540 vette

This is not about my vette it is about another car I have. I have a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee with the 6 cylinder. Well anyway it has been losing water for about 1 year now. I have a pretty good idea that the head is cracked, it is a well known problem for this year truck. The head casting is just bad and they are prone to crack between cylinder 3 and 4. I have been adding water and checking the oil. So far there hasen't been any water in the oil until today. Well now it has to be addressed. I can do the job, I was a Chevy and Ford dealer mechanic for around 10 years I also had my own shop for awhile. But I don't have the time to do it. I work 12 hour shifts with a day off in between. I won't be able to get to it until I get vacation time in 4 weeks. I don't want to do it and then have to rush to get it done.
Well I went to a few shops to get price quotes. Most don't want to do the job. But I went to one place and the owner said he wanted to look at the car. He can't give an estimate until he looks at it. All I want is a labor price I already know what the parts will be. He wouldn't look into his little labor guide book and give me a price. The next guy said he didn't want to take the 2 hours to look up the price unless I wanted him to do the job. He proclaimed he is the best and his price will be highest. Then the next place looked like a bomb blew up in it. He just called and I am going to see how much he wants or what kind of story he will give why he can't do it. Do these guys want to make money, just give me the price and if it reasonable I will let them do it. It is not a hard job, just time consuming. It is an 8 hour job to do.
I have a feeling I will be doing this job in a few weeks.

daanbc

They DON'T want somebody that knows the buss. They want a naive person that they can screw. If you want the job done correctly, do it yourself. Or take it to a place, pay them, then when you get it home have to double check everything they did to make sure its all done correctly.(wires connected back together, air intake put back not just thrown back together)

tokim

Any reputable shop should have labor times at their finger tips in mere minutes.
They also should be able to quote their labor rates.
As an example, if it was a NAPA Auto Care Center, they will have Mitchell on demand already loaded into their computers, along with parts catologing. To quote a price it should take less than 5 minutes if the service advisor/owner has his act together.
There are the unknowns, such as what the pressure check of the head discloses, and availability/price and testing of a replacement head.
The condition of the shop cleanliness/equipment etc. is a good indictor of their service abilities.
Sometimes cheapest can be expensive.

540 vette

I know about the Mitchel labor guide. Thats why the one shop owner made me laugh when he told me it would take 2 hours to get a price.

There really are no unknowns. I know the head is cracked. This a well known problem with this head casting. And I have all the symptoms of a cracked head.

Vetteman Jack

Good luck. Can't believe that all those shops would kick out a job that could bring them in $500+ in labor costs alone.

540 vette

Just pulled it all apart, will order parts tomorrow.

jnealg

I know body shops around me dont need anymore work. I went to 3 trying to get a small job done on my rightside door. none would touch it. it was either too small or it wasnt insurance related. some shops wont even touch it if its not an insurance claim!

dacfan

I've gotten the same thing from a lot of shops in my area. Even some of my buddies that turn wrench for a living are getting into this new way of thinking. They all tell me that due to the economic downturn some years ago more people are holding on to their cars longer and they have enough "easy" work to avoid the real jobs.
They keep their bays full replacing alternators, troubleshooting bad relays, replacing thermostats and recharging a/c systems. One friend says he looses money on a bigger job that fills a bay for a day when he could have six simple issues in and out in the same amount of time.
I know another guy with the knowledge and tools to do almost anything and he's been outsourceing almost everything for the last few years. I understand sending heads off to a machine shop but he'll send a car that has an evaporator leak off to an iffy backyard guy we know because he doesn't want to spend the time pulling dash and interior parts. The backyard guy pretty much works for beer and weed so the shop is probably billing 150% more than he's paying the guy that does the work. There is nothing wrong with smart capitalism but there is something wrong with laziness. These guys would get back to the "old days" if more everyday people were not afraid to change a belt or hose, replace their own plugs and wires or, heaven forbid, replace a starter.