Recently I have been having some stalling and acceleration issues with my Audi A4 1.8T Avant (1999). I took it in to get it repaired, and the mass airflow sensor was misbehaving and needed to be replaced. I’m not questioning that, just the price of a repair like this. What I could find the actual part cost between $200-300 and I don’t think it’s that hard to replace, but they ended up charging around $700. Im not sure if this is steep or not, but was wondering if anyone had experience with a repair like this. So far, this place has been helpful and extremely nice. Any thoughts?
You didn’t sign a work order, first? It’s a bit late, now; but, they are very “nice”, right? Ask them.
I believe the part is rather expensive. I would not be surprised if it were $400.
If you had a dealer do the work, you should have received an itemized bill. It should be listed there along with the time allocated and the rate per hour.
I had a passat that needed that part and it cast about that. Its expensive and a weekness from what I’ve been told.
Hmm, yeah, I’ll ask them about it. Seems like it might be an expensive piece. Anywho, thanks for the input. Maybe it’s harder to put in than I thought.
It certainly is a weakness if you don’t keep the Air Cleaner clean and sealed. It appears they are designed for one time installation. Opening them up and looking at them, can result in a poor seal and dirt getting past the air cleaner and damaging the MAF.
I also understand that some times you can get lucky and cleaning them will work.
Also, remember there’s a big difference between what you can find it for on, say, Ebay and what they charge you at the dealer, before labor is added in.
Very Interesting, good to know. So probably all the times that other places have checked the airfilter might have caused it to go bad? Good to know.
I should have noted, that this may not apply to all cars. It has been seen on VW’s and Audis.
I own an audi a4 1.8t. i had the same problem diagnosed and priced at 450 for the part. i knew i could replace the part my self in 10 mins or less. so i took the pat off in under 5 mins and called a few places for the part itself and found there are two different maf sensors for our vehicle. one being $439-$499 and the other $216-$250
ours is the cheaper of the two. now some shady shops will knowingly buy the cheaper one and charge for the more expensive part. as for the labor? it was 98 degrees outside and i couldn’t break a sweat wearing a mink coat! literally took 8 mins to replace the part. so $700 is not a fair price for the part and labor but i guess you could have payed the other $400 for their extremely kind and helpful service!
I had a Buick Regal with the same issues. My dealership wanted $450 for parts/labor. I bought a new one at a auto parts store for $140 and installed it in under 5 minutes.