Hi All,

looking for opinions...

I was recently quoted roughly $400 to replace all hoses/clamps/new coolant/check water pump for my 96 auto.

Does that sound fair?

 

No, it is too much. The hoses and coolant will cost $100 or less. To check a water pump is to look at it. Do it yourself and buy a $300 Craftsman tool set. It's pretty easy and a good place to start learning how to maintain a car and you'll have a pretty good tool set for future projects.

 

 

Way to much do it yourself

 

Our 96' Vettes are going on 14 years old. You better learn how to fix the easy "stuff" or you will have to sell it. A 14 year old car of any brand, if driven, demands good maintenance and constant repairs.

Buy a FSM......good luck.

 

Yep, 100 bucks for hoses, 100 bucks for Field Service Manual, learning how to properly maintain your vette...priceless!

 

I'm gonna say the hoses will be more like $200 (the heater hoses are surprisingly spendy). Figure another $50 for coolant and misc. so you're talking about $150 for labor. You'll save some dough doing it yourself, but I wouldn't say that $400 is an astronomical amount.

 

The upper and lower radiator hoses would be the most important ones to "check". but are not that difficult to replace. Figure $100 for the pair at a shop. Order them yourself and they will be much cheaper.

A good cooling system flush and refill with Dex-Cool (or similar long-life coolant) should run around $75 or so.

The heater hoses should last much longer than the radiator hoses. Unless there is obvious leaking, bulges, cracks, they should be fine. If there are no signs of dried coolant at the hose ends, the factory clamps should be fine. hey can even be re-used if you do change any hoses.

As mentioned with "checking the water pump", the only thing you can really do is to look for signs of leaking where the pump bolts to the block or where the hose attaches.

The pump is driven by a shaft coming from the camshaft so there is no belt involved. Same with checking the thermostat housing. If the base looks dry and no buildup of dried coolant, it's fine too.

Not all auto repair shops charge the same for labor rates. Some will have a flat rate for a specific task (coolant system "service"), some will charge by the hour based on a rate in a book.

So if the quote came from a stealership, then the $400 figure would make sense. But any competent auto repair shop can do a coolant flush and check the hoses for much less. If the car has lots of miles (say 125K plus) then I would probably replace the two radiator hoses and the serpentine belt. The other hoses should be fine as long as they look OK.

 

Good one.....that Water pump quote is spot on and made me chuckle.

 

 

pay 1 million if you have it to waste, or take 1 hour of time and do it your self.

unless drive breaks the car can be worked on by you.

 

If you spend $200 on hoses, they had better be made of unobtanium

 

Absolutely right. Not unreasonable for a shop. Of course you will save money if you do the work yourself -- assuming you have basic mechanical skills.

 

I stand corrected - I just checked RockAuto, and it looks like you can get a full set of hoses for around $100 or so. I bought my heater hoses from Corvette Central a couple years ago, and they were quite a bit more expensive.

 

I was just checking rock auto and I'm not sure what to buy. Do they sell a kit that includes all the hoses?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

Just a side note here. While I wholeheartedly agree that it is more economical, fun, and rewarding, to learn and to do most if not all of the repair work on our cars, for some this is not the case.

Some may ask us about a price quoted from a shop so as to avoid that dreaded "Corvette" tax. I respect the person that for whatever reason does not care to climb on, over, under, and around these things. Go through the teadious labor of removing the the fifty things in order to get to the one thing that's broken. All the while praying to God that your replacment is the right part. The contortionist art of hand manuvering, the Hellen Keller style of learning to work on things you cannot see. And of course the putting the fifty perfectly good parts back on after hours of cussing, making promises to your car you'll never keep, and that moment in the middle of it all where you seriously ask yourself,"I wonder what I can sell it for just as it sits?"

So, I can see where some who just enjoy driving, the commaraderie at shows, and the general beauty of these cars may not care to delve into the dark underbelly of its mystique, and would rather sit in the waiting room with a nice hot cup of Starbucks and let the young technitian have the chance to tell all his buddies, "I got to work on a Corvette today"

So we should also add a little parts + labor+ band aids "yes it's fair" or "no they're pulling your chain" advice.

With todays labor rates, the cost of parts, labor, shop supplies, and fees for waste product handling. $400 is not too far off base IMHO.

 

With a car this old you should do it yourself if not to save money just for the experience.Because this is an older car and you must learn to do things yourself or you will go broke paying others to do it for you.
If your not going to work on it yourself it might be a good time to sell it before anything more costly goes wrong.
Just my 2 cents.

 

Thanks for this, sometimes I think that most of the people on this board don't realize that not everyone is a do it yourself type when it comes to working on cars. I'm primarily a computer engineer, and I don't expect others to feel comfortable doing things in my area of expertise. That being said, I think I am going to try this out myself, and I really appreciate all of the helpful comments, this board really is a special resource for corvette lovers.

 

If you run into any problems use this form.Everyone will help you out.

 

Oh come now, I was just trying to use a little humor to express my amusement that the OP asked a simple question about if the estimate was fair, and the first half dozen posts did not so much as recognize that question.
I don't think one should sell their car just because paragraph 2 depicts something unattractive to them. If they have money to have someone do it, then why not? I personally love the challenge of doing this stuff, but I was just saying I can understand why one would not want to.

I don't see any reason to judge or exclude an enthusiast because they don't turn a wrench. Of course it's more expensive, but their economic situation is none of my business. I also don't want to see a fellow enthusiast get ripped off by a shop because it's a "Corvette" when underneath that sexy clamshell, exists a humble old chevy.