J A Blazer Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 2000 OBW, 100K. Dealer quoted $1,400 to replace timing belt and water pump; $600 to replace valve cover gaskets and plug wires; $600 to replace rear pads and rotors. Seems high. Thoughts? Located in Northern Virginia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickb21 Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 Eeek, 600 bucks to replace rear pads and rotors?!?! That's high for sure. Same for the wires and valve cover gaskets. Time to look for an independent Subaru person... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 thoughts - let me do all of that for far less. i'll do it for half the dealer cost. maryland dealer quoted my cousin $699 for a timing belt change. $1,400 is way high. i did it for her for far less. a timing belt costs about $70, water pump not much more so they're making some serious loot for a couple hours of work. but you also have to make sure you're comparing apples to apples...is that just the water pump and timing belt or does that include any tensioners or timing belt pulleys? that should also include the oil pump seals and checking the oil pump backing plate screws while they're in there, it's right behind the timing belt, which as you can guess must come off to install a new belt! $600 for rear pads and rotors is definitely rediculous. unless you have vibration when braking, you only need the rear pads. yes they'll give you some BS horror story, but there's no way your soob needs new rotors unless something really crazy happened. rear pads are less than a $100 and take about 30 minutes to install...so you do the math, they're making about $1000 per hour. and it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't replace the rotors, but charged you for them since yours are fine. but...even if they did replace them that's still too much. $600 for valve cover gaskets and wires also seems way high. are these the right figures and are you including everything they're including? seems outrageous, but i guess that's why some of the DC area mechanics make 6 figures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech1967 Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 Got any details? Labour rate, parts included. The timing belt itself isn't too bad but if the idlers and the tensioner need replacing then you just added almost $800 to that job. I was starting to think I might be too picky on condeming them but I had a bunch that blew idlers (taking valves, cam pulleys, 1 oil pump housing, timing covers) after having a belt only job done by general service shops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 after having a belt only job done by general service shops. dealers do "belt only" jobs as well, so make sure you're getting what you want no matter where the service is getting done. do not assume dealers will do the best in your situation with what you want. when i do someone's timing belt i explain to them that on a 60,000 mile belt it may be okay to replace the water pump and pulleys every other change. then i explain that on a 100,000 mile belt you're asking the water pump and pulleys to make it to 200,000 miles if you don't replace them with the belt. that's more risky than i'd want to personally be, particularly on an interference engine, but the ultimate decision is up to them. i can replace just the belt, only the pulleys that are noisey or feel bad, or replace them all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smpol19 Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 2000 OBW, 100K. Dealer quoted $1,400 to replace timing belt and water pump; $600 to replace valve cover gaskets and plug wires; $600 to replace rear pads and rotors. Seems high. Thoughts? Located in Northern Virginia. Is that quote from Stolhman's in Tyson's, their parts and labor prices are outragous. Sheey Subaru in Springfield is a little less I paid about $1,000 for timing belt, water pump, and tenninsioners abotu a year back. There are a few other decent independent shops in the area too. All this stuff is expensive in this area, noone around here knows anything about the work being done so they can get away with charging anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J A Blazer Posted January 12, 2007 Author Share Posted January 12, 2007 I think that the $1,400 is a comprehensive price - tensioners, idlers, seals, etc., not just the belt and water pump. But what bothers me is that 4-6 months ago they quoted me $950 for the same job. No explanation for the dramatic increase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 i'd suggest starting with $600 as a base for a timing belt change. someone just this week had a timing belt installed for $275, but we'll shoot high for $600. add in the costs of the water pump and tensioner pulleys on top of that, price them online with the crank and cam seals and see what the $600 timing belt plus parts comes out to. compare that to the $1,400. they may not have included all the same parts in the first quote. similar to the old bait and switch marketing tactic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowjam Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 I just had a timing belt replaced on a 1998 Legacy by Subaru dealer shop. They replaced leaking cam seal or crank seal (I don't remember which)along with a leaking O ring and the timing belt plus oil change and filter for $300. I'm located in southwesten Virginia. Your shop must have more work that they want or something ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech1967 Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 dealers do "belt only" jobs as well, so make sure you're getting what you want no matter where the service is getting done. do not assume dealers will do the best in your situation with what you want. Too true. A lot depends on the man at the counter and the tech in the back. Some guys will check the flat rate book and say t-belt 2.2 hrs. ... t-belt tensioner 2.2 hrs. ... that will be 4.4 hrs at $80 an hour please. To be fair about the idlers years ago I wouldn't have had the experience to check them as thoroughly as I do now. You learn the weak points of what you see the most of. Are you a dealer guy or an independant Subie guy Gary? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 Has anyone just checked to see if the valve cover bolts are loose? Thats a big reason for valve cover leaks. Wires you can do yourself. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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