I have a 2000 Nissan Maxima with 130,000 miles and got following estimates after a diagnostic test. Are repair costs reasonable?
1. Replace vacuum bypass valve: $230.
2. Replace drive belts: $165.
3. Replace oil sending unit. $85.
4. Replace leaking low pressure P/S hoses: $109.
Are you trying to have your A/C diagnosed? Or something else? What was wrong with the car? Clarify so that others can help you better.
Do the costs posted include labor?
If you can turn a wrench, get a Chiltons manual and go to your nearest Advance Auto or Auto Zone and I think you can cut thoes prices in half by doing it yourself. Prices sound a little high to me.
I don’t know about the bypass valve, but the other costs seem about right, if parts are included. You can save much of this by doing it yourself. I have not experienced the low pressure power steering hose leaking–it was always the high pressure ones.
Only the price for the drive belt seems outrageous. The vacuum bypass could be another high one but I don’t know for sure.
Oil sending unit at Advance Auto is $20 max. The rest of labor. Exactly why does the mechanic think the unit is bad in the first place? Was this one of your complaints before you had th diagnostics run? Any mechanic explanatio would be appreciated to determine if this replacement is needed.
Thanks for all the recommendations guys. I’m a real klutz at repairs so I’ll need to have it done. The estimates were from a Nissan dealer and do include parts. I’ve not noticed any problems, but have ignored the “check engine” light for quite a while now and figured it was about time to look into it. The estimater said that there was a small leak by the oil filter and it was coming from the oil sending unit; the drive belts showed cracks. If the prices were too out of line I’d look into getting an independent garage to do the work, but I don’t know a good one to go to.
The bypass valve may be the Vacuum cut valve bypass valve in the evaporative emission system. I stumbled across a TSB that may or may not be relevant to the check engine light being on
http://www.lyberty.com/car/Maxima_A32_docs/EC-engine_control/NTB00-085a.pdf
Occasionally dealerships are neccessary for weird, “quirky” problems. There’s no reason at all to go to a dealer for the above problems, although they seem to be reccomended legitimately. You obviously paid for them to diagnose these issues, so ask them for the fault code(s) that was triggered when the ck engine light came on. Ask for the “P” code. This will tell the people who do the work what the vacuum bypass valve is since it may go by other names. (Show them americar’s TSB) Click on “home” at the bottom of this page, and on the homepage click under “find a great mechanic”; on the LH side of page about 1/3 down. Any halfway decent shop can handle these repairs.