400 Bucks For Hoses and Flush from Ford

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CROWNVIC4LIFE

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I stopped by the Ford Stearlership for quick oil change today as I had 50 dollars in Ford credit coming to me for my [05] 4.6 Crown Vic with 96K miles...I told the service donkey when I came in not to try to up-sell me anything today...Just change the oil and nothing else...He said if there is something wrong I have to tell you...I said just tell me what I need [if anything] before I leave and not before...After I got the paperwork from the oil change he said the next time I come I will need hoses as they are getting soft [which they are] so I said how much is that...When he said 400 bucks I flipped out.

I am done with this Stearlership...I finally found a honest Independent who will do the work...I can only imagine how many people go ahead and say OK do it.

My mom needs a oil change so I went to Walmart and bought a 5 quart jug of 5w20 Motorcraft Blend and a Motorcraft filter at Autozone...[and another quart as it takes 6 quarts] and the Independent will change it before the weekend.

I hate Stearlerships!
 
That's not too surprising.

OEM radiator hoses are not cheap. Even aftermarket ones can be pricey depending on the application. When I changed the T-Stat in my truck, I spent around $130 in materials...I bought a new upper hose, gasket, and clamps at O'Reilly, G-05 at Napa, and a t-stat from Ford. Once you add in the higher cost of using all dealer parts, a lower hose, and labor, $400 isn't that crazy. FWIW, I didn't replace the lower hose on my truck because it had some other hoses coming off of it which apparently made it worth $60 or something crazy like that.
 
$400 isn't unreasonable if they are replacing all of the hoses and flushing the cooling system.

It costs a lot of money to run a legitimate business, which is why labor rates of $120/hr are common. If you expect to pay cheaper costs for the job, then you'll have to accept the potential consequences of taking your vehicle to an independent auto service facility.
 
Is your crown vic a P71 or regular model? If its a P71 it had silicone hoses and they can be expensive. Still a lot of money for an upper and lower rehose. I know our techs usually do the heater hoses too when they do upper and lowers.
 
Quote:

If you expect to pay cheaper costs for the job, then you'll have to accept the potential consequences of taking your vehicle to an independent auto service facility.


Indys have less layers of middlemen and more interest in the business if directly owning it. An indy shop charged me $380 for two front wheel bearings installed; the dealer charged $410 for one, and they did the job wrong. So there are consequences either way, just a bigger layer of A.. covering at a dealer; avoid a place calling anything "Signature Service"; if they screw up, you'll never see the signature of the person who did it; just a good cover story.

The key is just to find a place one is comfortable with; I bring my !echo! to a yota dealer (different than one ref'ed above) and am very happy with their service.

$380-$400 gets
oil change
coolant flush
MT drain + fill
new plugs
Rotate tires.
new AF
clean brakes.
a ride to an from work.

A "deal" IMHO.

Price seems high on this Ford repair; of course, they quoted it to you and you walked away; now if they had done the job and expected the money, that would be a stealership....
 
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No surprise, and a reason I try and stay as far away from the dealer as I can. I had a CEL light on my new Jeep, I bought a code scanner and did the diagnostics myself. It saved me the grief of having to deal with a service writer and tech who makes commission on the upsell. I worked in a few dealerships and learned all the little tricks.

My advise to anyone is stay as far from them as you can. If you need warranty work or can't avoid them be careful.

I only wish I lived in areas where some of the techs that post on here work. Judging by the time they take to reply and answer questions they are stand up guys!
 
You are looking at $100 in hoses, and the rest is labor.

I didn't know that $300 in labor was fair to change two radiator hoses, and heater hoses.

Take it to the independent shop.

I had a bunch of fords, I would only go there when I had the 29 dollar oil change/rotate special. They would hound me so bad to do unnecessary work, it just go annoying to go there.

That, and I have no patience to wait an hour and a half for a 20 minute service.
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Is your crown vic a P71 or regular model? If its a P71 it had silicone hoses and they can be expensive. Still a lot of money for an upper and lower rehose. I know our techs usually do the heater hoses too when they do upper and lowers.

I actually have not seen that many P71s with silicone hoses. I dont think its standard.


These hoses are EPDM and should last 10years/150k or so.
 
Just to throw a little fire on the "anti-dealership" rant, the company I work for owns a 2001 Sebring that is currently loaned out to a friend of the owner. He took it to the Chrysler dealer to diagnose a clunk in the rear suspension. After going over the car on a hoist for a half hour, they came back with a $700.00 qoute to replace both upper control arms. The owner brought the car back to our diesel truck shop and in five minutes two heavy truck mechanics correctly diagnosed the problem as a bad upper strut mount without even putting the car in the air. It would be a little more tolerable to pay dealership prices if you got some actual expertise. Far too often you don't.
 
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The dealership that I bought my Silverado from has never... and I mean NEVER... suggested that I "need" or "need to do" anything additional to my truck.

And it has been in the service lane several time for warranty work over the years.

Yep. It is kinda nice.
 
Originally Posted By: JustinH
You are looking at $100 in hoses, and the rest is labor.

I didn't know that $300 in labor was fair to change two radiator hoses, and heater hoses.



Someone has to pay mike rowe
48.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Colt45ws

I actually have not seen that many P71s with silicone hoses. I dont think its standard.


My P71 has had some of it's silicone hoses replaced with regular ones by me.
 
Reminds me of the $1,000 4 wheel brake job on my 4 year old Chrysler and another $250 to change one power door lock actuator. To top it off they filled up my windshield wiper reservoir with cleaner not good for freezing whether - yep - first freeze of the year and another couple hundred bucks to change the pump (had to pull the fender off to replace).

And, after they did the work, they left greasy finger prints on the wheels and hood and some strange stank in the car that took a couple days to clear out.

I laid in (gently) to the Service Manager about the [censored] service. Bought a new car from them a few months later and they threw in free oil changes for 5 years. Had to stop letting them change my oil as they always under filled by at least a quart. Hard to get good service nowadays, even at a high price.
 
Well I saved myself an easy 200+ dollars. My G6 was leaking coolant.

The dealer stated from what I described and the parts it would be $200 for the tank/res + cap or over 700+ if its the heater-core(which is not covered under the 5/100 warranty).

Went to Amazon, bought a ACDelco Resovoir + Cap for $38 SHIPPED. 45 minutes and a bunch of sweat(was humid) it was replaced, topped off coolant and good to go.

I am always reluctant to bring it to the dealer as prices are out of this world. People can barely afford their cars, let alone 800-1k brake jobs.
 
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