The automotive "OMG it costs HOW much to fix this?!" thread.

[dkozloski]

Originally Posted by Jesda

HOLY CRAP

What really surprised me was that there was none to be found in a town of 350,000. It had to be shipped in about 2800 miles.

[Playdrv4me]

I guess I'll take the cake for the most expensive PAID repair then. 1999 BMW 328i, when I ran over Verizon's stupid manhole cover and tore a hole in the trans (the trans was working perfectly mind you).

Verizon's total out of pocket insurance cost for this repair? $9,500.00. The car was worth 9 at best.

This included a new transmission, transmission mounts, new engine mounts, driveshaft, power steering pump hoses, and a new right front shock and control arm (I have a feeling Reeves BMW padded this bill by the way). The transmission was 4000.00 reman and about 2000.00 labor.

Before you anti-BMW freaks jump in, this job could have been indepdently for about 3500.00, about the same as the HG on a N*. However, IT WASNT MY CHECKBOOK! Hehehehe.

Now 6000.00 for the airmatic strut on a W220? Thats absolute f**king insanity. You would pay that for ALL FOUR CORNERS, the labor, AND THE COMPRESSOR on my BMW built Range Rover. W220's are such utter shit-piles, even MB salespeople will admit it readily. It's so funny to see people bitch about BMW's being over-rated when MB is really more deserving of the over-rated title, anything built post-W140, but ignorance is bliss I guess.

Speaking of the Range Rover, despite that truck's apparently piss poor reliability history (mostly stemming from the 2002 and prior and 2006 and newer Jaguar based models), I haven't had a single maintenance intensive issue outside of a broken power telescope gear for the steering wheel in nearly 2000 miles of owning it. Knock on wood. I love my Rover, but I've got a new project I'm working on that I need to focus on right now, and Jesda made me a terrific offer.

[Playdrv4me]

Originally Posted by omarg

550$ for a power door lock actuator for my ls400. 1500$ for the gauge cluster. 600$ for the tachometer needle. 300$ for 1 upper control arm.

I fixed my gauge cluster myself with some soldering. got a door lock actuator from a junk car for 20$ Thankfully my upper control arms and tach needle are good!

I still want a w140 s-class but i cant afford the maintenance. So i definitely cant afford a repair.

a 6k repair bill??? holy crap. Those w220's are crap from what i've heard. Amazing cars but unreliable. Everything breaks and is very expensive. They are damn gorgeous though. Oh the 03-06 models are stunning.

i change the oil in my LS for about $26 in Mobil One oil, 5 for a Toyota brand filter, and about 30 minutes of my time.

What year is your LS? Did you have the classic "Tachometer needle stuck" issue? Happens to the 98 occasionally on the Speedometer, has never happened to the '90. The 98 backlight also dims occasionally.

[Florian]

Originally Posted by I~LUV~Caddys8792

I gotta make a pic like that. Except mine would say:

"Broke, need MAS, 4 Michelins, l/f check strap, lower control arm bushings, coolant flush, a brake flush.....and a hug!" Paypal to Chadillac1973@yahoo.com

Oh, and my $118 oil change from the dealer was a nice swift kick in the pocketbook.

As they say, "you gotta pay to play"....welcome to the bigs.



F

[dwight.j.carter]

Nick got quoted 950.00 bucks to do the brakes on his CTS from a mechanic we have trusted for years with our work until the last couple years when the high prices started along with diagnostic charges wether you had them do the work or not. And that was replacing all four pads and front rotors and machining the rears.

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

I wonder what it would cost my brother to have the 1.6L in his Sentra rebuilt at the Nissan dealer I used to work at?

[Playdrv4me]

Depending on how extensive a "rebuild", I'd bet they quote no less than 2000.00 *IF* they dont just tell you to scrap the motor and tell you they can only do a replacement at this point.

[clarkz71]

Originally Posted by Jesda

Timing chain guides for the Q45. $2500 at the dealer, but...

I paid $1450 (plus gas to and from Promise City Iowa) by ordering the parts online and taking it to a guy in Iowa who worked on it at home..

And you bad mouth Northstars for headgaskets??? I'd say the Nissan.........
I mean Infinity is a bigger turd. .

[Playdrv4me]

Originally Posted by clarkz71

And you bad mouth Northstars for headgaskets??? I'd say the Nissan.........
I mean Infinity is a bigger turd. .

You cant take the Northstar to Joe-bob and have him do it for 1400.00. Theres a ton of guys out there who will do the chain-guides for the Q on the cheap. Most independent Cadillac mechanics won't touch the headgaskets, OR will charge only a couple thousand less than the dealer, which is still close to 3k.

Let's leave that out of the picture for a moment though... the primary *difference*, is that Nissan actually *fixed* the problem. This only affected 90-92 Q45's. Its a non issue after that.

I really don't like Nissan much at all, but your argument doesn't hold much water.

[clarkz71]

Holds a lot of water, for $1400 in labor, I'd do Northstar headgaskets all day.
Even if I stroked the job out a whole week, that's good money.

And I'm not a Joe-bob, I'm an ASE certified technician.

And FYI, a couple thousand less then $3000 is $1000.

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

Cadillac for the most part fixed the issue too, it just took them 7 years.

[Playdrv4me]

Originally Posted by clarkz71

Holds a lot of water, for $1400 in labor, I'd do Northstar headgaskets all day.
Even if I stroked the job out a whole week, that's good money.

And I'm not a Joe-bob, I'm an ASE certified technician.

And FYI, a couple thousand less then $3000 is $1000.

Your grasping at straws and symantics to make up for the design flaw of the Northstar dude. We've been there and done that here 1000 times, and yes there are dealers who charge upwards of 5k to do the headgaskets ALL-DAY-LONG, and independents who charge 2500-3000 EASY.

Now that I know I can take my Northstar to you when the headgaskets blow and have you do it for +/- 1700.00, I'll go ahead and buy my dream Seville again. I'm right here in Tampa, What's your address? Hope you timesert it!

[clarkz71]

No problem, we can talk at the November 10th meet. I'm about 20 minutes
from where the meet is taking place. PM me if you want to set something up.
And yes, time-sert is a must, wouldn't do it without.

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

[clarkz71]

Hey, if enough people get in on this, I'll rent a warehouse and a lift and start
doing them full time. After working as a Benz dealer tech, this will be cake.