2000 Dodge Dakota 4.7 2wd
diagnostics 89.00
Heater core parts 112.00 labor 498.00
Belt on Pulley Parts 59.95labor 89.00
Upper Hose parts24.95 labor 45
Lower Hose parts 16.85 labor 45
Inner tie rods Parts 56.32 labor 142
Tstat /cap Parts 35.52 Labor 106.80
Radiator Flush 89.95
1 gallon anti freeze 14.95
radiator service 39.50
radiator flush kit 37.00
parts delivery 15.00
tax 50.00
total is close to 1500 bucks

does it take an hour to change the accessory belt?
and 1/2 for the upper radiator hose
and a 1/3 hour for the lower hose and another 90 minutes to change the thermostat?

the heater core is 5.5 hours

shouldnt a radiator flush price incluse the flush kit and the service fee?

this is supposed to be a reputable shop

 

WOW. I know the heater cores are a pain to change in the Dakota's. Belt on pulley is WAY to high. Labor on upper and lower hoses is ridiculous. Inner tie rods ??? $106 to change a cap and thermostat, WOW. I just had my cooling system flushed, thermostat changed, Pressure cap tested and hoses checked, and the proper "New"Chrysler anti-freeze put in at the maximum 70% mix that Chrysler allows." I live in the mountains and the temps are harsh in the winter ". The coolant service was on sale @ $99.99, everything included,and I stopped atFrank's Auto Supply and got my own thermostat. They charged me $10 to change it while they had the system drained. This was Import Export tire, a well trusted local family owned business. In defense of the figures that were quoted to dobnyc, I sure bet the mechanic who would have done that work at those labor prices wish HE got paid that.Those poor guys get an ear beating because of the high labor, while the dealer owner gets rich.

 

why don't you do it yourself? if you dont have the tools. spend the dough on the tools to do the repairs and future repairs. you can get awsome craftsman kits from sears and advanced auto and autozone loan out specialty tools. and get yourself a hanes manual. when your done, you'll know the job was done right. none of those things you listed are too hard to do. i know getting to the heater care is quite the pain in the ***. but look at the loot you be saving. think about it.

 

personally id leave the heater core to the dealership for one thing, a warranty, plus its a pain in the *** to get to that heater core, everyything else i would attempt myself, and to install a serpetine belt on an engine should take no more then 20 minutes in my opinion

 

It makes me sick some times when I figure out what I make my dealer 11 years experence Leval 4 in 5 of the 8 areas
I make 24 an hour and labor rate is 98 I turn around 100 hours every 2 weeks I did the math not happy. Hence why I am doing stuff on teh side making come clients and going to open a shop or something in the future.

 

Really,.. That's a good price for a Heater-core job.
They are charging you a hundred dollar mark-up
on the part though.
The rest,.. Well, you at the DEALER!

 

Do it yourself. You will have a sore neck after the heater core though.

 

I would say get the dealer to do the heatercore. I paid $450 for them to change mine, including the cost of the heatercore. plus you get a warranty. and do the rest yourself.

 

Yeah MOST of that is overpriced. I think the Parts delivery is BS for one... and what do you need diagnostics on? You should be able to do everything by yourself, depending on your skill level you may not be able to do the heater core, possibly not the tie rods, but all of the hoses and T-stat should be no problem. Just remember if you do the Tie rods to have it aligned someplace. Good luck. Let us know how it all turns out. And if you have questions on how to do something, download the manual that is floating around on one of the posts, and ask us questions, you'llget your answers.

 

I know that different dealers charge different hourly labor rates and that has alot to do with the cost of the repair. $89 is crazy though.....we charge $75 at my dealership and I think thats pushing it, but anyway.....you have to think about it like this.....
The heater core at 5.5 hours is pretty close. The belt should be about 0.6 hours, hoses should be about 0.4 each and the coolant flush should be 0.7......the thermostat is where its kinda odd. It actually pays about 1.6 or so to change the thermostat and if you remove the a/c compressor, it takes that long. Figure the hourly rate at 89 and it gets expensive fast, but like these guys are saying, other than the heater core, the other things are no big deal to do yourself.