the Cost of Ford Repair

Last Month I took my older pickup to the shop due to a extensive oil leak on the top of the engine. The mechanic and I looked it over and came to the conclusion that it was the valve cover gasket leaking on the right side of the engine. I then asked what it was going to take to have it fixed and what I was looking at for expenses. When the mechanic told me I was in shock. He gave me a estimate of $450 or so. In order to replace the valve cover gaskets they have to pull the intake manifold off, take the throttle body off the manifold and the IAC motor and valve, unhook several vacuum lines, and a couple coolant hoses. Then they have to remove both valve covers and replace the gaskets on those and sever gaskets on the intake. The valve cover gaskets were only $30. They other gaskets for the intake were $90. The rest of the bill was all labor at $45.00/hr and that's a very reasonable rate for labor. After debating it for a day or two because it's a old beater and to me it was questionable of spending that kind of money on I decided to have it fixed. I dropped it off first thing in the morning. It took them 5 hours to do it. They also found that I had some bad spark plug wires so I had them replace them to. I stopped buy at 5:30 expecting it to still be in pieces and it was sitting outside done. I went into pay my bill and I was shocked once again. it was only $375 instead of $450. I paid the bill and drove it home. I'm driving it everyday now with it being winter and it no longer uses or leaks any oil, and runs 10 times better now with the new wires.

The service was excellent, costly, but very reasonable. The costs of parts was the cheap part, labor was the stickler. The shop beat their own estimate and saved me almost $75.00 and I had my truck back in the same day.

When you notice something wrong with your vehicle and take it to the shop, and the estimate floors you. You need to have them break it down and show you the rates of labor and parts. car dealers like Ford are usually super high for labor rates, so check into your local shop. You may be surprised what they will do for you.