so you want someone who will do this for very cheap but do it perfectly as well AND is a pro-mechanic?? are you expecting a warranty with this too? honestly you should take it to a good shop and enjoy that they will be able to warranty labor and be able to give you receipts for the work if the parts end up being defective. toyota will not warranty parts that are incorrectly installed. not to mention a shop has insurance should something happen to the car while its there. what if the shade tree guy gets into it and it turns out theres a bolt broke into the crank shaft? you're 2 hours from home and the cars not going anywhere soon.
so you want someone who will do this for very cheap but do it perfectly as well AND is a pro-mechanic?? are you expecting a warranty with this too? honestly you should take it to a good shop and enjoy that they will be able to warranty labor and be able to give you receipts for the work if the parts end up being defective. toyota will not warranty parts that are incorrectly installed. not to mention a shop has insurance should something happen to the car while its there. what if the shade tree guy gets into it and it turns out theres a bolt broke into the crank shaft? you're 2 hours from home and the cars not going anywhere soon.
good local shop > *
So you think its too much to ask... A mechanic that has actually done a timing belt and clutch on a corolla, has been a mechanic for a few years and takes pride in his work?
I understand taking it to toyota and getting a warranty on the work... but i dont want to pay $1000 in labor. When i first got the car, i took it in for an inspection to see if everything was ok. They checked over the whole car and said it all looked good. Spent $80 for inspection. I drove the car around and it just didnt feel right, so i opened the hood and the mechanic left the damn intake boot off! So i paid $80 for a shit ass job, but hey... it had a warranty.
Im sure there is someone out there looking for some extra work that does a good job. I am not asking them to do the work for $100
a good independent shop can warranty its labor and be cheaper than the dealer AND will have insurance should something horrible go wrong like the car catch on fire. if it catches on fire while some guy is working on it in his garage at home then what? you're out the car and probably would have to sue him to recoup your loss. people don't think about these things.
a good independent shop can warranty its labor and be cheaper than the dealer AND will have insurance should something horrible go wrong like the car catch on fire. if it catches on fire while some guy is working on it in his garage at home then what? you're out the car and probably would have to sue him to recoup your loss. people don't think about these things.
Got Ya... i will rephrase my post. I just dont want to take the car to toyota. Its bad when you dont even feel comfortable taking it to the place that made it lol.
I got my water pump, timing belt, cam and crank seals, the broken gear in the crank shaft that the mechanic broke when taking the seal out, valve cover gasket and 3 belts for about $550 in So Cal. It was all dealer parts and I felt that I got a fair trade. The shop down the street wanted $700 for the water pump and timing belt alone. There are cheaper shops here but I was not interested in them because of the risk. Don't cheap it up, it's the timing belt
btw, make sure you change your water pump and seals and should do the tensioner as well.
First off, no good mechanic will use your parts because they know nothing about them and cannot warranty them. Scenario: you buy a water pump, but then drop it accidentally before the repair work.. it looks good visually, but is actually broken now. After the installation, it fails. You come back to the mechanic and claim he did something wrong. Or sue him etc etc. Any mechanic that will agree to install your parts on a major repair like that is stupid and shouldn't be working on your car. It just doesn't make good business sense for the mechanic, and it's a liability issue. If you want a mechanic to do the work, you should return your parts and let him supply the correct ones. If the parts are defective, he can deal with Toyota. He cannot do this if you supply the parts; he can only deal with you. Any decent shop will use genuine Toyota parts if you request it.
As for the cost, most of what you're paying for is not the parts. Routine maintenance parts are relatively cheap. Insurance, knowledge, experience, training, tools(most mechanics own $30,000 worth of tools to be able to work on your car), the facility rent/mortgage, overhead-misc fluids, permits, subscription to computerized repair manuals, etc, and time. How long do you think it takes to do a timing belt and clutch? And the diagnostic equipment is tens of thousands of dollars. The overall cost of doing business is figured into the shop hourly rate.
If you want to pay less, start calling around and getting quotes. Maybe you'll find a good shop who will do it for less. You can always do the work yourself, or find the aforementioned shadetree mechanic.
p.s. many Corolla clutches last for 300k miles or more. mine is at 210k right now. are you absolutely sure the clutch needs to be changed?
we'll use customers parts but make them sign a waiver stating that any parts warranty is soley their responsibility and they will be liable for labor to disassemble to determine the cause of the failure should one occur.
now that being said, we won't use their parts from autozone/pepboys/retail stores. if someone has an 85 Mercedes 380SL and wants us to replace the window motor which he sourced himself through a specialty catalog or through connections in the 380SL community thats no problem. its really a case by case basis and depends on the client and the car and the availability of parts.
if you want things done right, do it yourself :P
thats my theory lol
even if u dont know how, go to the junk yard and mess around with those cars first, see what u need to do break things on those cars rather then yours,
buy the new parts, look up what needs to be done and do it lol
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