Cost to replace thermostat on 2003 Cadillac CTS

My check engine light has come on indicating three codes. One is that I need to have the thermostat replaced. The mechanic has quoted $571. That sounds excessive but he is normally pretty reasonable. He says it is mostly labor as getting to the thermostat involves pulling a lot out of the way. Thoughts?

Quite possible. Replacing the wires on some CTS engines is about $200 worth of labor due the amount of work required.

Ford engineers appear to be kinder to the customer on labor than GM, while hammering you on the proprietary nature of the parts. A $3 O ring for a Mopar right angle mount is $12 at the Ford agency. They’re identical (albeit on older installations).

That must require an incredible amount of labor for an independent shop to charge that much.

That price is about right. In order to replace the thermostat on your engine requires the removal of the intake manifold assembly.

Tester

Don’t ever let a computer tell you what to do…Computers are easily confused and unless you have other symptoms of a bad thermostat, like the temperature gauge reading or heater output, I would not be in a hurry to change it…