Hey all, a quick query:

 

Had a small exhaust leak on my 92 Legacy, just before the rear muffler on the bend. The mechanic ended up braze welding it, to the extent of about 15 minutes labour, some maniseal and black spray paint. The entire weld is about 4 inches long.

 

It was initally quoted at NZ$25 (USD$15) verbally, then later I was told it was worse than first thought (had been quoted roughly 3 weeks prior) and so the entire 15 minute job ended up costing me NZD$85 which is $USD51.

 

Any honest mechanics here able to say whether that's about right or whether that's a complete rip-off? I wouldn't know so I'm trying to find out more. That's $340 NZ an hour for exhaust welding, sounds like great money to me, there should be more people doing it.

 

Appreciate any feedback, cheers!

 

G

if the car goes up on the lift for repair, no matter if it is 5 minutes or 60 minutes you get charged one hour. Most shops have a sign stating 1 hr minimum charge

 

nipper

i had a tail pipe repair on my nissan truck a couple of years ago for about 90$, way too much!!. just a pice of pipe and some welding!!!... but 90$ to get back on the road seems pretty cheap rather than let it sit in the drive way.

 

Hey all, a quick query:

 

Had a small exhaust leak on my 92 Legacy, just before the rear muffler on the bend. The mechanic ended up braze welding it, to the extent of about 15 minutes labour, some maniseal and black spray paint. The entire weld is about 4 inches long.

 

It was initally quoted at NZ$25 (USD$15) verbally, then later I was told it was worse than first thought (had been quoted roughly 3 weeks prior) and so the entire 15 minute job ended up costing me NZD$85 which is $USD51.

 

Any honest mechanics here able to say whether that's about right or whether that's a complete rip-off? I wouldn't know so I'm trying to find out more. That's $340 NZ an hour for exhaust welding, sounds like great money to me, there should be more people doing it.

 

Appreciate any feedback, cheers!

 

G

sounds like they're being fair. i'd expect $50-$100 to have a crack welded on the exhaust. hour of time and they need some padding for shop supplies...cleaner, rags, welding materials, overhead....etc. it can be done cheaper, but i don't think you got ripped off (and i'm very skeptical of shops!!)

 

yes it's a quick and easy job.....if you have a nice couple thousand dollar lift, a couple thousand dollars of welding supplies and materials handy.

When you have exhaust work done try to go to a custom shop, a quick weld is nothing to them. They can re-make most any pipe on the fly and are generally cheaper because they want your business again.

 

They usually have "new" parts hanging around that they have replaced with custom components and since they can't sell them for new you can get them very cheap.

I think 50 dollars is a reasonable price. If I had a good friend that would do it for me, I would probably pay him 15 to 20 dollars, so for a professional shop, 50 would be ok with me.

 

matt

That's where it pays off to have a cousin with a mig welder and oxycetalyn(sp?) torches. I can go to his house and braze my own crap. He wont let me use the mig yet though

 

To me it doesn't seem outrageous what you got charged. It sounds like they charged you ~1hr shop time, which is reasonable in that situation. Do you know if they just brazed it up without taking the time to actually remove the exhaust? or did they actually have to take that section of the exhaust out to work on it? If they took it out, that also means they had to replace (hopefully) the gasket there to. Thus, making the work a little more extensive. Even if it was only 15 minutes.

 

The real question here is: Do YOU feel like it was worth that money to have your car fixed up and not leaking exhaust pre-muffler?

when i had my muffler put on awhile back,i paid $65-$70. for welding and bending up a new pipe.so..$50 bucks ain't bad.

He has the lift, the welder/torches, the shop, and is in business.

Hate to say it, but most likely worth it.

 

Of course I would have Mig welded it...........with my own welder while the car was up in the air on my lift.............

Awesum feedback, I appreciate it!

 

I'm skeptical also when it comes to mechanics, because the general Jack (me) knows very litle about what these things should cost. The weld was for a warrant which I need in order to avoid a $400 fine...so should really just sit back down...

 

I don't know whether this particular shop has a minimum charge, it would seem so in this case, as I can't understand how the weld went from being a $25 job to an $85 dollar job 'just like that'. Perhaps he felt ripped off because I had replaced the RHS rack bush myself (*quoted me $90odd for this, cost me 0) and had to make up for lost business because I'm not a total ************************.

 

Seahag has a good point, I'll have to remember it...cheers mate.

 

Another thing, I have had a small leak on the same system before, while I can't say how bad it was, never saw it, it set me back a measely $10, from another mechanic, which seems fair, and this one I paid for yesterday wasn't a massif job, even I coulda done it...possibly.

 

Yeah, SuBrat, he told me 'big job mate, gunna have to drop the whole exhaust out...bla bla bla' then when I went to see how he was doing, all he did was release 3 of those brace things that clip into the rubber holding things. Took him about 8.5 seconds to get it back to a normal state.

 

I dunno, I definately think he ripped me off, but like I say, I'm skeptical. I'm considering, just for a bit of extra knowledge and piece of mind, going round with a photo and asking some of the other local mechanics, because it just doesn't seem like a fair price to me. See what happens...

 

Cheers for the replies.

 

G

You was not ripped off, you will know it when you are and you wont have to ask. I know because I got ripped off in 2004 on a engine replacement, I fought it in the court for about a year, it cost me around 1,000.00 dollars but it was worth it. Had I checked with the B.B.B. I would had known better then to deal with him to start but I didnt.

Awesum feedback, I appreciate it!

 

I'm skeptical also when it comes to mechanics, because the general Jack (me) knows very litle about what these things should cost. The weld was for a warrant which I need in order to avoid a $400 fine...so should really just sit back down...

 

I don't know whether this particular shop has a minimum charge, it would seem so in this case, as I can't understand how the weld went from being a $25 job to an $85 dollar job 'just like that'. Perhaps he felt ripped off because I had replaced the RHS rack bush myself (*quoted me $90odd for this, cost me 0) and had to make up for lost business because I'm not a total ************************.

 

Seahag has a good point, I'll have to remember it...cheers mate.

 

Another thing, I have had a small leak on the same system before, while I can't say how bad it was, never saw it, it set me back a measely $10, from another mechanic, which seems fair, and this one I paid for yesterday wasn't a massif job, even I coulda done it...possibly.

 

Yeah, SuBrat, he told me 'big job mate, gunna have to drop the whole exhaust out...bla bla bla' then when I went to see how he was doing, all he did was release 3 of those brace things that clip into the rubber holding things. Took him about 8.5 seconds to get it back to a normal state.

 

I dunno, I definately think he ripped me off, but like I say, I'm skeptical. I'm considering, just for a bit of extra knowledge and piece of mind, going round with a photo and asking some of the other local mechanics, because it just doesn't seem like a fair price to me. See what happens...

 

Cheers for the replies.

 

G

Did they mig or tig it?

Mig is like... 10x faster.... or can be...

Awesum feedback, I appreciate it!

 

I'm skeptical also when it comes to mechanics, because the general Jack (me) knows very litle about what these things should cost. The weld was for a warrant which I need in order to avoid a $400 fine...so should really just sit back down...

 

I don't know whether this particular shop has a minimum charge, it would seem so in this case, as I can't understand how the weld went from being a $25 job to an $85 dollar job 'just like that'. Perhaps he felt ripped off because I had replaced the RHS rack bush myself (*quoted me $90odd for this, cost me 0) and had to make up for lost business because I'm not a total ************************.

 

Seahag has a good point, I'll have to remember it...cheers mate.

 

Another thing, I have had a small leak on the same system before, while I can't say how bad it was, never saw it, it set me back a measely $10, from another mechanic, which seems fair, and this one I paid for yesterday wasn't a massif job, even I coulda done it...possibly.

 

Yeah, SuBrat, he told me 'big job mate, gunna have to drop the whole exhaust out...bla bla bla' then when I went to see how he was doing, all he did was release 3 of those brace things that clip into the rubber holding things. Took him about 8.5 seconds to get it back to a normal state.

 

I dunno, I definately think he ripped me off, but like I say, I'm skeptical. I'm considering, just for a bit of extra knowledge and piece of mind, going round with a photo and asking some of the other local mechanics, because it just doesn't seem like a fair price to me. See what happens...

 

Cheers for the replies.

 

G

 

It sounds like its time for a new exhaust system, Save your pennies *you can install it yourself). I know from exp once you start patching holes in an exhaust system, only a meter of time to replace the entire thing (from the cat back).

Who knew you guys had noise laws.

 

nipper

i have a new exhaust from the y pipe back. he bent and welded it all together for $60. i already had the muffler, $13 for the glasspack.

my custom guy does work for beers.......but not everyone is that lucky.braising it back together is actually laymans terms for arc welding.it is done with very little amperage and is actually the most efficient way to do it on the car.you can simply lay the rod and be done.it does take skill.now, if it is an ugly set of welds then i would say you got ripped off.but if they are pretty welds then i would just let it go.trying to mig an exhaust can be difficult if you do not know your amperage settings and do not know your correlation of metal thickness to amperage to speed of your welding ability(did that make sense?)sometimes you just have to pay for knowledge.

yeah... i was useing a mig to do up my exhaust... let's just say i punched through the thin walled tube more than once :-\

lotsa' die grinder action after that....