valve seal question

[nino]

if this is the wrong forum i apologize, but i am hoping "advanced" people might know. i am taking my car to get fixed- possible bad valve seal. how much should i be looking at paying for this kind of job. i am not going to the dealership, but they told me $800-$1200. [img]graemlins/omg.gif[/img]
thanks

[RoyalBlaze]

Do you mean you are driving the car there and having them do ALL the work? In that case, I wouldn't think $800-1200 is that bad. The valve seal itself is a little thing, but they'll have to do an ***load of work just to get down to the valves. If you want to bet that they are good at what they do and they can get the job done in, say, a day and a half, that's 12 hours of work. Fairly standard charge for a good mechanic's labor is around $70/hour. So you have 12x70= $840. So I'd say you aren't getting raped that bad for $800-1200. But hey, pull the engine apart yourself, and a machine shop will do a valve job for you for around $150-170. Big savings. [img]smile.gif[/img]

If anybody else has more experience with mechanic's prices and wants to correct me, please do feel free. I've never actually had a mechanic/dealer do major engine work for me, so I'm not 100% sure.

[Tiago]

hah, you're getting raped, you can actually replace the seals with the heads still on the car, its a PITA from what I hear, but you only have to pull the valve covers off and get to work on the seals. First it would be a good idea to find out which cyl it is so you can concentrate on just that one, if you do them all...it will take 6 times longer...unless they are all leaking.

[Magnus]

I agree with Tiago.. find out which cyl's it is and only have them replace those..

Also, price is very high for a couple cyl's..

you COULD do it yourself with the help of mechanic friends.. its not too hard to pull the valve covers in our cars.. the only problem is clearance for the valve spring compressor tool... that and trying not to drop a valve. lol

[Tiago]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Magnus:
that and trying not to drop a valve. lol<hr></blockquote>

:eek: now wouldn't that SUCK! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[nino]

tiago, you are not helping me here.
and nathan bradshaw told me to tell ya hi.