Dodgy Mechanics...

[Alfamania]

Just to ask...If a mechanic quotes your for a top end engine rebuild, after the 1000km running in period....when you go back do you think the head re-tensioning is part of the quote or is it fair for them to charge you another $300? Im talking about a alfa 12 v6 motor here.....just wondering if others have had similar occurrences? 

Apparently, for any other motor there isnt a charge....but because its an 'Alfa' there has to be a charge

Also, if a suspension specialist place tells you " because its a transaxle I will need to charge 80 bucks for a check over"

What do you guys think?

[Barry Edmunds]

Alfamania, I would have expected the re-tension of the head to be part of the rebuild quote and not an add on.
Sounds like the mechanic and the suspension guys both think Alfa Romeo customer means that more money can be gouged form them.

I'd suggest that you find a new mechanic and a new suspension specialist and preferably people that know and respect Alfas rather than using the marque as a means of gouging customers.

[Darryl]

Head re-tension shouldn't cost $300 - included in original job or not?

As to the suspension I think (rant not about an alfa, just about passing off a circus full of clowns as a suspension specialist):

1) Pedders charge some small fee for a check of anything. This includes if you go into the place and say: Right front shock is fsked, please rebuild or replace it. They refuse to do anything without a full "xxx point check" and insist that you can't/nobody does rebuild shocks anymore and its always the left shock that fails anyway.
2) Only after said "check" will they concede that as stated it has Bilstein shocks (still don't concede these are *stock* on the model in question). Definitely don't concede that the "Pedders sports riders" offered as a replacement are *shit* (this is the correct technical term, ask any real suspension specialist) by comparison. Instead claim that they are "always an upgrade to stock" but that if I want more upgrade I can buy their coilovers that they can't tell me the spring rates on and/or how these compare to stock.
3) Lucky I had that check as they found some bushes that needed replacing (the ones that a real suspension specialist had declared and shown me didn't need replacing 1 month previously). However, I couldn't confirm that they hadn't deteriorated spectacularly in the 1 month as no customers are allowed in workshop...

What is the relevance? The fee for the inspection is insignificant. The need for said inspection to be done by someone with a clue (nobody in shop in question in my case) are self evident. If you pay your $80 do they rehydrate their especially preserved real suspension specialist or just get the same apprentice to the head rattlegun operator check it out as if it were a 1990 Excel?

Moral: find a *competent* shop and pay them...

[105gta]

I think it is totally reasonable to charge to retention the heads. It is not part of the original job it is a recommended 'optional' extra. For peace of mind. $300 is about right. Depending on the hourly rate. That's only 1.5 hrs labour in my shop, and considering you will expect them to check every foreseeable hose, wire, screw, bolt, liquid level etc...as if should only one be not perfect you will tarnish their business all over the internet. It would probably take longer than 1.5 hrs to do the job that you expect. I think you're getting a good deal for a shop to spend their own unpaid time to double check your car. I mean, I'm sure you don't go to work for free! Service/labour does cost. If you want the best be prepared to pay for it. Take it to be Beninca for peace of mind but don't complain about the cost, or take to kmart tyre and auto and put your savings aside for the next repair!

[Mick A]

I think it is totally reasonable to charge to retention the heads. It is not part of the original job it is a recommended 'optional' extra. For peace of mind. $300 is about right. Depending on the hourly rate. That's only 1.5 hrs labour in my shop, and considering you will expect them to check every foreseeable hose, wire, screw, bolt, liquid level etc...as if should only one be not perfect you will tarnish their business all over the internet. It would probably take longer than 1.5 hrs to do the job that you expect. I think you're getting a good deal for a shop to spend their own unpaid time to double check your car. I mean, I'm sure you don't go to work for free! Service/labour does cost. If you want the best be prepared to pay for it. Take it to be Beninca for peace of mind but don't complain about the cost, or take to kmart tyre and auto and put your savings aside for the next repair!

+1 well said.

[Ray Pignataro]

Maybe some one that's never done one should do, then the cost might not seem so expensive

[Darryl]

I'm only going on what I've experienced/paid. By the sounds of it you guys are describing more than what I would have understood from "re-tension the heads". If it wasn't clear already, my concerns/suspicions from the OP were that there was a "surcharge" being applied by a shop because the work was on an Alfa (or because it was anything they were not  familiar with?). Money would be better spent elsewhere - to buy experience vs pay for ignorance.

[Alfamania]

Nah...When a mechanic quotes a top end rebuild of an engine...retensioning heads and valve clearances after the 1000km run in should be included in the price! Thats it!

[xrqtr]

It's always best to get in writing what is and what isn't included in any major work being done, some will include subsequent "finishing" work whilst others won't, that's not to say one is your friend and the other not so much it's just how they do things.