Repair cost

[GT80]

Is there a chart available somewhere that tells the hours it takes to complete certain repairs (like at a dealer shop)? I'm trying to justify what I am doing now and would like to think i would have to pay a dealer, or even a local mechanic, at least 3x what I have in it with parts and tools. I know shops work off these books, I was just wondering if there was an online source to look this up?

 

[Erik the Awful]

They do and they don't. I worked at a Nissan dealership about twenty-five years ago. Customers would come in and quote the Motor manuals times at us. We'd tell them go find a shop that would honor those times because they were horribly unrealistic. Your best bet is to ask here and get a good idea of what to expect.

 

[99Yak]

There are paper Chiltons and Motors Labor time guides for sale on Ebay. Might be one on the shelf at the local repair shop that could be purchased. Most of them are automated now but not so much between 88-98.

 

[east302]

What task are you looking into?

Alldatadiy publishes book times (subscription based) but, as said above, there’s no guarantee that it’s what your local shop will charge for labor hours. Call a few for estimates and you’ll get a good idea.

Assuming that your time is free and that you have the right tools, it will always be cheaper to do the job yourself.

Rough guess, take your cost for the part and escalate two or three times to get the shop’s price for that part. Add in their labor at $100-$150/hr and it gets expensive quite quickly.

I don’t fault any shop for any of that, they have overhead costs and it’s just how it goes if they want to keep the doors open.

 

[Papablunt]

This may not help even an iota, but I was quoted $1600 installed for a new EGR on my diesel. I ended up doing it myself for a grand total of $220 for the part and ~1.5 hours of labor.

It's pretty easy to "find the time" with prices like that!

 

[RichLo]

Also consider any new tools you buy will be with you for the rest of your life (unless they break, lol) so that is less money down the road for the same repair.

 

[Schurkey]

Dealerships work off of manufacturer-specified "book time". Aftermarket labor guides decades ago used to allow more time than GM allowed. I don't know how--or if--that has changed.

Labor guides now tend to be on-line, subscription-based, and I have no access 'cause I refuse to pay for that info.

 

[GT80]

Thanks for the feedback. This is how my project has snowballed.

Upper and lower intake manifold gaskets
Water pump (because it was right there staring me in the face)
Timing set (same as above once I got the water pump off)
New harmonic balancer (had to pull it anyway for the above and rubber was a bit rotted)
Oil pan gasket (because I ripped it pulling the timing cover. 4wd. I went the "drop the front diff" route)
New pitman arm, idler arm, center link, tie rods, and ball joints (already had these parts. removed center link to get diff out and figured now was as good a time as any to do it all)
Oil pump (since, once again, it was staring me in the face)

Finally going back with new parts now. Of course all the parts I'm putting back are going to be spotless, which no mechanic is going to do (understandably).

 

[Papablunt]

Haha, that's exactly how my "build" started.

I went from doing injectors to doing a cam swap, full valvetrain upgrade, headers, etc.

Your truck is going to run top notch after all that.