OUCH!

[Geo-TH,In]

I got it put to me today. Paid $320 to have spark plugs and new wires put on my 2007 GMC. It would have cost me about half that amount just for them finding the problem. That's over $50 for one plug and one wire.

Last time I'm taking my truck to the dealer.

 

[Fordfarmer]

Cost me $460+/- a couple weeks ago for a set of plugs(10)and one injector. Independent shop. Newer stuff isn't cheap or easy to work on!

 

[Michaels Dad]

Neither is old stuff.
Just gave up $929 for two new rear tires and tubes plus "house call" for my 640.

 

[souNdguy]

I like gas tractors and diesel trucks... I can get to the plugs on my tractor.. them big gasser trucks burry and hide the plugs making them hard to get to..

 

[Geo-TH,In]

The sad thing is that I could have changed the plugs and didn't. They charged about $9/plug. I was going to change the plugs out, but never had a bad plug act this way. Live and learn.

 

[s19438]

wait till you need to have an electric fuel pump replaced.

 

[raycole]

I recently purchased spark plugs for my wife"s car. Figured it"d be simple to replace. Nope. The intake manifold actually had to come off to replace them... Couldn"t believe it. That, of course, required other things to come off as well. Guess that is why they use the fancy plugs...to keep from having to replace them often.

 

[Errin OH]

I know yer pain.

Youngest daughter was in the DC area for Navy stuff when the starter went out on a 2000 Malibu. We check around but was concerned not knowing the area we get took, So we had it towed (AAA) to a Chevy dealer.

$860 some odd dollars Later she could start the car. Only work done was putting on a new starter. Starter was $500, labor was $280, taxes and such made up the rest. I asked why it took 2+ hours to put on a $150 starter. I was told they had to buy Chevy's $450 starter (only marked it up 10%, BS) and there was a 1 hour min for for figuring it out and a 1 hour min for changing it. Never did explain the + part.

 

[souNdguy]

yep.. like I said. If I can walk up tot he machine and see the plugs and get to them.. no biggie.

If I have to dismantly the engine to change the plugs.. it might as well burn fuel oil..

 

[blunosr]

Hmm... maybe not so bad. I've replaced my plugs and wires twice now. Most recently a couple of weeks ago. I went with platinum plugs because they were much cheaper, only about $8/ plug vs over $20/plug for the factory iridium plugs. Then discovered the crap wires fall apart when you unplug them, $80/ for the set. So, $64 for my plugs, and $80 for the wires = $144. And that's for the cheap stuff.

Plus the insane pain in the A$$ getting to the plugs, upside down and playing twister on top of my engine. Luckily a friend of mine is a Licensed mechanic and lent me his Snap On plug wrench and socket, Way better than just my old Craftsman stuff. I might have to buy a set of those before I do that job again.

I didn't know why my truck was missing like it was, so I also replaced the gas filter, air filter, and bought a can of "mass airflow sensor" cleaner. I got it all done in a morning, but it was definitely not cheap.

The joys of vehicle ownership. Let's not even consider the gas mileage on that 6L V8 engine, at $1.40/L... that's $5.60/gal US. And my wages haven't gone up in years!

Woe... Woe...

Troy

 

[GT65]

Times are tough guys,gotta try to shop around.My truck 2004 GMC SIERRA 2500 crew cab 4wd 6.0L Gas found these on the JCWhitney site:
NGK-G-Power spark plugs-They claim they
outperform the originals.Price for
plugs for my truck $7.89 each!

Bosch-Spark plug wire set for my truck.
Limited lifetime Warranty $37.94
Seems almost too good to be true,but they are all reputable Companies.
6 months ago I put high performance drilled and slotted rotors(from JCWhitney) on the front of my truck.Big difference.I live in a pretty hilly area and they dissipate heat much better.Result better performance and much less likly to warp.I paid less for them than my tire guy could get the regular rotors for,something like $40 dollars each and they're guaranteed for a year.
Sorry for rambling,didn't mean to hijack your Post-just trying to save some friends a few bucks.Would download URL but don't know how.Just go to JCW site put in your vehicle and what your looking for.
P.S. I don't think I'm cheap,but I am co-owner of the patent for copper wire.Yep!,Years ago me and John Budd got into a fight over a Penny(wink!) I know John has a good sense of humor!
GT65

 

[Geo-TH,In]

Sounds like from the replies, that I could make some money by putting tefflon in vasoline, so the OUCH won't hurt so bad when you get it put to you.

 

[Sean in PA]

I guess I'm lucky, at least in terms of car repairs. My brother's been in the VA hospital for about a year and a half, and he was declared disabled so he's not allowed to drive any longer. I was getting his 1995 Geo Prizm ready to sell since it had sat for longer than he had been in the hospital and it was costing him money to insure it even though he's never going to be able to drive it again. The first time I started it up the ABS idiot light stayed on and the engine was running real rough. I found a broken wire at the ABS unit under the hood and soldered it back, and then I put a bottle of "Heet" fuel injector cleaner ($1.95) into a fresh tank of gas ($35.00) and replaced the spark plugs (4@$2.98/ea. with a $1.00/ea. rebate for a total of $7.92), and after that it passed inspection and ran great, so it sold for more that I had originally hoped that it would. It cost me less than $50.00 and I sold it for about $500.00 more than I had originally thought I could get for it. If I had taken it to a shop I'm sure it would have cost at least every bit of the extra $500.00 I sold it for, maybe more.

 

[Ron-MO]

I am like Sean for the most part, and have been very fortunate, and not spent very much on shop bills, and I do most of my own repairs/maintenance. I would venture to say I have not spent $1,000 total in 20 years on shop repairs excluding a couple of insurance bills on accidents. Seems they all think they should get Dr.. and Lawyer wages these days, even though most are lucky to have a high school education (not knocking anyone in particular). Many years ago I worked in a electronic repair tech, and found out very quickly that I could not charge hourly rates for 'part swapping' or I would have every tv left in my shop as the bill would amount to more than it was worth. Most times I had to make a judgement call, knowing that I did not make much per hour. Of course these days no one repairs tv's, they just toss them in the trash and buy new. But I wonder how much 'part swapping' the average person pays for in these shops, and how many parts are needlessly replaced, charging the customer anyhow. My boss just spent over $3000 to put in a rebuilt tranny in his 80,000 mile Ford Escape. I can recall paying a shop $100 to swap in a rebuilt engine.....now they will not open the hood for that. End of rant, knock on wood.

 

[Ron-MO]

After I posted I recalled an experience I had about 10 years ago. I suspected a small pickup I owned had a bad ecm (computer), however I was reluctant to part swap to find out, and it was non-returnable if it did not fix the issue. I asked my wife to take it to a local dealer to troubleshoot and confirm the problem (only). When I arrived home she said they found the problem, and it needed a new egr valve, and they wanted to replace it. I called the service dept, and asked why they felt it needed a new egr valve as if they would have looked they would have known that it had a new one already on it (I had replaced but did not correct the issue). They insisted it indeed had a bad egr (no way were they going to admit a mistake), however it may have other issues as well, and they would not know until they replaced the egr first. I took a gamble and bought a reman ecm, installed myself and corrected the problem, but in the process I lost all respect for that shop and their part swapping at my expense. That egr valve was still on the truck many years later when I sold.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

The rest of my story. Up to this happening, my truck was under a 5 year warantee and I've paid nothing for repairs. They even put in a thermostat and charged me nothing. Truck is still under warantee. Got blind sided with this one. Won't happen again. Before I got this truck, I did most of my repairs. Going back to that pratice

 

[Ron-MO]

I had previously purchased a new truck (not the same truck) from that same dealer. I had it in one Sat morning for a warranty repair. When the service mgr came out and told me my truck was ready, he said he needed to tell me some good news and some bad news. While the 'tech' was test driving my truck a semi-truck threw a rock and cracked my windshield, and he wanted to let me know, but otherwise it was fixed and ready to go. I then informed him that he was not finished until he put me in a windshield. At that time he promptly showed me some fine print on the document I signed that they were not responsible for damages to the vehicle. Needless to say I was NOT happy. To make a long story short I ran into the salesman that sold me the truck, and after venting on how unhappy I was with their service dept. he said let me call the owner at home, and he will settle this issue. When the owner arrived he promptly walked in to the service dept. and started chewing, and informed the guy behind the counter that they do not do business like that, and to set up an appountment with a glass repair shop to get my windshield replace, then promptly walked back to his car and left. My insurance agent later told me that they really did not have to replace my windshield due to that disclaimer, however they should have insurance as well to cover such things. This was a reputable new car dealership that is still in business, and it sounded like the owner wants to do right by his customers, but probably needs to communicate better on his ethics to his employees.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I had to put front wheel bearings in my 2004 Duramax Silverato 2500 with 150,000 miles. Dealer wanted $450 EACH. [that's with my sons discount who works there in the body shop]. Went to Auto Zone and got them for $172 apeace. That job would have cost over $1,000 out the door at the dealer. It only took me about 20 MIN. per side and I'm old [64]. IT wasn't much harder than changing break pads since the new bearings come complete with spindals.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Not that hard if you unbolt and slide the bed back. Way easier than dropping the tank.Part not cheap though.

 

[Hobo,NC]

(quoted from post at 02:35:53 04/13/12) I got it put to me today. Paid $320 to have spark plugs and new wires put on my 2007 GMC. It would have cost me about half that amount just for them finding the problem. That's over $50 for one plug and one wire.

Last time I'm taking my truck to the dealer.

Quality OEM parts used not junk Bosh parts are house brand chain store parts the price looks right...

I Just tuned up a Lexus 4.0 over 200 K on the clock... Its a hard 3 hr. job,,, I used all OEM parts except the plug wires. The dealer could not get the wires in a reasonable amount of time so I installed a NGK set... Should have ordered Belden from NAPA,,, during my test drive I had a misfire at cruise under load ... I got lucky it would also misfire in the shop while power braking,,, I pulled the EZ side covers off the left valve cove,,, while check'n it my helper saw spark jump from one wire end at the cap to the cam gear on that side... Its gonna get a OEM set of wires I am out 3 hr. of my time...

I also had a another issue with the thermostat that cost me 2 hr.,,, not going to get it to that at this time,,, will say anyone that wants to try to make a living turning wrenches should try it,,, Theirs more bones than meat and gravy... Its physical work on the unknown most of the time were pattern fallers are uncommon...

I did a chebby truck like yours sometime back that turned into a nightmare,,, Those plug wires are nailed to the plugs some kind of tight so you just go after them with your best grippers if they come off undamaged that's good if not it needs a set of plug wires... You can not set their and fight them all day when the only way they are going to come off is to get mean with them... While pull'n a plug wire one of the exhaust manifold bolts to the head popped off,,, the manifold had to come off and the broken bolt drilled drilled out of the head...

I am sure allot of folks could do some of the simple repairs on their vehicles,,, I am sure they will get their arse in a jam and never get out of it with out professional help...

 

[horsepoor]

Ouch! No Good Kind strikes again!

-Horsepoor

 

[36 Coupe]

I put a new starter in my 96 F150 for 85 bucks. Shipping included.Local was 150 bucks for rebuilt.Tried to buy brush rigging for the old starter.no one had it.One shop said it would cost 40 bucks.Got one for 16.50 postage included.Labor time was 20 minutes.Parts to rebuild that starter are reasonable if you know where to buy them.New PM starters look like a Briggs&Stratton starter.Called around for new brake drums for the truck.90 70 60 bucks each.Shop had them for 38 each.Best rip off by a shop was one a friend almost got caught in.He filled his gas tank.Rear strap broke.Ford stealer said 120 for the front strap, 140 for the rear plus 200 labor.I called my shop.They said 39 bucks for the pair.I picked up the straps, bill was 35 bucks.Had his truck for a weekend.Syphoned the gas in cans and got the old straps off.Sunday morning he calls to see if the truck is done.He says to my wife,Ive got to have my truck.Im under the truck in the rain, sick as a dog putting the new straps on.I charge him 25 bucks for the job.I tell him his muffler and tailpipe are shot.The rest of the the system is fine.I wont do the job because Ivs got firewood to saw and put in the shed.Im some PO because Ive just saved him hundreds of bucks on the repair and he complains about the time it took.He takes it to a muffler shop.A woman told him she got robbed when they worked on her car.They put on a whole exaust system ,a battery and 2 tires for 800 bucks.3 months later he goes back to the same place for an inspection sticker.Crook comes out and tells he needs a new exhaust system to pass inspection.He shows the crook the bill and leaves.I had told him the truck was very rusty under neath and I thought the truck had been far more than 60000 miles,Probably around twice or a turn back.