1969 Cadillac Sedan De Ville

********************************************* What!! You think a dealership would yank your chain?? ********************************************* Seriously, when freeze plugs rust out, the cost of parts is peanuts. If you can get to the freeze plugs to work on them, the repair can be completed quickly and relatively cheaply.

If you have some freeze plugs (probably better referred to as Welch plugs) on the transmission end of the engine where you cant get to them, then yes, you might have to pull the tranny.

You would be very wise to get a second opinion and estimate from a competent independent mechanic in your area. A 'grand' is a lot of money. I'm not saying that the dealership is padding the estimate, but you need to get competitive opinions.

Why would you take a 1969 car to the dealer? Is it still under warranty?

There are plenty of good independent shops that can give you a fair price on that job. Dealers are OK for warranty work and some specialized jobs, but a good mechanic you trust can save you a lot of money.

Probably not popped, but rusted out. I had a freeze plug rust out on my

68 Mustang. I don't think it was even a dollar or so for a replacement, but getting at it was a pain. If I had to replace a freeze plug with an 'original' style part, I can see where it would be a lot of labor in some cases.

In my case, I ended up not putting a new freeze plug in, but a replacement that consisted of a metal disk with a bolt welded on it. Then a rubber pad/washer a bit bigger than the disk, then another disk. When you tightened a nut on the bolt, the rubber 'expanded' and held in place. The toughest part was just making sure the freeze plug hold was clean before I put the new thing in.

I agree, you can fix this yourself UNLESS the freeze plug that went is behind the torque convertor, in which case find a buddy who's a decent shadetree wrench and buy a case a beer and make an afternoon project of it. Paying someone to R&R a trans just to fix a freeze plug will be very, very expensive, and besides, if you do it yourself you can adjust the bands while the tranny's out and clean everything up and paint etc.

Might as well replace the front pump seal as well, you won't have an opportunity like this for another 20 years

nate

(just helped a buddy put a Caddy motor in his Studebaker pickup a couple weeks ago, now THAT tranny install was a PITA... for some reason a Turbo 400 is a lot heavier than the stock Borg-Warner three speed stick...)