Expensive Mechanical

[Ubernoob]

Quoting a job can still be tricky for mechanics, even though they work on the same model a number of times the job isn't always the same. It can be anything like a snapped head or exhaust stud or even spark plug thread inserts coming out.
I know a tank should be a pretty routine job but if there was a problem they should have told you why they took so long to do it, at ~$80+ an hour it's pretty easy to get a bill like that, still it would have made it a 10hr job. To change a pump on my old Falcon was half an hour.

I had to do some electrical work on oddly enough, a Triton, that was later sold to someone in QLD, I was going to look at something electrical that didn't work and ended up doing two full days work tidying wiring up on a car that was less than three years old. I had never seen such shoddy work and I had no instruction manuals for the million extra electrical items added to the vehicle. Luckily he had me look at it as it would have caught fire, there were about 5 unfused wires going in to the cab and the firewall grommet had been removed to make room for close to ten new wires.

[snowyskiesau]

I know what you mean about 'extra wiring'. I have a van that's ex-police and while some care may have been taken when putting all the lights, sirens etc in, it certainly wasn't when it came to removing them! I still have an alarm that I have no key for, that I'm unwilling to remove in case something stops working. It's a long tow to someone, with the necessary diagnostic equipment to fix it. Don't get me started on the price of parts let alone labour charges...

[Ubernoob]

I know what you mean about 'extra wiring'. I have a van that's ex-police and while some care may have been taken when putting all the lights, sirens etc in, it certainly wasn't when it came to removing them! I still have an alarm that I have no key for, that I'm unwilling to remove in case something stops working. It's a long tow to someone, with the necessary diagnostic equipment to fix it. Don't get me started on the price of parts let alone labour charges...

It's a good idea to put some lanolin or fish oil on the bonus holes as they don't do anything to rust proof when installing in Police vehicles or Taxis plus all the swarf drops down and starts rusting. Not sure how many holes would be in a Police van though.....?
A friend of mine runs a workshop and they are now charging $100 an hour for diagnostics on European cars because they have to spend a lot more on diagnostic equipment compared to Asian vehicles.

[Chris Parks]

A story from the mechanic's side. A customer booked his car in to have a motor he supplied put in it. Being cautious types we looked at the motor and refused as it had rusty bores so then he supplied another one and reckoned we should fit it no matter what so we did and he went away happy. A week later he came back whinging and moaning that we had wrecked the motor he supplied and we fitted at his insistance and he wanted us to fix the issues. That is an example of why I got out of the motor trade, customers like that are common and I had had enough.

[snowyskiesau]

It's a good idea to put some lanolin or fish oil on the bonus holes as they don't do anything to rust proof when installing in Police vehicles or Taxis plus all the swarf drops down and starts rusting. Not sure how many holes would be in a Police van though.....?'

Not too many in the cab but a heap in the back. There's a caravan style 240V inlet at the rear and the wires have just been cut off. From another forum, I understand that ex-ambulances are a nightmare electrically and the recommendation is to rip out the wiring and start from scratch

A friend of mine runs a workshop and they are now charging $100 an hour for diagnostics on European cars because they have to spend a lot more on diagnostic equipment compared to Asian vehicles.

My van is a Mercedes and even if you can get an OBD reader that will work with it, the meaning of the codes is a close kept secret. I believe that the official Mercedes STAR diagnostic tool is only made available to official Benz service centres of which Tassie only has one.
Fortunately, I haven't needed any mechanical work beyond new brakes.

[China]

Before you complain do you know exactly what was involved, mechanic's charge minimum $80 hr it would not take long to to clock that up
on A "by the book repair"

[MAPLEMAN]

Before you complain do you know exactly what was involved, mechanic's charge minimum $80 hr it would not take long to to clock that up
on A "by the book repair"

There wont be a complaint by me China...i accept the verdict
Can't digest it though
11 hours work was spent on it...MM

[q9]

Spanner twirling is in my dna...probably literally...

I had a leaky fuel tank on a BMW, I never bothered to get a quote after I rang a wrecker in Melb and had a replacement tank delivered for $120. It took about an hour under the car with back wheels on blocks, and far fewer swears than I thought.

Quoted silly money to replace rear shocks on a Renault Clio - bought genuine shocks for about $180 (actually I think it was less, but anyway) from a dealer in Brisbane, drove home and decided it didn't look too difficult. Half an hour later, job done.

Quoted over $2000 for replacement (though upgraded) shocks on my old Golf. Ended up buying Bilsteins (what I wanted) from the good ol US of A, along with PROPER workshop manuals and a few other bits and pieces for about $800 including shipping.

A good mechanic is a good mechanic. But a good workshop manual and a set of spanners is money in my pocket.