If they are too busy to do a heater core, they are probably to busy to answer the phone.

 

what is the solution to the water in drivers side footwell?
Mine was totally wet after rain storm in Austin TX area
I am planning on getting new windshield, is that the only fix?

 

That's a easy Sunday project to fix her up.

For instance I bought my xj 3weeks ago and have replaced the steering box, all inner/outer tie rods, track bar, blower motor, engine mounts, radiator and hoses/expansion tank, gauge cluster, but yet there's more. Tody the manual trans blew so I ripped that out and now tracking down a replacement. Talk about a bad month when I got the xj I thought it was rough but DD condition, boy was I wrong.

But yet I am not discouraged, it's a project and it's still fun. I look at it this way, yea I've fixed a LOT of stuff so far but that's so many fewer things I have to worry bout later.

 

I called the dealer today. $450 for the part. They said 12 hours would be a safe estimate, but they would not hold to a hard estimate (in case there are complications).
$1440 in labor and $450 for the heater core puts the repair at $2000. Plus tax would be $2200 or so. Oh, coolant. Figure add another $100 there. So, maybe my friend's had a complication, or they did other work in addition.

 

You should really move out of NY.

My shop quoted me $550 parts and labor for the exact same job. I opted to do it myself.

 

Yeah, here in Salt Lake, I had a shop quote me 800$+tax for heater core and evap core replacement. That was parts and labor.

 

You should take a selfie and post it. Or friend me on FB or follow me on twitter, I'd love to follow Bimmer.

 

There's no way you'd be able to follow Bimmer.

 

1. What kind of idiots do they have working there that take 12 hrs. to replace a heater core, complete novices have done it in less, it shouldn't take a professional mechanic anywhere near that long?

2. What dealer estimates labor but won't hold to it or even charges actual labor? Every dealer I've been to charges "book labor" (i.e. what the service manual says the job should take) and pays the tech according to the same (i.e. if the manual says a job takes 8 hrs. you are billed for and the tech gets paid for 8 hrs. regardless of whether it actually takes 5 hrs. or 12 hrs.).

If what you say is true that dealer is an absolute thief (and is probably engaging in fraudulent or otherwise illegal business practices) and I wouldn't go anywhere near that place much less buy a vehicle from them or take my vehicle there for service.

 

Nothing he says is true. I just looked up the books. 5 hours. 98 an hour round up to 500 for labor. And a oem core at my cost 120.00. So 620 for a heater core installed. 3k my ***. Bimmer is full of ****

 

This is how the shop I worked at did it. If the book says 4 hours you were charged 4 hour. This teaches you to be proficient. It takes longer to do some jobs & not as long as the book says for others. I'm pretty sure most all REPUTABLE shops operate this way.

 

This thread made a very good point. I was not aware that dealers are supposed to be held to a certain shop hour rate, and if they go over, THEY eat it. This guy just would NOT pin down a number. $450 for the heater core, but he said "it depends" when I pressed him for the exact shop hours (b/c I wanted to post it here, to shut you people up) He said it would be an "absolute minimum" of 6 hours, at $120/hr, but most likely more. I said, well in most cases, how much more? What are the odds of 6 hours? I need a number to decide if I keep or trash this XJ that's worth $2000. I kept pressing for the most probable number of hours in their experience with other XJs, and he would not give it up, but he eventually agreed that 12 hours would probably be the result. But, he held the door open for it to be even more than 12 hours, all depending on "complications". But, he said the most likely scenario was 12 hours at $120/hr.

I had no idea that a mechanic has to eat the extra hours if the job takes longer!!
This place sounds like a bunch of thieves. Thanks for steering me away!
Now, I am realizing sending the shocks to a mechanic is a no brainer. Probably 1 hour shop.

 

lol dude squeeze a pair of vise grips on the shock grab a wrench extend if you have to and turn the damn thing. The shop won't do anything different, they just have more ***** than you

 

You do realize now that all your past arguments and "prices" and all that just got thrown out the door and hopefully you will realize the fool you have been making of yourself?

 

I'm glad you "see the light". 99% of work you should do yourself, it's the 1% that I'll gladly pay a shop to do.