John Ngo

Can anyone here who lives in the lower mainland suggest a good mechanic to change my 2012 acura TL 3.7 timing belt and water pump? I found a complete kit on rockauto for $216.07
I was quoted at a shop in Richmond BC for $100 per hour and he said itll be a 7 hour job. Is this the average cost?

altair47

If you turn on the speed of a sluggish vegetable and slowly do this work, then you will spend 4-5 hours, if you know what you are doing, then 3 hours. In seven hours, you can change the timing belt, reseal the oil pan and oil pump.

BROlando

7hrs might be what "book time" is.

The way shops and techs make money is by beating the prescribed time.

Lets say a good tech can finish a 7hr job in 4hrs. He/she just made extra money by being efficient.

$700 for labor on a timing belt sounds *maybe* a little high. But...not totally unfair considering the risk of something going wrong.

Since you're providing the parts, though, don't expect them to honor any part related warranty issue. Meaning...if your water pump goes bad and they have to change it...you deal with the part warranty, but you still owe them labor.

It can get messy. I would try to have the shop source the parts. They make profit on the part mark-up. But its more simple of a situation if anything goes wrong.

westcoast

hah I live in whiterock and I was just doing this yesterday, I literally have the tools out still..

Like altair47 mentioned in my previous post though, you're gonna want to be careful on quality of parts here.. spending $250 for parts seems really appealing until your shit snaps in 60 000KM and your poor engine gets trashed. I've done some homework on people using the cheap timing belt components, sometimes it's fine but sometimes it ends badly.

altair47

It's funny that the book gives 5.3 hours to replace the oil pump, and this job is 2 times more difficult than replacing the timing belt. Therefore, I think that 7 hours to replace the timing belt is a Fraud.

BROlando

Ha. yeah, I had no idea what book time for a T belt actually was.

Your post alludes to like 4.5hrs? Idk why they're padding it so agressively.

7hrs Canadian = 4.5hrs US?

or maybe they're just taking into account rust or something? Or they just pad shit because they assume it will go wrong. IDK.

OP...perhaps ask them where 7hrs is coming from?

Jim2301

Altair, Since it appears that you may access to Flat Rate hours, why not just provide the posted rate for the job being discussed by the Initiator instead of extrapolating from a job that may/may not be similar?

altair47

This estimate is for 2012 Acura TL 3.7 , The book is called Mitchell ProDemant, my boss pays $2,000 a year for it.

altair47

This is a free country, everyone in their own way comes up with the amount of time to complete the job. The dealer will do this job in 4.5 hours, and Richmond BC shop in 7.

BROlando

In the end, though...its $700CAD.

So $539 USD

Its a fair price to pay. My first post didn't take into account the fact that the price was in funny money.