Estimate HELP PLEASE!!!

[Qpats]

I went to Toyota to have my car inspected for a road trip (2500 miles round trip)

Here is what I need to have replaced

(Prices in canadian $$$ include parts + labor, )
Oil pan gasket 195.95$
Hood cable 185.95$
Stabilizer bar (front) 295.95$
Back brakes (shims,discs, pads) 370$
Bushings (back) 151.95$
Valve cover gaskets 395$

Total: Around 1825$ including tax

First of all, is it necessary to fix every single thing on this car?

I thought about fixing the hood cable
the oil pan gasket and the stabilizer bar

The car is braking fine, I thought maybe the discs could be resurfaced and new pads would be ok

What do you guys think?

I have a 1992 Camry V6 5 speed
177000 miles

[Reppinshadyvill]

If you are even slightly mechanically inclined you can do the brakes and the valve cover gasget yourself. These two things along with the oilpan gasket I believe you should change before your trip. The other things I wouldnt worry to much about. But all in all this all seems a bit too pricey. you can get a lot of this work done at any autoshop for a lot less IMO.

[jhbhatia]

$370 for rear brakes! YEICKS! just replace pads, and get em' resurfaced (unless you hear grinding noices..you don't necessarily need new rotors, unless you've already shave them a few times before, then its a different issue).

[Trnd Chemeleon]

Just to give you an Idea, I got new pads and the rotors turned for $140 a couple months ago. albeit it was a good price, but I wouldn't pay over $200

Ask what their labor cost is. It should be $75-85 per hour not more unless it's a hot girl in bikini even then she should mutter something about a "happy ending"

[RedPhoenix]

Valve cover gaskets 395$

wtf? thats like $20 each and how many valve cover gaskets are there? just 2

[Qpats]

395 it is for parts and labor

So you wouldnt worry about the stabilizer bar and bushings?

[Cyorke]

Not sure waht you mean as far as stabilizer bar. Are they talking about the sway bar int eh front, if so you should be able to replace the bushings for it also. NO reason to replace the entire thing. If you know what you are doing and can do the stuff yourself you can probably do it all for under 400 dollars for parts.


Oil pan gasket 195.95$--- There is no gasket, just RTV or silicone whatever you want to call. You can get a tube for like 5 bucks.


Hood cable 185.95$--- You can probably get this for 100 bucks or less if you look on line then do it yourself.

Stabilizer bar (front) 295.95$--- replace the bushings if they are talking about he sway bar. Not sure whatelse they would call a stabilizer bar in the front.

Back brakes (shims,discs, pads) 370$---GO toa good autoparts store and buy everything, do it yourself. It is pretty simple, Four bolts hold everything together on the back brakes. You can even buy new rotors if you dont want to ahve them turned. Can probably get way with 150 bucks for all of it.

Bushings (back) 151.95$--- Can get these pretty cheap on line also probably. Takes about 30 minutes to replace.

Valve cover gaskets 395$-- The gaskets themselves are not taht expensive but the labor is a bitch since you ahve to take the intake plenum off to get to the back one. Again if you know waht you are doing you can get this done for 50 bucks or so.

I would take it somewhere else and see what they say. Even call around to a couple of places and get estimates over the phone. More than likely this stuff has been wrong witht he car for a while so I am not sure your trip is going to make a big difference. I would worry about the brakes the most probably since it is safety related. But hey that is jsut me.

[TriumphGT6]

That is a royal screwjob for the brakes. NAPA sells a set of premium ceramic pads for the back for $57.49 and they come with shims. They also have new rotors for the back at $30 a piece.

Brake Parts Cost - $117.49

Ease of Work - Very easy and fairly clean if you don't have to bleed.

NOTE - They will use very cheap pads whenever they can get away with it, this way you are getting premium pads and you know it was done right.

STABLIZER BAR
===========

Most of the time, the bar is fine, but the links are screwed up or broken off. My Lincoln had a broken off Link and the dealer quoted me at $150 if all went well. I did it in a half hour, and the part was $30 at NAPA.

Stabilizer Bar Links - $54.98 HERE

Ease Of Work - I had never done this before and it took me a half hour to take off the old and 10 minutes to put on the new. Just follow the Factory Shop Manual that is at **********'s site (Sticky at top of page).

VALVE COVER GASKETS
================

You Having a latitudinally mounted V6(Cylinders go left to right) means that the back one is going to suck to change. I have a longitudinally mounted V8 (Cylinders are front to back) that it would take me an hour to get to them, where as you it is a giant PITA and they are not ripping you off, however do the front one yourself.

Cost - Anywhere between $200 - $400 depending on if you do half.

OIL PAN GASKET
===========

I recommend buying the Felpro cork oil pan gasket and having them change it. If you had them quote you, most likely you haven't done this before. It will take quite a bit of time to do, and the price they gave really isn't bad.

Cost - $195.95

HOOD CABLE
=========

I really have never had a car have this go bad, but it should be fairly simple to replace. Shop around, that is really not that good of a price.

Cost - $185.95, but should be less elsewhere.

BUSHINGS
=======

Read the manual on **********'s page and it really isn't hard to do.

Cost - $14.49 each at Napa.

TOTAL - $983.35(worst case) or less if you can get some of the other work done for less.

I would personally do all of it myself and save a lot of money, but if you don't have the time or skills, this is a fairly good route to take.

Good Luck,
GT6