2001 Acura Transmission Labor

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JCADan
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2001 Acura Transmission Labor

Post by JCADan »

We were recently estimating a job on a 2001 Acura MDX. Looking through the transmission labor options there are a number of items we noticed that may be....questionable?

First, the valve body replacement shows labor at 1.3. You'd have to be a super tech in order to accomplish that with this transmission. Then we noticed that there are labor options for a transmission pan replacement (there is no pan), then a vacuum modulator and throttle kickdown cable??

Did Mitchell1 grab a set of labor operations for an old Chevy pickup instead of an '01 Acura MDX?
2001 Acura MDX
2001 Acura MDX
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Dan Pedroza
Eagle Transmission
Pflugerville, TX
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timbre4
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Re: 2001 Acura Transmission Labor

Post by timbre4 »

Since this is actually more about Estimator content, I moved this to the ProDemand section.

I've also sent a copy to editorial for review and comment.
Tim McDonnell -
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timbre4
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Re: 2001 Acura Transmission Labor

Post by timbre4 »

Thanks for the feedback, here are some findings from labor editorial:

"In 2001-2006 the valve body is not serviced without transmission teardown (O/H) so the time was removed along with the oil pan time as there is no oil pan.
The Throttle Kick down cable is not used on this vehicle so time was removed.
The Vacuum Modulator is not used on this vehicle so time was removed."

Some of these items were part of a reusable template and this is now corrected. There is one question from editorial:

"My question is did this customer just R&R the Valve Body if so how much time did it take after the Transaxle was removed? I am just not sure Valve Body should only be replaced as part of an Overhaul."
Tim McDonnell -
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JCADan
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Re: 2001 Acura Transmission Labor

Post by JCADan »

timbre4 wrote: "My question is did this customer just R&R the Valve Body if so how much time did it take after the Transaxle was removed? I am just not sure Valve Body should only be replaced as part of an Overhaul."
We weren't looking for a specific labor time for Valve Body R&R, it was something we noticed as we were looking for the labor for 'TRANSAXLE ASSEMBLY - Overhaul Removed' which is present on *most* vehicles, but is not available for the Acura.

We typically write repair order estimates using 'TRANSAXLE ASSEMBLY - Remove, Install and Overhaul' but that labor operation requires two technicians, the R&R man and the builder. I have to look up 'Overhaul Removed' in order to determine how much labor to assign to my builder with the remaining labor going to the R&R. Since there was no labor for "Overhaul removed" we just did the opposite and used the R&R labor with the remainder going to the builder.

If we had to warranty a defective valve body, though, that part is the last part out, first part in when doing an overhaul. But if we were just doing a teardown swap, we would pay our builder 2.5 hrs. to get to the valve body for a swap and then reassembly.
Dan Pedroza
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Re: 2001 Acura Transmission Labor

Post by timbre4 »

Excellent information! I will share this with the editorial group and post any follow up. Much appreciated.
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steven kiser
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Re: 2001 Acura Transmission Labor

Post by steven kiser »

I don't have Pro Demand as of yet but will pull the trigger once I get a few things accomplished. I've been mentally away from the shop since last Feb. Right around the time I started classes prepping for the stomach bypass surgery. Well anyway, I learned a long, long time ago to make absolutely sure someone didn't omit the fact that the transmission needed to be benched to do a certain job. Have run into this issue with my son and manager pricing out jobs. The most recent issue was an oil pan replacement on a Ford F250 diesel. I think they were going to quote something like 1.8. They just happened to call about another job and mentioned this one and I told them to set aside a tech for two days and also mention to customer if it were a standard he might want to consider replacing a clutch along with all the steel lines in the engine bay. There was a bit of silence and right away I knew that they didn't realize the engine had to be removed. The labor guide they were using didn't say "After engine was removed". This is something an old fart like me will pick up on right away. The newer generation of service writer, rom what I've seen can spin a good story of why something needs to be done but has absolutely no idea of what it takes or what the difference between an adjustable wrench and a spanner wrench, what they look like along with how to use them. I've mentioned before and most likely will continue to do so from time to time is I love Mitchell for all it's services and is my primary along with it being my shop operation system.

However I've found it prudent to use two other systems as comparisons. I use Alldata and Real Time as comparisons. What I like about Real Time is it takes into consideration age as well as condition. A truck clutch R&R in Mitchell may be 9.1, All Data 8.9 but in real time there are option tabs like condition of undercarriage, bolts, attached parts, etc and will add time for it. If all the bolts are rusted clumps of junk and attached parts that need to be removed are going to fight you like a Pit Bull fighting you for the last pork chop the computed added time may reach 11.5. That's more of a real time and is reasonable. I just finished replacing two transmissions on plow trucks. One was a Dodge 1500 is great shape, clean and a pleasure to work on. The other was an older Tahoe and it was a ball of rust and looked like the truck we would always talk about when **** boxes came up in conversations. The Dodge fought us all the way. All the bolts holding the shafts to the yokes broke, transmission lines fought like Pythons and transfer case attachment bolts all snapped because of oxidation. The frigging Tahoe came apart like it was new off of the assembly line. Only issue we had was front shaft was frozen but freed up once we greased it and someone glued the plug to the neutral switch. A complete reversal of what we assumed. Luckily I stuck to my way of doing things and gave minimum labor quotes on both.

Tomorrow will be another day in the life of Kiser Automotive and once again I'll be well aware of labor time issues I need to deal with and watch out for. Be prudent, aware, wise and never assume and things will be fine. Sorry for the ramble but things like this where it involves making or losing money, in my opinion, needs to be broken down as far as it can and looked at piece by piece. I tell my son if he misses .3 on every third job we lose about 1.5 a day and add that up for a year would be approx. 34 grand. Pick up a dime change a day from the sidewalk is 36.50 a year. I don't teach short term finances in certain situations. Give each tech 3 dollars of shop items a day and look at it over a year, etc. Shines a new light on things................
never argue with a fool, they'll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience
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