My daughter's '99 Durango with the 5.9 has a miss, and engine computer is saying #6 spark plug or wire is bad. Here's what the service department is saying:

- All 8 wires and plugs must be replaced, can't do just one
- 4 hours labor because they're so hard to access
- $550 bill

What do you folks say? Are those plugs and wires REALLY that difficult to get to? MUST all 8 be replaced?

Thanks

 

There ripping you off!!

In theory you can replace just one but, i would not reccomend half a$$ing it... replace all 8 with champion copper (the cheapo ones) plugs and a decent set of wires. i would also reccomend putting on a fresh cap and rotor if it has not be done in a while.. you'll be thanking yourself later.

as for difficulty there not that hard to someone with basic skills... yeah there may be one or two of them that might be a small PITA because of room but, i did mine in about a hour or so im my driveway..

 

Thanks Old School, that's what I was thinking. I'm a decent backyard mechanic and would have no trouble taking this on, but unfortunately she's 2000 miles away and doesn't know a wrench from a screwdriver.

Just to be clear, is yours the 5.9?

 

Yeah... I don't know what dealership she's going to but I would say she's not at a Chrysler dealership. I work at a dealership and have a Mitchell book handy and on the 1999 Durango with the 5.9 the book gives 1.2 hours for a full tune-up (plugs/wires/distributor cap/distributor rotor) and the Chrysler hourly rate is $98.

Usually the Mopar OEM wires cost around $60, cap and rotor OEM costs $40, plugs cost around $20, and shop supplies are 20% of total. According to my calculations you should be at around half of what they quoted you.

I wouldn't recommend replacing just one wire because it's recommend to replace all of them just to be sure you have the same conductivity in all wires. If your daughter was in the Tampa, FL area I'd say I'd do it for $150 all in all, but that's likely not the case so I'd say take it to a Midas or like shop and they'll likely charge $250 or something.

 

I got my 4.7 done for like $70.

 

yes they can be difficult to change sometimes but if you do it yourself you can save yourself a **** ton of money... total should be like less than 80 bucks for everything...

 

i agree 550 is a rip off, widow probably has about the highest quote you should ever see

also if you tell us where she is maybe one of us can recommend a place to get it done

 

+1 sharp... the more information were given the more helpful we are

 

A full Tune up including Caps and Rotors for that vehicle at the dealership I work at charge around $300. and I thought we are expensive... probably 2-2.5 hr labors including diagnostic that we usually charge.

If ur mechanic needs 3-4 hrs to do a tune up on that car, he needs to get out of this business.

 

+1 Widow

I can have the plugs out, gaped, and installed in 20 minutes! Replace the wires, cap, rotor, and air cleaner maybe 30 minutes. PCM reset the the freakin thing screamin in 1 hour. If I took my normal drinks between installation maybe 1.5 hours.

As for the prices, Widow told you them back on post #4.


And yes, that's the 5.9L and or the 5.2L engines.

4.7L engine tuneup is just plugs and air cleaner, these are 2 different beasts.