Vivitek 51" in need of color wheel per professional that cost me $85 to have picked up. Now he wants $575.00 to repair. Parts he said was $200.00 and than 3 hours of labor $375.00. What do you think out there? Oh yeah, replaced the lamp after 1 year myself $200.00! UGH wish I never bought this load of...

I found a color wheel earlier this year at www.vancebaldwin.com for about $90 and replaced it myself in about 45 minutes.
You can do it too!
-Before opening and working on your tv:
ALWAYS UNPLUG THE TELEVISION!
-I recommend someone to help you pick the tv up and turn it around so you can get to it.
-Also, have a digital camera close by to take pictures of your set before you take something out or unplug a wire.This will help you when piecing the set back together.
-It has been a few months since I did this so screw-counts are hazy.
-Remove all the screws from the back-bottom panel of the tv.Pay attention to the different kinds of screws that come from the different areas of the panel.Take pictures or put the screws into proper holes on panel once it is removed,while it is still fresh in your mind.
-Looking at the back of the set, on the far right, you see the lamp housing.Moving to the left, you see the color wheel "tray".
-Looking at the bottom of the tray,there may be 2-3 screws to unscrew. Basically,the whole tray slides out so you can actually take it somewhere comfortable to work on the wheel. Look for the best way to slide that tray out.
-You will have to unscrew some screws and unplug a couple of wires...
Take Pictures!
-Once you slide out the tray with the color wheel housing,remove the top of the housing.It may be 2-3 screws.It should be obvious where this is.Take the top off and you will see color wheel sitting in it's resting spot.Unplug it and take out screws holding wheel in place.
-Now, remove the wheel.NOTE:how the wheel is sitting in there so you can place the new wheel in exactly the same way.
-You may have heard warnings about touching the wheel with your fingers.I do recommend to handle the wheel carefully.However,I used canned air to blow some dust off of my new one and some liquid came out of the can and onto the wheel.I used Windex, a Q-tip and a Kleenex to clean the wheel and it worked fine.
-Carefully place wheel into the housing and make sure it spins freely and cleanly so it is not rubbing on anything.
-Plug wheel into it's receptacle and re-attach housing.
-Slide tray back in and begin re-attaching any wires you unplugged and screwing screws back in as you piece the tv back together.
-Make good use of your pictures you took.
-Once I got everything back together, I plugged the tv in and let the wheel sit in there while the tv warmed-up. Probably not necessary, but the wheel was delivered in winter-time and I wanted it to be room temperature before I fired it up.
-Turned on the tv and it worked great. Now I can hear the movie and not the wheel humming!
-Good Luck! and Congratulations!

I actually just got my color wheel replaced, but it was under warranty. The guy took about 15 minutes to do it after having to remove like 30 screws, witch took most of his time. it was very simple and should not take 3 hours at all...