Does anyone have an estimate of what the dealer should charge (in labor/shop hours only) for replacing an oil pump and oil pan and adjusting the valves on a 92 Camaro Z-28? Thanks!!!

 

Most dealerships are in the $85 - 100 / hr range nowadays it seems.

Adjusting valves is something owners of 20-yr-old cars do themselves in the driveway, and oil pumps basically NEVER "go bad" in these cars. (some other engine types maybe but not this one) What's REALLY going on?

 

I replaced the head gaskets. While the heads were at the machine shop I decided to change the motor mounts with factory mounts and I don't have an engine hoist, so I used a piece of wood and a floor jack. Unfortunately, the wood pushed the oil pan in 1/2 inch and when I got the heads back on I discovered there was no oil going to the heads, even when I got a primer and heavy-duty drill. The engine was also running rough and I couldn't figure out why.

So I took it to the dealer, thinking that if anyone could troubleshoot the car it would be them. They charged me 3.8 hours of labor for the pump at $115 per hour, plus another 5.5 to troubleshoot and adjust the valve lash. The car is running fine now, but I am a little irked about two things:

First, I am mad that I was not able to adjust the valves correctly even though I followed the shop manual to a T.

Second, I am even more mad that the dealer took 5.5 hours to troubleshoot and adjust the valves, even after I told them that I wasn't absolutely sure that I adjusted them correctly, though I followed the manual.

I am in the process of negotiating two hours off the bill and I was just wondering what the normal hours would be for the pump and the valve adjustment.

For $115 per hour, I had hoped the dealer's technicians would be slightly better than the mechanic at the local Exxon station. Maybe not.

 

When you are jacking on an oil pan & see the car to start to lift, stop.
Did you agree to anything before they started looking at it? Did they give you any time limit, as far as when the hours are really adding up? Or did they just fix it & called you & said it was done?

 

My question is how long did you run the drill? I've seen it take 10 straight minute of non-stop drilling to get oil flow before in an old 350sbc.

You also say you were worried about the oil pan being pushed in 1/2"? Yet you didn't have it replaced, while they fixed the other issues?

 

I agreed to pay for 2.5 hours of troubleshooting. They added 3 hours more to troubleshoot and finally adjust the valves. They say it is running fine now, so I'm sure they went ahead and did it; but it was without my approval. I left the valve cover on the driver's side off when I took it in so it would facilitate them checking the lash right away. Why they chose to waste time looking elsewhere is beyond me.

The fact that I did not agree to the valve adjustment may be a bargaining chip. That's why I asked about the published time to perform both jobs--just more ammunition.

Regarding the jack, the milk has already been spilled. I will never make that mistake again.

The pan was also replaced but that shouldn't have taken any additional time if they were changing the pump. I ran the drill primer for 20 minutes without seeing a drop.

 

Looks like $1070.00 in just labor, not counting new parts, gaskets, and fluids.

It looks to me like it's about right, or you even got off a bit easy considering the mess you had gotten yourself into there.

I'm trying to mentally picture someone bringing (not driven I hope) a 3rdgen to the service section of a dealership with one valve-cover removed, and then saying something about no oil to the valvetrain and it not running quite right after having bent the oil pan with a jack.
You can bet for legal reasons that they probably did some pretty thorough troubleshooting just to cover themselves in this sort of situation where they took the job, but really don't know what all might be wrong at that point.

As far as their charging for the labor, unless you got all that was agreed upon in writing, then you're at their mercy. That being the case, I suggest not confronting them with an attitude, but try to work the sympathy angle.
Hopefully they will be able to give you some kind of break this time.

You are within your rights to have them answer as to all that was done or checked during the extra hours of troubleshooting. The manager should be able to get that for you in about a day from the tech that did the work. I would ask for that while it is still fresh in his/her mind what all they did do.

 

I hate to say this, but I have to agree with 305sbc. Even though it is quite a bit of money, it's nothing compared to the hassle of buying and swapping in a new motor.

What you effectively did was show up with a car already taken apart, and the number 1 rule of working on any car is never trust what someone else "knows" is the problem. Cars already taken apart are the most annoying things in the world to fix because 9 times out of 10, a person did something unknowingly that harmed whatever they were working on, and the technician left to "fix" this mess is scratching his head. In this case, you at least admitted you crushed the oil pan, but you'd be surprised how in denial some people are and don't say anything.

We all have to follow diagnostic procedures to in order to 100% verify what is/was the issue and fix it which is very time consuming. It's all about liability, and seeing how you are reacting right now, this is the reason they do such tasks. Because say if they didn't charge you for everything, but performed a bad task on your car that ultimately blew your motor. What now? You would indefinitely go after them for damages due to negligence.

I say just pay the gentlemen so long as the car is fine now. Couldn't have been more than $300 in parts.

On the other hand it's interesting that they never asked you to sign paperwork stating it was OK to do the repairs. (Work order). If you didn't sign paperwork allowing them to do the repairs, there are some states that punish the shop by allowing the customer not to pay because they technically are not in contract.... It's a shady system

 

I was able to get the dealer to knock off $200 from the bill, so I got out of there for $1,613.

Here's what I found puzzling: The only thing wrong was that the valve lash was set 1/2 turn too tight. The shop manual prescribes going one full turn after zero lash. That is apparently incorrect. Their fix: Loosened rocker arms 1/2 turn, compression good. End of story.