioning lines, power steering lines, harnesses and all kinds of **** when I can get transmission out through the bottom.

All your other questions I won't even bother to answer because I am not considering opening a shop. I don't fix people's cars for a living. I am just lucky to have the resources and skills to do my own repairs while you shop around for a mechanic and warranties and promisses and all those other things you was asking.

 

One man should be able to remove the subframe with a transmission jack with an adapter and with the engine/transmission held by a beam from above. Removing and installing a 500 pound transmission with a heavy duty transmission jack would be safer. However, jacks and people can fail, so I wouldn't want to be under a falling 500 pound transmission. OTC makes better jacks than the Harbor Freight ones, but they are used by professionals who can't risk having a cheap jack.
There are always a few accidents caused by falling objects each year. Sometimes people work under their cars and their jack or jack stands fail. There are also those who buy or rent a chain saw and get hit by a falling tree, because they didn't have proper training. Sometimes people get hit by ice falling off of tall buildings.

 

I'll jump back into this one--- The ATF level in an Audi is critical, thus the vehicle has to be level and at the correct temp when adjusting the fill. It is not hard but it takes a bit of time.

I don't know about other people but I have never flushed the trans in any of my Audis and never had a trans failure. My current A6 is at 210K miles and the others were well over 200K when they were retired.

BTW - I am the Mgr of Process technology at a company that makes equipment for the Surface Mount (printed circuit board) and Solar Cell (silicon and thin film) industries. And Yes I have owned and raced drag cars, sports cars, and oval track machines. I held the NHRA record for B Modified production in the 60's, and helped the great Richie Evans, and Geoff Bodine. I currently work as a NASCAR official at a local short track and help out with the TV Modified serries when I have time