Originally Posted By: Byron Dickens
Originally Posted By: Guitarhacker




Don't get me started on car service departments or most of the trades now.

I had an ignition coil go bad and a fuel pump that was intermittent. I honestly didn't feel like doing the repairs myself so I took it to the dealer. The dealer wanted $1500 for the ignition coil and $1300 for the fuel pump. They priced the coil over $100 and the pump at $500+. I decided to do the coil myself. Under $40 for the coil and 90 minutes total time including going to the store to get the coil. The pump, I had a local shop replace it. Total for the job was $425 and 3 hrs in the shop.


Here's the other side of the story:

I can just about guarantee that it wasn't $1500 for one ignition coil. It was $1500 for all of them and the spark plugs too. A sizeable chunk of that might have been labor, too. .....

You're upset about the $1500 estimate?


I can guarantee you that this was for ONE COIL. The estimate was for 1 coil. According to my diagnostic tool, I told them it was cylinder #8... the hardest one to get to. They quoted radiator fluid, intake gasket, and a load of other sundry items. Claimed they had to disassemble the entire top of the engine to get to the coil. Labor was a fairly large part of the estimate. That was total BS.

All I needed to do was to loosen the fuel feed rail to get to the cylinder and fish the rubber boot out and remove the coil. A NAPA coil was reinstalled. I've replaced plenty of coils in the past on this and other vehicles. I do them as needed.


I'd had all 8 replaced a few years before, by a shop, and that was less than half the quoted cost from the dealer. And yes, that one did include new plugs.


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