Dealership Cost... What do you think?

[2dogs]

Plugs on these cars are no fun. 2 hours I'd say. Left side, battery has to come out. Right side air box comes out. Not much room to work. Doable, just tedious.

 

[HowAboutThis]

The rear diff drain and fill is easier than an oil change and takes about a 1/2 hour in the driveway on a bad day. Remember take the fill plug out first! Parts 10 bucks.
Do it yourself. The Walmart Supertec semi-synthetic gear oil is fine and dandy.
View attachment 284756

Yeah, I'm aware and have done it before. Since they're already under there I'll waste the $80 and save $80 by doing my oil change myself in a few months That's my (ir)rational thinking.

 

[CarbonToast]

Here is a Subaru 2.5 plug after 70k, side electrode is worn out. Old and new are NGK Iridium

 

[ARCOgraphite]

What car is the O.P's Anyhow ? Subaru what? With what engine and Year? did I miss it?

 

[HowAboutThis]

What car is the O.P's Anyhow ? Subaru what? With what engine and Year? did I miss it?

17 2.5 Forester.

 

[dishdude]

Why not do it yourself ?

Just wondering….

Fair question. I have no way of getting all four wheels off the ground to bleed the brakes.

 

[HowAboutThis]

Plugs on these cars are no fun. 2 hours I'd say. Left side, battery has to come out. Right side air box comes out. Not much room to work. Doable, just tedious.

You and a couple others on here seem to understand why I don't want to do the plugs on a Boxer engine Once in my life was enough. Could I? Yeah. Do I need that frustration in my life? No.

 

[JayhawkRoy]

Maybe in your area the cost is just higher. I'm seeing at Subaru dealerships near me in Colorado, $120-$170 for brake fluid flush which is highway robbery. Oil changes for $70 $25 for tire balance and rotation (which is free with Big O, Discount Tire etc.) I'm seeing online quotes for spark plugs at Subaru Dealers and some Indy shops at $275-600 for just plugs! This isn't a McLaren 670LT. One guy was quoted $106 for plugs (Really?) And $308 for labor charges. A Subaru dealer mechanic should have this down fairly quickly. I know that some dealerships have really stepped up the pay for mechanics making their wages somewhat livable. The new mechanics seem to get oil changes and low dollar jobs so they'll fix stuff on the side.

Cannot speak to Colorado Discount Tires, but the Kansas City franchisee is now charging for tire rotations for tires not purchased at Discount Tire. Rationale was that a balance was required by them; no rotation only. I learned about that and quit using Discount Tire rotations. I have replaced the tires with a Discount tire purchase so I don't have the issue anymore.

Dealer oil changes run $90 to $!09 depending on dealer, fees and taxes included.

 

[D1dad]

My niece was quoted $500 from Nissan to change her plugs and pcv. I did it for $100 in a half hour and that was what the parts cost. I have no idea what your engine is like but, if you can see them you can change them. I understand some of the fluids if your not equipped.

 

[andrew_j]

The price is where you live dependent if reasonable or not

 

[ARCOgraphite]

You and a couple others on here seem to understand why I don't want to do the plugs on a Boxer engine Once in my life was enough. Could I? Yeah. Do I need that frustration in my life? No.

Those plugs you had installed at 60K should be good still. I would wait for a high misfire count before digging in. Those advanced NGK ruthenium likely have another 25K mi easy in them. If that is what the repair shop put in!

Thinking out loud that is unlikely as it would eat into their margin vs cheap aftermarket Ir plugs. I don't know what @CarbonToast has there - looks like a suspicious counterfeit - or - NGK is back to low alloy Ni gnd electrode instead of Inconel or eqv. That used to be NGK downfall vs Champion or ND back in the 90's and why I used to avoid them.

Do they show a Subaru part # from a dealer parts window on you old R.O./ invoice?

 

[ARCOgraphite]

My niece was quoted $500 from Nissan to change her plugs and pcv. I did it for $100 in a half hour and that was what the parts cost. I have no idea what your engine is like but, if you can see them you can change them. I understand some of the fluids if your not equipped.

Once Subaru went to DOHC with COP on the new FB2.5 it gets pretty tough to get to the plugs. The cylinder heads - yes there are two in a boxer - are jammed up close to the unibody frame rails.

In contrast the old EJ253 with SOHC and the plug angled up were not too bad a job - just a bit fiddly.

EJ253

FB25 (below)

 

[PF52]

My niece was quoted $500 from Nissan to change her plugs and pcv. I did it for $100 in a half hour and that was what the parts cost. I have no idea what your engine is like but, if you can see them you can change them. I understand some of the fluids if your not equipped.

That's the problem.... It's their location. He probably can't actually see them.

 

[zzyzzx]

$1,470 for all that work at the dealer is fair.

Assuming that they actually do everything and not just claim to have done it, yes.

 

[zzyzzx]

DIY or pay up.

 

[D1dad]

And this is a 4 banger?

That's the problem.... It's their location. He probably can't actually see them.

 

[D1dad]

125K. Subaru says plugs every 60K for some silly reason. My Toyota is like 120K or something. My old Honda was also 120K intervals for plugs. For whatever reason, Subaru likes fresh plugs or something. And they're a pain to get to (from my experience), require a lot of cussing, and multiple runs to places to find strange angled extensions that you know you have somewhere but don't seem to fit this time around.

Are Subarus still the oil burners they always were? If so, I’d say 60k is to bandaid the inevitable which is fouled plugs.

 

[CKN]

My niece was quoted $500 from Nissan to change her plugs and pcv. I did it for $100 in a half hour and that was what the parts cost. I have no idea what your engine is like but, if you can see them you can change them. I understand some of the fluids if your not equipped.

I'm guessing book time at the dealer is two hours. Plus plugs. That's about the going rate. Some motors like the 6 cylinder Highlander requiring moving stuff off the top of the motor to access the plugs on the firewall size and is quoted in excess of $500.00
The Ford dealer here is $250.00/hour for labor.

 

[AutoMechanic]

Seems a bit high to me. Maybe not too bad I suppose. At my dealership it’s 1 hour for coolant service so $150, brake flush is 1 hour so $150x 2 so $300. Tire rotation is .4 hours but it’s menu priced at $32. Spark plugs depend on which engine and the service time it calls for usually 1.7 hours on most cars. Transmission fluid and diff fluid is usually 1 hour. PCV it depends on the engine usually.

 

[D1dad]

All in all probably not a bad deal until they start quoting 10 other things that they wanna replace. My dealer charges $99 for a brake fluid flush and routinely have a %15 off coupon. Cvt flush has that same coupon and they charge $199. The service manager straight up said that it’s an opportunity to look the vehicle over that usually leads to bigger jobs. I did use them for the brake fluid flush one time only. It’s a good deal but, they gave back our car with air in the system and I lost half my pedal.