Torque Junkie

This reminds me when my brother in law took his '93 camry into the stealership because he was blowing water out of the overflow after driving 30 miles. The dealership could not diagnose what was wrong after $250 spent.

They said they wanted to replace the head gasket, it would be $3,000 but they wouldn't guarentee it would fix the problem. This is on a $1,500 car. I think he only ending up paying a $100 to get it back, and then took it somewhere else and spent $2,000 replacing head gasket.

This is from the dealership, who is supposed to have the most knowledge and experience on your particular vehicle, since they built it. The same V-6 motor was also in the toyota truck in the 90s, was unofficially recalled and fixed for free in thousands of trucks in the 90's when people came in with blown head gaskets. Toyota put the wrong head gaskets in the vehicles, which would fail at around 100K miles. Toyota left him screwed with bad gaskets, then incompetent mechanics with no knowldege of Toyota's mistakes.

To finish my rant, my best friend took his Dodge Caravan in when it wouldn't run, they "diagnosed" it and charged him $1500 for a new EFI computer, which warrantee did not cover, he paid it, then vehicle still was not running correctly. Then, they said his battery was bad, and replaced it and the car ran perfect. They basically tested the computer in the vehicle with a bad battery and came up with the conclusion the computer was bad.

He asked for the $1500 back for their mistake and they said no, couldn't return it. The dealership could not even diagnose a bad battery, and he got fleeced $1500 extra. He should have taken them to court, I would have, and I would have got my old computer back too, just to verify they actually changed it.

Moral of story:


Don't blindly trust any one opinion, get a second opinion

nuhawk

You telling us your friend can't pull the battery and get to an autoparts store to have it tested? Are you in the middle of a six-lane freeway or what?

You can buy a tow strap for under $40 bucks and if you're hard pressed you can tow almost anything with almost anything of equal size. These guys are ripping you off because you know nothing. Learning about your ride can save you big time bucks.

Chantal

will scan estimate...cylinder head alone was $772

Chantal

I haven't looked at the bike yet...the dealership has urged me to come in and look...they said valves bent

Chantal

Okay, here you are...

cylinder head 772.5
head cover gasket 34.50
cylinder heard gasket 38.99
intake valve 31.99
exhaust valve 57.50
valve spring seat 4.50 and 7.50
valve stem seals 9.50 and 9.50
valve springs 7.50 and 9.99
valve spring retainer 9.99
valve cotter 3.99
valve lifter 45.50
lifter pad cap 6.99
tensioner lifter 79.99
exhaust pipe gasket 6.99
oil 4.99
oil filter 12.50
coolant 11.00
misc rubber, washer, stays, bolts, o-ring total 24.96


diag/teardown 3 hrs 285.00
repair/reassemble 7 hrs 665.00

residentg

Well it is hard to say. If you want that bike fixed, and the repair is more than you can take on, then what are your alternatives? You probably have to pay the 285 diag even if the dealer does not do the repair. Your largest expense is the cylinder head and labor, how much can you trim off of that? They list 7 hours, that repair would take my OCD hands 20 hours since I would have to spec everything twice like many guys on this board. You could take the estimate to an independant repair guy and see what he quotes you. Some of these guys a good, some are not - check around first.

Have you thought about buying another used bike and then selling your current bike for parts? JB

autoteach

I can take off a cylinder head in the described time (I just re-timed a bike after a friend decided to do his own work with PAIR removal and clutch seal and bleed in 3.5hrs). Assembly of an all new head would not take 4 hours. I would say that the re-asse,bly of bike with repairs should be no more than 5 hours. I am armchair quarterbacking a little, but I have been down to the crank on a vtr (as well as rc30's, snowmobiles, quads, etc). I think, unless the damage to the guides is bad, that the new head is a little much. Cut cost by getting them to use a salvage head that you provide. If they do that it will save you bundles off of their estimate, and most places are happy to get some labor these days.


p.s. Had a ducati 748 that lost a timing belt. Split every single valve guide into pieces.

thetophatflash

Did I miss something? Why are they including a head?

Torque Junkie

I would ask the dealership who their machine shop is, and if they even looked at the head. Most heads with gouges can be welded and resurfaced, or cracks welded and repaired. Make them show you/tell you why it cannot be repaired.

The scary part of that estimate is the same new OEM defective part (CCT) that caused this mess was going back into the motor. The rear one will go next, that needs to be updated to manual CCT as well.




Most people don't take their battery in to be tested when it still turns the motor over and holds a charge. Problem was a bad cell was not putting out enough output voltage to run the computer to start the car eventhough amps were available to turn the starter over. Like having a fully charged 10V battery. If the car was already running the alternator could have provided enough voltage. This should have been one of the first things tested by the dealer before coming to the conclusion the computer was bad.

inderocker

What is up with the "new" head... did the valves get pounded into the head or are they just bent?

Chantal

Thanks so much...I'll go in on Tuesday to look at the damage and ask these questions. I really appreciate all your help.

My husband found an Aprilia Falco that looks like a good replacement bike for me. Still not sure if I want to invest any more time/money into my SH.