Mechanic a rip off?

[sylvaner01]

I finally got the money together to change my timing belt on my car, so I put it into my local mechanic who said he could help me out a bit (being a student) with the cost of the job.
So half way into the job he calls me, he says that my water pump and my engine seals need replacement aswell as a few other belts.
I ask him how much more this will cost me, allong with the timing belt, he says $400 for timing and another $300 for the other things.
Am I getting ripped off?

This made everything so much harder for me, I only had $500 for the job origionally quoted but now I have to fork out another $300

 

[speedin]

Sounds about right to me. Any time you do the timing belt the water pump should be done with it, so thats a given.


My guess is the engine seals and accessory belts can just wait till you get more $.

Just get the timing belt and waterpump done for now. Do the rest later.

 

[sylvaner01]

Cheers for the fast reply speedin, I was lucky to get the timing belt done today because next week i'm going on a road trip.
Glad to see he was honest atleast, i know my local Astoria place got caught for doing things very dodgy, somebody put their car in to get their timing belt done and they didnt touch the car, still charged the guy too.

 

[speedin]

Cheers for the fast reply speedin, I was lucky to get the timing belt done today because next week i'm going on a road trip.
Glad to see he was honest atleast, i know my local Astoria place got caught for doing things very dodgy, somebody put their car in to get their timing belt done and they didnt touch the car, still charged the guy too.

Wow, thats shitty. Thats why im glad im a mechanic and can do the work myself. I just dont trust other people with my car.

 

[sylvaner01]

lucky, i was hoping to find a full tutorial of changing a timing belt for my car, but no luck, also a lack of motivation and confidence to do the job. I am fine for everything else, such as drilling into my firewall to add a sub, but when is comes to open heart surgery on my car, I cant risk it.

 

[rockadilla]

There's a pretty detailed walkthrough on team integra. I used that and I really had no problems besides I didn't have all the right tools and the crankbolt is a MF'n bitch to get off lol. And IMO at least if u mess up doing something on ur car its pretty easy to know what u messed up on. Where as if u take it to a shop who knows WTF they did to ur car while it was in the shop. :scurred:

 

[Prozon]

Those prices seem fairly ridiculous to me. I know the parts don't cost that much. You can buy the belt alone for $60 or so. The pump is also like $50. Seems fishy he would say the water pump is bad though, how could he know that? Doing a belt job I wouldn't think to put my ear to the engine and listen for things like that.

Next time you have to do something to your engine you should post about it. I would have taken some pictures if it would save you a few hundred bucks.

I think I've explained to someone how to do it before, it wasn't you was it??
I need to sit down and write a few articles. -_-

 

[WDEDMON1]

I think it was me Prozon. I did it like 2 weeks ago. If he's doin the belt for 400 then he shouldnt have charged an extra 300 for the pump. I did the whole job for like 160. Parts alone. The hardest part is the belt. The pump is only like 5 extra bolts. Thats a sh*tty deal. Forgive my french. I would charge $20 to put a water pump in a car with the belt already off lmao. Sorry bro. I had a post that explained the process I went through too btw. Im on here like everyday man. Post in the future and we got ur back Hell if u were close enough to me I prolly woulda helped u do it just for the fun of it and meeting a teg buddy! Im in Ga btw for future reference for everyon1 on here lolz

 

[Prozon]

Lol i'm on here everyday as well. But like I said, next time it's no biggie to write a step-by-step for someone.
Boredom! >_<

 

[Prozon]

Lol i'm on here everyday as well. But like I said, next time it's no biggie to write a step-by-step for someone.
Boredom! >_<

 

[WDEDMON1]

Hellz to tha yes. Well not so much boredom. I love this stuff man. I think I might go to auto school just to learn more bout the Teg

 

[thenoxus1]

The prices seem just a little bit high I feel like, shouldn't usually cost more than a couple hundred for a timing belt etc, unless maybe you're going to a dealer, then I'd expect to pay that much. Also, it's easiest to replace things like the water pump when you have it all dropped etc because it is at least semi labor intensive..

 

[WDEDMON1]

Uhhhh. How do I facebook u? lol Is that ur name on facebook?

 

[thenoxus1]

Haha oh my sig? If you click it it takes you to my facebook and you can friend me..

 

[mirrorimg]

The prices seem just a little bit high I feel like, shouldn't usually cost more than a couple hundred for a timing belt etc, unless maybe you're going to a dealer, then I'd expect to pay that much. Also, it's easiest to replace things like the water pump when you have it all dropped etc because it is at least semi labor intensive..

Timing belt jobs are always $400+

I agree that the extra charge is high because:
A. You have all of the accessory belts off, and there is no extra labor putting new ones on (belts are $10-$15 each, then factor in maybe $5 on top that the shop may charge per belt).
B. The water pump should be factored in already into the timing belt job, as so should the tensioner. A timing belt job is not complete without replacing each of these components.
C. I dont know what your mechanic means by all of the seals, but the only ones that should be replaced are the valve cover gasket and tube seals. Nothing else should need to be changed.

So if you were to look at it, about $80 extra for the seals and belts, with no extra labor because everything has to be put back together to be put back on. Water pump is accessible because the belt is off, as well as the tensioner (and should have been included in the initial price), so I dont see why your mech. would decide to charge $300 extra. $120 at the most...