Outer Limits 4x4 Board

i got my HJ47 landcruiser serviced for the first time ever this week. I usually do it myself but I need it to go away this weekend and didn't have the time to do the things I wanted to get done. I also lacked some of the tools necessary.

Basically I wanted the oil pressure checked with a mechanical gauge as my dash gauge shows low pressure at idle. Probably not a big deal as I've had these sensors get crudded up before and have had to be replaced, but none the less I wanted it to be checked. And since I was going to the effort of taking it in I figured I would get a basic service. Change oil, coolant, filter, adjust tappets, check brakes etc. And maybe a compression check.

Well it cost me $350 to have the basic service things done. The nuffy though he had to take the starter motor off to check the oil pressure to get to the fitting so he didn't do that. I then pointed out that this wasn't the case and all was needed was to unscrew the sensor at the top of the engine and chuck a gauge onto it. He was expectantly embarrased about this.

He also told me my wheelbearings were a bit loose on the front. I asked him if he did anything about it. No. It would of taken 10 minutes to tighten them. Especially annoying as I have to borrow a socket big enough to do it myself.

It just seemed like a rip off to me.

$350 to do all the simple service things I could of done myself and the 2 things I couldn't do. Oil pressure and compression check weren't done.

I should add that this was a garage that worked with diesels frequently.

that blows...

i get my mazda and my zuk serviced regularly and they check and fix if neccessary:
- brakes
- clutch
- bearings
- hoses
- leads
- plugs
- all levels (oil/rad/diff oil etc)
- replace filters (oil/fuel/air) if neccessary, almost always oil.
- tyre wear

usually costs $150-160 including new oil filter and new oil. But im a long time customer and get looked after really well too.

Did you get an itemised bill? Sounds ok to me.

woulda been cheaper to buy the things you needed hey mate

then you could have checked them when you like...

only time i go to a mechanic, is when something is beyond me. ie, machining, blueprinting, rollcages. the rest, its not worth paying someone else to do a job that you can do yourself,and know its done right...

cruiser60series wrote:And since I was going to the effort of taking it in I figured I would get a basic service. Change oil, coolant, filter, adjust tappets, check brakes etc. And maybe a compression check.

Sounds about right to me. I take my wife's Corolla to be serviced but do my Disco myself.
It costs about $100 for the oil and filter to be changed in the Corolla along with a check over of general condition of everything else.

I wouldn't call what you asked for a basic service.

My general service price is $165.

In that you will get, But not limited too (as every vehicle is different)

oil and filter

cooling system pressure test

all suspension and steering checked and adjusted if applicable (reported if worn and can not be adjusted or if adjustment is out of safe range) this would include your wheel bearings.

All fluids checked and topped up, (reported if need changing)

All tire pressures checked and corrected (to your specs if noted on job card)

All braking components checked and adjusted, including drum brakes (meaning wheels removed and drums removed for inspection.) report on any unsafe or worn items.

All filters checked and housings cleaned (i will not blow out air filters with compressed air as this can damage the filter) again report any problems.

Safety check is carried out (if your car is unsafe in any way or i deem that it will become unsafe before the next service is due, you will be details of any problems.

The coolant flush would have cost you $99. $55 for the long life coolant and $44 for labor, (1/2 hour covers draining, back flushing, filling and running engine to remove any air from the system, I'll also ask that you remove the rad cap the next morning and check the coolant level. As you can never leave a cooling system item to chance.

check and adjust valve clearance price would depend on how much adjustment was needed (it would take longer to adjust all of them than it would if none needed adjustment)

i'd probably say $88 (1 hour) for the oil pressure test and compression test to be carried out properly. But again this I can't see your engine right now, so it's hard to give an accurate price.

Any of the report items would be reported during the service, not when you come to pick the car up.
ONE last thing, i will shine your tires, and depending on the day you may get a free car wash

Some may not agree with me, or my hourly rate, In this town $88/h is about middle of the range, most shops are in the high nineties i know of one shop that charges $77

That sounds about spot on with the rates i get charged, and I dont mind paying it! at least i know its done right and that anything that needs doing is reported.
My advice is communicate with your mechanic, let him know what you would like out of your service or find another mechanic that your happy with,
Communication is the key

I would like the peace of mind of once every while getting a service done by someone with a better clue than me. for peace of mind etc.

the hard part is finding a mechanic who doesnt just see you as a quick oil change and move on - or maybe its just the trust that they dont see you as that.

it ALWAYS made a difference to way we worked on a car if you told them you where going on a longer trip etc.

unfortunatly 99% of people out there just see vehicle servicing and maintainence as another expense to try and cut back on.
of course we would check cars out properly regardless but if we where told "we going on a trip" or "go right over her" we would spend and extra 10-15 minutes double and triple checking at no extra cost. in this case we would also report stuff that will be required in approx the next 20 thousand k's.

nothing worse then hearing from a family thats stuck in the middle of no-where expecting u to foot the bill for tow truck and local repairs.

Sounds like a lack of comunication to me , The cost is reasonable .
Some people have different thoughts of what a general service is , Some diesel compression tests can take a long time and require special equipment , as for the oil pressure test they definately should have at least rang to say something .
I suggest talking to the guy at vehicle drop off and tell him what you expect .
You may be surprised at the price , but they have a business to run , over heads such as rent , wages , enviromental fees , parts , equipment wear and tear , beer lots a beer .
I won't work for free , do you ?
Ask around to see who's using who and if there happy .
No point taking your prize 4b to a VW specialist is there .

I like a cigarette or a strong drink after a good service

the bloke who services my cars greases my door hinges and i think thats cool

The way i see it is, i would never pay someone to do something i can do (eg oil, coolant, filters, tyre pressures, plugs, leads etc etc) which, lets face it you could train a monkey to do.

If its something more 'specialised', if you can call screwing in a pressure gauge specialised, and i dont own a gauge, for the money a mechanic charges (and im not debating wether its a fair price or not) i could probably buy the gauge and check my pressures 1000 times.

I will take a car in only if it needs something which i cannot do, legally or otherwise. Such as re-gas air-con, machine heads (Even then removing the head your self doesn't take a rocket scientist) or any other machining, anything computer related.

We're all on this board for one reason, we are vehicle enthusiasts. If we cant do a few simple checks, well....

Buy a workshop manual (or download) and some tools, and learn some skills for life. Then you can never complain about service costs.

Mike

Think about how much it would have cost for the materials to do the service, then think about how much time it would take to do this and how much it would cost your boss to pay you to do this (including all business expences, tax super etc) and your will realise how cheap servicing a car realy is.

I would have expected the mechanic to call me and tell me what he was unable to do or needed to do ans associated costs before i arrived to pick up the car tho. This is actually my majour gripe with mechanics, well that and the fact there is a reasonable percentage of mechanics that dont do sfa when they book a car in for a service. The company my work uses to service our vehicles i know for a fact does not change oil or filters during a service, i know this because you have to lift the seat to put oil into an express van (they dont)and the filter still has the sticker for the 40000k service on it and the car is now at 80k

mike_nofx wrote:The way i see it is, i would never pay someone to do something i can do (eg oil, coolant, filters, tyre pressures, plugs, leads etc etc) which, lets face it you could train a monkey to do.

If its something more 'specialised', if you can call screwing in a pressure gauge specialised, and i dont own a gauge, for the money a mechanic charges (and im not debating wether its a fair price or not) i could probably buy the gauge and check my pressures 1000 times.

I will take a car in only if it needs something which i cannot do, legally or otherwise. Such as re-gas air-con, machine heads (Even then removing the head your self doesn't take a rocket scientist) or any other machining, anything computer related.

We're all on this board for one reason, we are vehicle enthusiasts. If we cant do a few simple checks, well....

Buy a workshop manual (or download) and some tools, and learn some skills for life. Then you can never complain about service costs.

Mike

i don't get my car serviced bcause i can't..... it's because while i'm working and making money in my trade i'm getting someone else to make money in their trade. why would you waste your own leisure time doing boring stuff like servicing cars or lose money by not working to save yourself a whole 50 bucks??

my 4.2 diesel costs me $100 to service including 2 new oil filters and oil ,also includes 3 bundy's.

My last service was quite expensive so not a good comparison........New gear box, new glow plugs and a heap of other shit that needed doing....... It's like a new car now though

Weekends are for wheeling and recreation not for servicing cars so i'm happy to pay someone else to do it even though I can do most things myself. $350 sounds pretty reasonable to me.

I get my work car serviced correctly at intervals and all I expect is them to wash it and vacuum it because at least you feel like someone has looked at your car.

I expect from a good dealer service:

Fill out service manual, stamp where necessary and sign / date.
Place floor mat protector in car - used one preferably as it gives the impression a mechanic was near it. Also I expect a brand name one like castrol etc

replace oil change sticker with a new one and add new service intervals - round down to the next 5000klms

Clean oil filter with a quality white rag.

Check dipstick fitment - wipe with rag if needed.

Spray belt with belt grip.

Fill washer bottle with green dye and wipe road grime from general area - making sure yellow lid looks clean.

Spray tyres with tyre shine.

Place boiled lollies in a classy looking tin on passenger seat.

And over charge to ensure the feeling of a "major' service.

Some of the better dealers will have one roll cab and about 15 x 18 year olds dressed in overalls looking busy.

For major service - wipe hubs clean, mark tyres with chalk, and explain why brakes need skimming.

I service my cars myself. I have a company vehicle but intend to buy it after the lease runs out so its actually gets serviced.



From a good non dealer service I expect what I would do.

trick is to make sure everything is caked in mud, then you know if they even put a spanner on any of the bungs
but i think your close to the truth bru

bru21 wrote:I expect from a good dealer service:.

exactly.

Good service, and to do what I ask them to do.. after all, its my car they are charging me to work on.

love ke70 wrote:trick is to make sure everything is caked in mud, then you know if they even put a spanner on any of the bungs
but i think your close to the truth bru

Yeah thats a great idea..........
More like you dont give a fark about your car or the mechanic so the mechanic might not give a fark about your car or you.

mule75 wrote:

mike_nofx wrote:The way i see it is, i would never pay someone to do something i can do (eg oil, coolant, filters, tyre pressures, plugs, leads etc etc) which, lets face it you could train a monkey to do.

If its something more 'specialised', if you can call screwing in a pressure gauge specialised, and i dont own a gauge, for the money a mechanic charges (and im not debating wether its a fair price or not) i could probably buy the gauge and check my pressures 1000 times.

I will take a car in only if it needs something which i cannot do, legally or otherwise. Such as re-gas air-con, machine heads (Even then removing the head your self doesn't take a rocket scientist) or any other machining, anything computer related.

We're all on this board for one reason, we are vehicle enthusiasts. If we cant do a few simple checks, well....

Buy a workshop manual (or download) and some tools, and learn some skills for life. Then you can never complain about service costs.

Mike

i don't get my car serviced bcause i can't..... it's because while i'm working and making money in my trade i'm getting someone else to make money in their trade. why would you waste your own leisure time doing boring stuff like servicing cars or lose money by not working to save yourself a whole 50 bucks??

So some places charge only $50 labour for a whole service do they? where is this? My most recent service saved me an about $200-250 labour, and it took less that 4 hours.

Basic service - An oil change takes less than 15 mins labour with filter change (not including draining time) During oil draining you can check air filter, inspect hoses, check tyre pressures etc. All in one short afternoon.

Going by an earlier post, at $88 per hour labour - If the mech checks your tyre pressures, and correct pressures this may take him what, 5 mins?? 5 mins @ $88/hour is $7.33!

$7.33 to check your air pressure - Something you can do yourself for 5 mins next time you get fuel for.... wait for it... free!

As i mentioned earlier, we are auto enthusiasts! We're not here because we like pottery, or knitting, or tennis...

We wont put mechanics out of business if we change our own oil. As long as there is Doctors, lawyers, elderly, disabled, lazy and just plain stupid they will be in business.

Mike

SIMMO84 wrote:

love ke70 wrote:trick is to make sure everything is caked in mud, then you know if they even put a spanner on any of the bungs
but i think your close to the truth bru

Yeah thats a great idea..........
More like you dont give a fark about your car or the mechanic so the mechanic might not give a fark about your car or you.

my diff and gearbox is usually covered in varying amounts of mud until it rains and the spray cleans it off.
i dont give a flying fajita if there is mud all over the undercarriage and the drivetrain, or the drivers side. just the missus side coz she gets dirt on her getting in and out then its

my ute has been worked on by a mechanic twice in the 40K ive had it.
once to turn the fuel down, and to dyno it to see why it was flat spotting.
and the second time is the mechanic building my circuit car, after doing turbo and gas install i wanted to up the fuel, so i spent the arvo there working with him.

i dont expect anyone im paying to change my oil to give a shit about my car, which is why i dont pay a nuffie to change my oil.
simple.

I use to use a mechanic that was well priced and always did good work. However, to get my car to him was a major hassle as someone would have to drive 30min each way to pick me up and drop me off.

Therefore I always use to ask him that if anything needed fixing, call me with a price and keep the car till it's done so I didn't have to bring it back any time soon. 9.5/10 I'd get the call saying it was all done and ready to go. I'd get down there and stuff I'd specifically asked to be done, wasn't and he'd ask me to come back next week because he was busy. Needless to say I got jack of it and realised that if you want something done properly, do it yourself.

The fact of the matter is, if a customer specifically asks you to carry out a task, they accept there will be an additional charge and may take longer. No ones asking them to do it for free yet they think you've got all the time in the world to be dropping and picking your car up when ever you damn well please.

In general, mechanical workshops are inconsiderate to the customers needs and requests and their communication skills even worse. At the end of the day it costs what it costs but it'd be nice to know that within that decent profit margin, they actually gave a crap.

And to the bloke who started this post, assuming you had a basic service $350 sounds like you got ripped off I think.

i pay around 350 for my trucks to get serviced(rigids) complete wipers lights the lot my mechanic will even do it on a weekend(even sun) and if needed repair major faults overnight if he can. will even lend me a car if required(usally his own) if needed or give me a bed for the night if i cant be bothered going home and lets me us his workshop for my own projects( once had a car sitting there for 2 years didnt say anything but every now and again would call and ask "are you going to use ......." quite funny by the end acually

i just copped a bill for a grand to remove and refit my gearbox after a rebuild elsewhere.
one of the better financial rapings ive been given by workshops.


the bill for your service does sound steep. but diesel oil and filters are alot more expensive too.

from the sounds of it im gonna have to open my own shop so you all can get decent service







and i can get decent wages

Another thought - of the hourly rates charged by mechanics for labour, how much does the actual mechanic get? (just a worker, not shop owner)

My view of the average mechanic - Same as the mechanics on National Lampoon's Vacation, when the Griswalds get the Truckster repaired.

Mike

^^^^^^ Prob somewhere between $18-25 i would be guessing

I would say your aiming a bit too high there... Wages are probably around 12-15/hr for a chump and maybe a couple of dollars more for someone slightly more skilled.

Company car had its 15k km service done by Ultra Rip offs, service that should of cost $120-$150 cost the company $350 and all they did was a BASIC service, nothing major about a 15k service.

My XR6 Turbo costs $450 for a basic service, as the head and turbo bolts have to be re-torqued... but for some unknown reason it took the mechanice 1hr to do the basic service, re-torque the bolts and change the brake lines... So I'm pretty sure they didnt do the head bolts!!!

Mechanics are worse than real estate spankers