Im trying to sell my 5G Prelude, it had a clutch problem, i thought i needed a new clutch, the mechanic said it was the master cyclinder, can you explain what that is? and he said it cost $68 for the part, is it worth it?

second, since I was parting it out I told this idiot mechanic, while its up can he swap the coil with my factory springs. He agreed, I came to pick up my car today, hes trying to charge me $50 for every spring replacement, my cars still there cuz of the drama, I remember when I had them installed, it was so easy, for like $40 and it took the guys about 45 min- 1 hour. This guys claiming it was all fucked up underneath and it took him 2.5 hrs to swap all 4, I just think hes never played with coilovers before. Is it harder to put the factory's back in? Is he telling the truth? or is he an idiot and I need to put him in check?

 

by $50 for every spring replacement, do you mean it cost you $200? if so, that is way too much for a simple spring install...sorry to say, but he screwed you. and no way it took 2.5 hours to swap coilovers for stock springs. that's just ridiculous.

claiming your car was "fucked up underneath" is a little vague too. maybe he replaced some damaged parts (which would legitimize the price)?? next time you see him, ask him what he meant by saying it was "fucked up."

-jeremy

 

$50 per corner is a bit pricey but not outrageous. I know a speed shop that asks for that price when installing springs/shocks. It could have taken a while if the car was rusted but that's just a guess. You probably should ask him to clarify as to what was fucked up with your car. As for the master cylinder, I've never touched that before so I wouldn't be able to comment on it.

 

no, no rust, it was all lubed...how much time does it normally take to replace coils with factory springs, so I can regulate this guy and get my car back! And how much do you guys expect a shop to charge to swap them?

 

I'd say that it would be at least a 2 hr job to swap all 4 corners for a pro mechanic on a lift with all the correct tools handy. It's not a hard job, just pretty time consuming.

He says it took 2.5 hrs and he wants to charge you $200 ($50x4corners)... So that's $200/2.5hr = $80/hr - which is pretty steep, but not entirely unreasonable, especially since most shops would have rounded the labor to 3hrs...

You learned a lesson: Get an estimate in writing next time...

Andrew


[Modified by aklucsarits, 12:31 PM 7/11/2002]