So I noticed a puddle of green liquid at the rear of the car under the radiator area of my 1995 355. Uh oh..not good Just heard back from my trusty independent...radiator has a crack and one of the fans is shot...not uncommon for this age car on the original radiator. New rad and fan motor needed. Now the "while we are in there things".....They also found a split CV boot that holds the grease in there with the axel...both boots need replacing and greasing. Also there is a slight leaky in the shifter seal where it meets the transmission. Not a big deal but needs to be replaced. Total bill with labor $4500 this after the 30k major 1 year ago. Gotta love Ferrari ownership LOL! Now I cant wait to get my perfect 355 back home in a few weeks.
Those problems happen with many cars not just Fcars. My problem is what you were charged for that work. Seems a little steep to me for what you had done.
Labor is $110per hour(versus $160 at my local F dealer) and the rest is parts costs. I dont want to get into a discussion on who can do this cheaper, that wasnt the purpose of my post..it is what it is and these guys do good work, no shortcuts, besides I'd rather give these guys the work than my local F dealer.
+1---Nothing better than a trustworthy mechanic!!! I wouldn't mind paying more money if I am comfortable that the work is done properly!!
All these repairs/parts are easily installed by any d.i.y. owner.....so the labour cost is possibly a factor to some. I am certainly curious how much labour they charged you?
Just 2 bolts to remove/replace the radiator...4 bolts for the radiator fan...6 bolts(?) for each axel to do the cv boots. Doing the radiator/fan is fun and easy...but doing the cv boots is dirty and can take a bit of muscle on the bolts.
6 bolts to do the CV boots? THAT is an understatement! ND, have you performed this job before? On ANY car?
Yup. 6 bolts on the axel half-shaft for the boot (plus the knuckle bolt for 355's, no need on the 348). http://www.club348.com/technical/Tech/348.html#cvjoint Image Unavailable, Please Login
What you are failing to mention, but your link does, is that a lot more than 6 bolts are removed; try both wheels need to come off, two brake calipers, two brake discs, two under trays, two catalytic converters, two axle boot heat shields, before you can even start taking the 6 bolts on the CV joint...and remember there are FOUR boots, so there are going to be literally dozens of fasteners and many parts coming off to complete the job. A repair shop is going to charge around 6 or 7 hours labor for the job.
Okay so let's say it's 8 hours, and go with the dealership rate. 8hrs x $160/hr = $1280. Still doesn't add up to $4500. The parts for the CV boots can be bought for $100. So unless they sold him a $3,200 radiator, which they don't cost, he got burned. But he didn't pay dealership rates he paid $110/hr x 8 hours = $880 labor = an even bigger burn. I have remove both axles on my 348, and no it isn't hard. There are only two bolts that hold the break calipers in place. Whoopy flipping dooo. It takes all of 2 minutes to remove the wheel, and another to minutes to remove the two bolts on the break caliper. It IS NOT a hard job. The rotor just pops off after you remove the other two mounting bolts that hold it to the axle flange. Again a 2 minute or less job. Then we have another two minute job, but let's just say its five, to remove the ONE ring nut holding the outer cv joint in place. I have had my entire rear axle hub OFF of the car in 30 minutes, and that includes disconnecting it from the cv joint, and both upper and lower a-arms. NOT a hard job. Even if I took my sweet time it is not any longer than a one hour job on each side. But we are talking about removing the axle, which I have also done, and it still is NOT a $4,500 job. If it was the left side radiator, that is even easier to remove than the rear axle, and yes I have removed it. $4,500 for that job = you got burned big time.
ernie, sometimes owners don't mind spending big money for their repairs..... it just means the job was "done right"
Yeah I know, but it just urks me that the owners that are willing to spend their hard earned money are getting hosed. I don't see anything wrong with paying someone a FAIR price for work. But when the owner that is willing to pay someone else to do the job gets over charged, sorry but that just rubs me the wrong way. Especially when I have done the same job and KNOW first hand what is take to do it.
Those are fair points. I oversimplified. I was trying to make the point that it isn't difficult to make the repairs in question if one was of the mind to do the job himself/herself. I'm not trying to say that it is wrong to pay for repairs, and I shouldn't have left off the steps of removing the wheels (though most owners are capable of removing wheels without my help) et al. Ricambi charged me a mere $800 (or was it $600, my memory, eek...) for a new Ferrari OEM radiator (the larger, more expensive left side one) for my 348 (which is not dissimilar to the 355). So I guess I do have a problem with a $4,500 bill for an $800 radiator, a $100 cv boot (remove the wheels just once to do both jobs at the same time), even if it took a pro shop 7 hours of labor (it's a 4 hour job for a rank amatuer to undo the proper bolts). Even a thousand Dollars in OEM parts for the jobs in question would leave $3,500 for labor...making it $500 per hour (I'm paying my attorneys $440/hr for court time and research, so some mechanic has out-trumped them handily). Heck, I'm even OK with overpaying for some jobs. Sometimes you are buying goodwill for the future...but $500 per hour strikes me as over the line. So I guess I'd balk at paying $4,500 to change a radiator and rubber cv boot. That's probably what motivated me to oversimplify what's involved in the job. My bad.
Hey ND, I understand...we all do it. Let's not forget his shifter seal replacement too. So what are the experts estimating for that part of the job?
Shifter seal and boot on the 355 took me all of 5 minutes to replace. The cv boots took me about 45 minutes per axle. I have yet to replace the rad however from looking at it .....possibly an 1.5 hours including refilling and bleeding the cooling system?
You are a good man ND! After all this..... it still seems very steep for what was done IMO. When I had my CV boots changed I was charged $500 (parts included) and my mechanic "threw in" the shifter seal and the adjustment screw for the AC compressor. Though I have used him for over 15 years , I have yet to meet a mechanic of his overall exotic car experience, knowledge and abilities. My paragraph above . +1 BTW what does Eugenio charge for an "engine out major"??? I bet its real close in price......
