seems a bit high to me.
did he say how many hours he figured the job is ?
say it was 6 hours ...........which might be slightly on the high
side.........but not entirely out of the ball park.
Six hours at 70 per is only 420 dollars labor.
At 80 per hour that's still only 480 labor.
the o-ring can't be too expensive.
there's fluids...........
perhaps he figured to service the trans, replace the pan gasket etc.
The differential portion has a pan with a cork or cork-like gasket - those
get hard and leak after a number of years.
Perhaps he's figuring to replace that and the diff oil too, and that's how
he got to $ 600.

Scott
www.turbovans.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Troy" <colorworks@GCI.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 6:19 PM
Subject: transmission/differential O ring seal

> Just got word from my mechanic that the seal between the transmission and
> the differential is leaking. I'm told this is a $600 job, as the
> transmission needs to be pulled. Does this sound like a reasonable and
> customary charge for such a service? It's beyond my capabilities, so I'm
> at the mercy of this mechanic. The leak seems to be small, so I'm halfway
> tempted to leave it for awhile, perhaps just topping off the differential
> fluid as needed. I'm driving less than 4000 miles per year, and this is an
> expensive little repair that was unexpected to say the least. Vehicle is
> an 89, auto westy.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Troy