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Maintenance & Repair Costs

631 messages,  Last post on Feb 11, 2011 at 7:52 AM

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Messages Page 60 of 64

#582 of 631 Re: Upsell items worth it? 2003 Jetta [thegipper] by bolivar

Jul 30, 2009 (1:46 am)

Replying to: thegipper (Jul 29, 2009 11:16 am)
Read the Maintenance section of your owner's manual. It should give direction as to when the timing belt should be changed.
 
My wild guess is you will find out it's 100,000 miles and the dealer just wants to up the timing to move some money from you to him sooner.
 
I think I got my Honda Ridgeline brakes flushed for about $50 plus a little for fluid. And, I asked if they truly flushed the system and did not just pull fluid from the master cylinder and re-fill.

#583 of 631 Re: Upsell items worth it? 2003 Jetta [thegipper] by jeffyscott

Jul 30, 2009 (6:01 am)

Replying to: thegipper (Jul 29, 2009 11:16 am)
Yes, those other parts are things you may as well replace, while they are in there.
 
It appears that Gates recomends 60K mi for that engine, if I am reading their timing belt replacement guide correctly:
 
http://www.gates.com/brochure.cfm?brochure=2256&location_id=3487
 
The schedule at vw.com says "check" every 40,000 miles:
http://www.vw.com/myvw/yourcar/maintenance/findschedules/en/us/
 
My understanding is it is very difficult to really do much checking without doing most of the labor involved in replacing it. I would not take chances, it is an interference engine if the belt breaks you are probably looking at major engine repairs or replacement. Prices vary a lot, if there is an independent VW specialist in your area you might contact them for their price. (googling "VW repair specialist texas" seems to indicate you would have some options)

#584 of 631 Re: Upsell items worth it? 2003 Jetta [jeffyscott] by thegipper

Jul 30, 2009 (11:58 am)

Replying to: jeffyscott (Jul 30, 2009 6:01 am)
Thanks so much for the help!
 
I have an independent specialist I've used before. They quoted me about 50 bucks less than the dealership, so I guess that's something. It sounds like the smart thing to go ahead and get it changed. Especially when I picked up my car from the dealer, and had a headlamp out. When it rains it pours
 
Thanks also for the link to Gates. That Timing Belt Replacement Guide PDF is a great resource!

#585 of 631 Ford Lincoln Mercury - No more cabin air filters? by ronsmith38

Aug 02, 2009 (2:00 pm)

This may save on maintenance costs, but up the costs for allergy medicine.

#586 of 631 Replacing timing belt by dav4862

Oct 09, 2009 (7:12 pm)

Hi Gang,
Can someone pleasse tell me why, my volkswagen dealer quoted me a price of
$1100, when the edmunds website is approximately 3 times as less. I have a 2003
passat station wagon 2.8l engine. What should be the going rate for this job.
Why such a price discrepancy.
 
                                                              Thanks

#587 of 631 Re: Replacing timing belt [dav4862] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

Oct 10, 2009 (8:30 am)

Replying to: dav4862 (Oct 09, 2009 7:12 pm)
Some repair quotes include different things---for instance, your dealer might be including a new water pump, belts, hoses, etc. You'd have to run down the list. Edmunds might not include any of those things. Also labor rates can vary considerably from place to place.

#588 of 631 Re: Replacing timing belt [Mr_Shiftright] by dav4862

Oct 10, 2009 (4:05 pm)

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Oct 10, 2009 8:30 am)
Thanks for your assistance. Let me clarify myself. I am looking into preventively
changing the timing belt. Would I also need to replace the other iems you mentioned. Unfortunately the cost of raising an autistic son has my on a very strict
budget. What is your opinion on this job would cost on a 2003 passat wagon?
 
                                                                   Regards,
                                                                   David

#589 of 631 Re: Replacing timing belt [dav4862] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

Oct 10, 2009 (4:50 pm)

Replying to: dav4862 (Oct 10, 2009 4:05 pm)
Looks like Edmunds would estimate replacement at around $400, but of course that depends on your labor rate in your area. Where I live, dealers charge $135 an hour, so that's $650 bucks just for labor (it's about 5+ hours work). If this is the 1.8T turbo engine, I'd definitely do it before the 105,000 mile limit.

#590 of 631 Fee to read code by mendyusa

Oct 15, 2009 (8:20 am)

Was just charged $80.00 to read a code from my local dealer in Hopkins Minnesota. Save yourself the 80 bucks and go to your local auto parts store, some read codes for free, buy some wax and replacement bulbs or something to compensate them (I got a catholic guilt thing workin). They even tried to rip me off a second time for $80 by trying to charge again for reading another code during the same visit. The profit motive will kill this company mark my words... Sad

#591 of 631 Re: Fee to read code [mendyusa] by kiawah

Oct 15, 2009 (8:29 am)

Replying to: mendyusa (Oct 15, 2009 8:20 am)
You can find computer readers very reasonably priced on sale at those same autoparts stores. I bought one couple years ago, IIRC was like 40 bucks or so. I don't remember the price exactly and haven't checked the latest pepboy ad's in probably a year. I was having some problem I was trying to diagnose, and figured that purchase was a no-brainer when I saw the sale brochure....given the convenience savings alone. Then you can do it whenever you want, and don't have to travel to the autoparts store!
 
This isn't rocket science stuff, you'd think the manufacturers would just have a diagnostic routine that you could run which would then spit out the error codes on your instrument cluster. They could probably do this for a buck, but I guess all of the lobbying from the dealers would block that.

Messages Page 60 of 64

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