I don't mind paying sincet's been a really good truck. But I wouldn't think it would take more than 3-4 hrs by an experienced mech. Wouldn't it? Thanks.....
2007-03-20 13:14:43 · 8 answers · asked by jemrx2 4 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Car Makes ➔ Ford
I've seen some labour times on some vehicles that have been super crazy, I had to price the the heater core for a friend on his Crown Victoria, It calls for 9 hours. I looked up the re&re procedure, you have to take the entire dashboard to get access to it. I believe it. At the shop I work at, we usually add on an extra hour for anything wehre we have to take the dashboard out. We do this because of all the wiring, we will go through it at the time we have the dashboard out, and do a check over, and any componant where you have to take the dashboard out, or you have to take out when removing the dashboard, we test to make sure its in working condition. If its not, we will call the customer and ask if we can replace that part as well. Saves us time from having to remove that componant again, and saves the customer money from having to pay for parts replacement at a later date.
Heater cores are not nice to work on, I've had some where I've had to remove the seats and lie on the floor to make it easier then lying half in and half out of the vehicle, or lying upside down on the seat and having the blood rush to your head. I've had to do some where you actually have to remove the entire front end of the interior, dashboard, seats, steering colum, ect. Major pains. 6 - 10 hours seems reasonable on todays vehicles.. I've done some that have taken 2 full work days to complete (9 hours shifts).
Also, the shop that quoted you 10 hours, may also have included a coolant flush and theremostat. Whenever I have a cooling system open I recomend a coolant flush, and if the coolant is somewhat dirty, I recomend a thermostat. I do this because whenever you open up a cooling system, you allow air to enter, and forengn particles, dirt, dust, contaminant moistures, ect. Its better on the cooling system and will lengthen the life of the vehicle. I recomend the thermostat because it is usually quite commonly neglected. They wear out after a wile and they don't always do thier job correctly. I had one today where it was over heating, and when I went to change the thermostat, it came out, in 4 parts, neglected. I can't remember what exactly goes into changing the thermostat on a 3.0L Ford. I would be guessing about a half hour to an hour (some of them are tricky buggers, the one I had today took me nearly an hour to do, had to remove the battery, and air filter houseing to gain access to it), and the flush is usually charged out the same. So using both at an hour, assuming, then they have 8 hours charged out there, and if they add on an hour to do a visual inspection on dashboard componants, there you go. I have had a few dashboards apart, and if we change the customer an extra hour, and they don't come back with any problems with interior dashboard componants that we could have caught and fixed when the dashboard was apart, they are happy, and it saves us time and it saves the customer time and money.
2007-03-20 13:30:27 · answer #1 · answered by gregthomasparke 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
As others said, it's a good 6 hour job due to the removal of the dash board to get at the case... Now the extra 4 hours would need to be investigated, but I know at the shop I work at, we usually wind up flushing the cooling system to try to get rid of elements that might have damaged the heater core before and could take out the new one in our warranty period.
As someone said, check the estimate.. usually they should be within a hour or hour and a half max... depends upon the labor being performed with the heater core.
2007-03-20 15:36:44 · answer #2 · answered by gearbox 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They go by book hours. There is a book that says how long the mechanic should take to do the job. So whether it takes 6 hours or takes 10 you'll be charged the book rate hours times their hourly rate for the repair. Sometimes mechanics have ways to shortcut the work, like instead of pulling the complete dash, they just loosen it enough and bend it a little to get the heater core out. Call up a dealer and ask them the book time to change the heater core.
2007-03-20 13:24:06 · answer #3 · answered by Fordman 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ranger Heater Core
2016-12-18 04:41:09 · answer #4 · answered by trif 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When you got 2 different estimates, you look for a 3rd.
Somebody knows the job and somebody is guessing and will try to ding you on the bill later.
It always depends on the complication of the install. Every vehicle is different.
Grab a book from the library on your truck and see what the job entails.
Ask at the dealer and see what they have it timed at.
Yes there is a "time book" - used for doing estimates. In the book it has many vehicles and many jobs that are timed so that the mechanic knows how long it will take him and can make a more accurate estimate.
He doesn't want to lose money either - and some nasty surprizes can happen because he lumped the job type together.
Foreign cars for example are built different, so are compacts.
A truck should be pretty straight forward.
2007-03-20 13:29:40 · answer #5 · answered by ButwhatdoIno? 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Hey there. Actually 6 hours sounds about right. I work at a shop and we had a Ford Ranger with the same problem. And as I was told they are a pain in the butt to get to cause ya gatta take the whole dash out. Hope that helps. :)
2007-03-20 14:11:46 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The flat rate is six hours whether they do the job in one or ten. This requires removal of the dash and instrument panel, and is a pretty standard rate for changing out a heater core. The only alternative is to do it yourself. Not a job I recommend.
2007-03-20 13:23:15 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
book time labor is 6-6.5 hrs to replace the heater core.
(according to alldata)it will probably take less actual time
for an experienced tech, but a shop will still charge book time
2007-03-20 13:22:13 · answer #8 · answered by peter c 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋