2006 Jetta Rear Main Seal

I have a 2006 Jetta Diesel the rear main seal is leaking pretty bad, about how much $$$ is it to have it replaced ?? The car itself has about 265,000 Miles on it, it is the only thing wrong with it.

Wild A$$ guess- $350, $50 for the part, $300 labor.

Manual or dsg? I don't know about the dsg but if you have a manual trans you may figure in replacing the clutch and assembly as well while you are in there.

Just did this on my 2005.5 Jetta, $75 for the RMS, $25 for the special tool rental, and new clutch, flywheel and Throw-out bearing. And about 4 weeks to remove the trans, replace the RMS, and clutch and reinstall the trans.

There is a writeup on how to install the RMS by Frank, google searches will find it.
For the price of the tool rental, I just rented the tool. The RMS is put on the end of the crank edge first, the tools ensures the edge of the RMS does not roll under.

Oh, and you should remove the oil pan to put the RMS on right, so that requires some pan and gasket clean up and new gasket sealer.

I found out the hard way that RMS can crack if the two oil pan bolts are tool long or put in crooked. I had to redo the RMS a second time, since I cracked the first one. Put all the oil pan bolts in except for the two into the RMS, snug up the pan, and then put in the two RMS bolts. I even used two water pump bolts that were shorter to ensure I did not crack the RMS a second time.

Did you do the clutch because it needed it or was it contaminated with fluid requiring it to be changed?

Clutch was replaced due to contamination. It was replaced last year at this time, when I replaced/updated the Trans to a 6sp. New clutch, flywheel and throw-out bearing. So this time I only replaced the clutch and throw-out bearing. Sourced out a SMF clutch kit without the flywheel from Darkside where I got the 6sp trans and kit. No vendors in the US had kits without the flywheel. Even with shipping, and the exchange rate, it was much less without getting a flywheel that I did not need.

After about 6 months, the clutch began to slip in high gears, and a bit of oil was always on the lower engine tray.

When the weather started to get colder, my Starter began to stop working.
The solenoid would not engage the colder it got, no click, no nothing. Sometimes if I held the key in the start position after about a half minute it would start to work (it would warm up??). It was the replacement of the Starter that got me started on pulling the trans again and replacing the RMS.

Just wanted to know as the OP may also be looking at a clutch as well as the rms. Kind of ups the price, but worth doing while in there.

Clutch kit:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006YC8BIG/ref=psdc_15724081_t1_B002L9KIAU

One little note about rear main seal - it is also the tone wheel for the crank sensor in BRM engine. If it is not aligned correctly during installation the engine will not start.

Buddy (has his own shop on the side) and I went down to a local repair shop. Meineke or Firestone type of place. They replaced rear main because the do that to every car that gets a clutch. Put it all back together and won't start. Asked for help after tanking the car apart several times and staring at the seal for a while. We installed the seal with the funky VAG installer. Engine fired up right away.

Jason

Heh, I had to redo one of those that got towed in here.

I've never seen a BRM's rear main seal leak enough to warrant replacement. Heaven knows I've had enough transmissions out of them though!

Mine was leaking this bad.

dynoman said:

I have a 2006 Jetta Diesel the rear main seal is leaking pretty bad, about how much $$$ is it to have it replaced ?? The car itself has about 265,000 Miles on it, it is the only thing wrong with it.

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OP wants numbers, guessing he'd like to pay to have it replaced.

No way to know that. Between $500 and $2000 I would imagine. You will just have to call places and get estimates. Some will allow parts to be furnished and others won't. Some will take you for all you are worth and others won't. Some may even be able to do a good job and others won't. Without even a location listed no trusted mechanics can even be suggested. That would be my only suggestion at this point is to check the trusted mechanics list and see if anyone there is close by.

We charge a flat 6 hours to R&R all the transverse FWD VAG transmissions, and I'd say an extra hour to do the rear sealing flange (oil pan comes off) with the seal in it. And I use the proper install tool. You need to take the accessory belt, crank pulley, and lower timing belt shield off to get the TDC crank tool placed on the front end of the engine, too.

I believe most full service shops are around $100 an hour, so that's a $700 repair.

No that is $700 labor. Include parts and such and it is easily a $1k to $1.5k job, if OH does it. Of course we have no idea where the OP is so OH may not be handy. Other may charge more or less as well.

No, that's $600 labor plus $100 part and tax. Of course it's a rough estimate. OH works at a VW/Honda/? dealership. Veritable wealth of information is Brian. He new the book hours, which most shops use for quotes. Definitely not a VW specific repair, although want want someone good. Believe OP has the answer, might be considering doing it himself, not terribly hard, but a lot of work.

The OP states it is leaking pretty bad. I would imagine the clutch disc is more than likely ruined from fluid contamination and with the miles that are on it, it would be foolish not to include a complete clutch set while everything is apart. Looked to me like he quoted $600 to remove/replace the transmission and such, $100 for the rear main seal removal/replace, plus the seal itself plus a clutch kit if you are smart. Maybe oilhammer can clarify what he meant and if it included parts or not and if a severely leaking rear main seal would necessarily be a good idea to do a clutch swap while in there on an engine with over 265k miles on it.

Two things - first that picture of the rear main shows mess above and below the seal flange. A much more common leak is the valve cover gasket. I wonder how long this has leaked all over. Of course this is just that one pic over the interweb....

Second - est from Motors is $2140.47 for that job entailing rear main, clutch disk and pressure plate. BTW - our labor rate sucks.

Jason

PS: With a picture posted I assume he is already fixing the car.

That picture is from my RMS replacement, not the OP.

In addition to replacing my RMS, I also reseated the Valve cover gasket and put fresh sealant in the corners.

With that mess behind the flywheel and below the sump, and not much of mess around the tandem pump, most had to come from the RMS.

I also thought about replacing the tandem pump gasket, but figured I can determine if that was leaking, since I cleaned up the head and block when
replacing the RMS

Financially foolish not to replace worn parts when into something that deep. Who would want to pay $700 to replace the rear main seal and then another $1500 or more really soon for the contaminated clutch? Got to give it to tactdi for going the extra mile and doing the valve covers as well. This is the kind of thing you do when you do your own work and are proactive. Always doing the minimum means you are always working on your car, or broke down.

Lightflyer1 said:

No that is $700 labor. Include parts and such and it is easily a $1k to $1.5k job, if OH does it. Of course we have no idea where the OP is so OH may not be handy. Other may charge more or less as well.

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700 in labor, $100 part, So what? $200 in shop rags and degreaser?

What part of not replacing a fluid ruined clutch while in there with 265k miles on it do you fail to understand? Please go back and read SilverGhost's post as well.

Some references for you:

https://repairpal.com/estimator/volkswagen/jetta/clutch-replacement-cost

"The average cost for a Volkswagen Jetta clutch replacement is between $1190 and $1657. Labor costs are estimated between $440 and $777 while parts are priced between $750 and $880. Estimate does not include taxes and fees."

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=268846

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=338906

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=338906

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=305461

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=185067

All older posts from many years ago so I would imagine the costs are higher now. If you want cheap, buy the part I linked to above from Amazon and a few extra bolts and things from idParts and do it yourself. Probably get it all done for $250 or less.

I would add that, being from MD, there should be extra labor in the estimate to account for rust. OH is in St Louis area with much less of a rust issue.

Jason

Lightflyer1 said:

Financially foolish not to replace worn parts when into something that deep. Who would want to pay $700 to replace the rear main seal and then another $1500 or more really soon for the contaminated clutch? Got to give it to tactdi for going the extra mile and doing the valve covers as well. This is the kind of thing you do when you do your own work and are proactive. Always doing the minimum means you are always working on your car, or broke down.

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Yes, it is an advantage being able to repair my own cars, both as a hobby, and as a means to own higher priced/maintenance costly cars (Porsches, BMWs in the past), and not have the resulting expensive maintenance.

The downside is that I am not a professional, and have not seen everything. If I had known better at the time, I would have replaced the RMS when I replaced the transmission, it looked bad at that time, but I thought the mess was from the leaking transmission. That oversight did cost me a new clutch 1 year later. BUT, over the years, I am so many dollars ahead doing my own work, I can take the occasional hit of redoing a job.

tactdi said:

Yes, it is an advantage being able to repair my own cars, both as a hobby, and as a means to own higher priced/maintenance costly cars (Porsches, BMWs in the past), and not have the resulting expensive maintenance.

The downside is that I am not a professional, and have not seen everything. If I had known better at the time, I would have replaced the RMS when I replaced the transmission, it looked bad at that time, but I thought the mess was from the leaking transmission. That oversight did cost me a new clutch 1 year later. BUT, over the years, I am so many dollars ahead doing my own work, I can take the occasional hit of redoing a job.

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As a non professional we learn things this way. I have redone jobs 3 or more times as I found out I missed something or could of replaced something else needed while there or just flat out assembled it wrong. But I have yet to just stick known contaminated used up parts back in there thinking they will do just fine. The OP's clutch has to show signs of wear and contamination. When doing these kinds of jobs that involve a lot of labor I try and research everything I could possibly need to do a complete and thorough job.

Imagine having your mechanic tell you it just cost you $800 to replace the rear main seal but now a week later wants another $1500 to replace the clutch set, as it is worn out or contaminated. I would be real unhappy with them.