You’re right. There’s no way a head gasket can be replaced properly for $300 in parts.
I was surprised for a $75 cabin filter service, even more surprised the auto parts store only had the “Best version” cabin filter for $25.
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I ordered the OEM gasket kit that included EVERYTHING in Dubai for $150 ($300 in the US). Water pump (OEM) - $95. 12mm star bit for head bolts - $20. Thermostat had been recently replaced. Plus oil, filters, coolant. Chain, cam, etc. were in PERFECT shape and - considering 300,000 on the odometer - replacement of anything else was not justified and/or feasible. The engine doesn’t burn a drop of oil between changes… Yes, “professionals” would’ve replaced struts “due to mileage” and for the hell of it. I am not a professional so I do what’s best and makes sense FOR ME, not somebody else’s bottom line so “proper” is in the eyes of the beholder.
As far as tools go, I already had the straight edge and verified that the heads were flat and two (large and small) torque wrenches. Yes, there is a potentially valid theory that the heads must be resurfaced every time they are removed but I’ve seen evidence to the contrary.
In today’s “business” environment, “scam” and “business” are synonyms. For some reason, many victims disagree with this observation. Stockholm Syndrome, I guess…
Interesting that somebody in this thread claimed that it can be done for $1,400…
Since the 4 runner has been around for 39 years with a few different engines (I4/V6), I am wondering what year and engine is the 4 Runner that you did the head gaskets on in your driveway that has 300,000 miles on it…
Don’t forget the V8, which was later dropped since the 4.0l V6 was more than enough for this vehicle.
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Two man days, for $$$-comparison you’d be billing yourselves for 16 hours at say $100 per hour, $1600 . Adding in the parts and tool, you and your son did the job for around $2000, so doing it yourself seems like a pretty good economic decision. Good for you.
I can’t speak to car repair as I’m like you, diy’er. But I always get 3 or 4 bids when I need construction work done, and most of the bids are in the same price range, not much difference. One is usually considerably lower, but research on that vendor usually shows little in the way of customer-recommendation history, or they won’t tell me their business address, etc. Last time I had 5 vendors give oral bids, 3 refused to back the bids in writing, and the 2 that gave written bids, they were about the same price. I chose the vendor who showed up on time and give me a written bid while there on the first visit. Good results.
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No way a single vehicle REALLY needs all these parts. Oh, it’s a gm… I’m taking that back LOL
That hasn’t been my experience in minnesota but I’ve never had a car repaired in Dubai. There are some parts of the world though where people lie, cheat, and steal with every breath. Just culture. Why, I don’t know.
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There are a few details to consider. First, we are not mechanics. Second, we took our time to do it right. Third, if something would’ve gone wrong, we knew who’s ass to kick. I am a Senior Software Engineer, and I get paid $65/hr which I find good. I see no reason to pay somebody $200 for the job I can do at least as well. Let’s see how they can do my job.
And finally - most importantly - I know from experience - whatever I CAN do, I do better than “professionals”. This pertains not to just cars but to everything else - plumbing, carpentry, electrical stuff.
Oh, I have a brand new story to tell. My son ran into a tree with his 4Runner (yes, the one we just did head gaskets. What a bummer!) a couple of days ago so we found another one somebody attempted to steal and messed up ignition/immobilizer wiring so it wouldn’t start. The owner said that a stealer wanted $2,000 to get if fixed so we got it for $2,000). It’s a year younger than ours (2005) with a lot less miles (185K). It took my son a couple of hours to solder broken wires including the ignition key housing coil, and it STARTED. Speaking of “professionals” and their integrity. Or rather absence thereof. Swear to God trues story.
Can we please close this discussion . . . ?
I’m not pointing fingers or mentioning names . . . but it’s becoming VERY disrespectful
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Good for you, back on the road and purring like a kitten. It’s great you have enough space to dedicate for a parts car for your son’s 4Runner. I recently purchased a used ECM for my Corolla for $25, which I intend to experiment with on the lab bench to figure out how it works.
You are posting interesting content here, but one suggestion however, to moderate the tone of your postings. Sorry you haven’t had good experience with pro-repair folks; but that’s just not the general situation in my experience. As long as I obtain personal recommendations, and get several bids in writing, I’ve always had pretty good luck with using pro’s. The pro’s need to make enough income to pay their housing, medical, taxes, gov’t regulations, insurance, tools, rent, and other expenses, and for unpaid time (for example preparing estimates). If follows the pro’s need to charge quite a bit more than the customer would prefer to pay. I certainly had to pay more than I wanted to pay for my recent construction work.
It’s apples and oranges comparing an experienced & trained pro doing the work in their shop to a diy’er doing the job in their driveway. The driveway diy’er has no income from doing the job, so no income or payroll tax for example. Likewise, the diy’er has no one to complain to or ask for warranty restitution other than themselves if the work doesn’t pan out.
It’s not JUST about my personal experience because it’s very limited since I do everything myself. In my many years in the inspections field, I’ve seen stuff you probably can’t even imagine which is an “industry standard”. Just an illustration. One of the major manufacturers I did numerous inspections for had to revoke a bunch of its dealer licences because they - dealers - claimed major component failures of brand new never sold vehicles. The manufacturer shipped a new component immediately but the dealer had to send the “failed” one back so it just got something from a junkyard, not necessarily the same brand and most definitely not new and send it back. No kidding. For a long time the parent company ignored this “business practice” because the dealers lay golden eggs for it but eventually the scope got so significant that it had not choice but to pull the plug. Another case. A stealer sold a “certified” used olds along with gm’s extended warranty. Next day (I mean LITERALLY next day), they called a $14,000+ claim involving multiple components, and when I with clear consciousness determined that all of them were pre-existing, and the claim was rightfully declined, the service manager threw a tantrum at me. Another one: a subaru dealer claimed engine failure. They took it apart for an inspection, and I saw blue (not scored) bearings, an oil change sticker from the same dealership two (TWO!) miles ago. Trust me, I have enough expertise to unequivocally declare that they had forgotten to put oil in. Same thing. Tantrum. And one more just to give you a sense of who you are dealing with. A [not too bright] customer brought a brand new 600 MB for an oil change to one of the tire franchises. After they changed oil, they realized that they did not have a proprietary benz scanner to reset the maintenance light. Solution? They just cut the harness to the oil level sensor so close to the socket that it couldn’t be repaired. $12,000 repair bill from a friendly mb stealer.
I have a HUGE database with pictures of cases like that, and if I live long enough to retire, I’ll write a book. It will be very similar to those best-sellers about mafia but a lot closer to home.
Ok4440 rest his soul, had some similar dealer stories on Oklahoma and believe Subaru was one of them. He usually ended by saying they closed their doors. Once word gets around business suffers.
Oh, no! I didn’t realize he had passed.