I'm going to have my IP rebuilt and I'm struggling to choose the right diesel shop for the job. Its the age old dilemma of paying the premium for good work vs. taking a chance on an inexpensive rebuild.

I live in Alaska. My local shop up here came highly recommended. I've been in there once & been on the phone with them. They are professional & give out good advice- owner listed off a few things I should check out before I pulled my IP- seemed more concerned with me saving $$- that kind of good-natured stuff...
Their quote for a rebuild is $550-650

My alternative is hectorwithinjectors on ebay. I called them yesterday and a woman from the shop literally just called me back while I was writing this. For $250 they will do the rebuild, $350 if they find the head rotor is bad (I think mine is fine). I asked her how they do it so cheap, she said they buy large volumes of parts (IP repair parts) and have a small staff to keep costs down. All they deal with is IP rebuilds, so they are specialized in that regard, she told me. Their work is guaranteed for 1 year.

Part of my dilemma is maybe that I don't understand the intricacies of an IP rebuild. All I'm concerned with is that it gets done right. I look at it like $550 isn't alot to spend for another 100k miles on the IP. But on the flip-side if I can save a buck on one truck repair, I've got a buck to spend on another truck repair.

Alaska is not the kind of place you want to half-*** things with your vehicle, even though there are so many cars and trucks on the road that suggest otherwise

So what do you guys think? Also, what do you folks in the more populated areas of the country pay for IP rebuilds? I expect AK to cost 10-15% more on average, and thats ok because I get to eat all the halibut I want for next to nothing.

 

i would go with your local guy, he sounds like a good guy who knows what he's doing. i can't speak for the quality of the guy on ebay, but if it does have a problem, you have the added cost and *downtime* of shipping it back and forth.
as a point of comparison, i can buy a rebuilt pump locally from orielly, made by BWD, for $583 (plus tax - so 640 or so. i haven't had to buy one yet, just went to their website and checked.

 

Im in your same boat I'm gonna try and stay local and avoid eBay. Was doing some reaserch for myself bout 2 weeks ago. I can't speak for the guys quality but from what I understand the rotor is something like 300 wholesale. The more I look seams like the cheap route is almost always hit or miss and this is a job i really only wanna do once this year. Local rebuilds r going from between 500 and 800 here in NY.

 

I paid 480$ to get mine rebuilt about a year and a half ago from a shop in San Antonio TX (driving distance from my home ) sounds like your local guy is at least in the ball park for price. the guy on ebay might be great or he could be trouble looking for a victim
no way I know to tell for sure without sending him your pump and your money. and then it is to late if he is a bad one. Is either shop you are considering an authorized Stanadyne rebuilder? it is not a guarantee of competency but it is better than nothing. Here is a link to the people that did mine ( if nothing else it will give you a third option ):
Diesel Engine and Injection Serving in Excellence since 1960

seriously unless you have doubts about him that you haven't mentioned or money is a bigger issue than it sounds like I would go with the local guy you get to deal with him face to face and see what his shop looks like. you don't get that opportunity with any of the others. what ever you decide in the end you pay your money and take your chances.

 

Thanks for those price references. I feel like I'm just going to have to pony up.

"Go with the local shop" is what my gut was telling me too, but I guess I'm looking for someone to give me a good reason to go with the shop on ebay

Either way I still have to pull the pump & prep it to ship because the local shop is still hours away, so I'm a few days from getting to that. I have a few more days to consider my options...

 

I paid $450 in 1990 to have my IP rebuilt on my first Ford diesel. I had just put the ATS turbo and exhaust on the truck and had the guy that did all my diesel pump, injector, head and turbo jobs do my pickup.

He did remove and replace for that price but it was a long time ago. Seems like the price isn't a whole lot more now. Alaska is a bit higher anyway on most stuff isn't it?

 

Back in 1990 shop rates were down around $50-60 per hour, now most places are $80-90. Haha. $450 seems like a steal to me.

I was going to try to work something out with the shop where if they do my IP and supply my injectors and then I drive it up to them, will they then do my timing for me for free? Is that too out of line to ask? How long does it take to time an IP for someone who knows what they're doing?

Yeah most things are more expensive here, but I guess prices are high all over, so I don't know how bad I've got it. Diesel is almost $5/gal. Bananas are 1.19/lb. Propane is $4.80. Milk is 3.50. PBR 12 pack $10.99.

Hows that for a consumer price index?

People complain about it but to me thats just how it is and theres no sense complaining- I knew how it was before I moved up here. People that have to have all their things flown or barged in have it the worst.

 

I think someone posted about a week ago about bringing in some internet prices to a local place and see if they could match it. The guy couldn't bring it down that low, but was able to knock some of it off, and he got the job. Might be something to ask at least. His parts are probably more because its Alaska and shipping up there is pricy, but you've got the right idea keeping it local in case something goes wrong.

 

Yeah your prices are higher, something we already knew

I know you can get it cheaper but I'd keep the job close mainly because of where you are. Local is a lot easier when it comes to problems getting taken care of. If there is a problem you can just drive to the shop and they would likely take care of it even if they had to pull the pump back off. They probably wouldn't charge much if any for "their" problem.

Charge double if it a problem YOU caused LOL!!

 

Ask the local guy what he does when he rebuilds a pump. Then ask the guy on the internet about those parts, he probably won't even recognize half the part names.

 

Shoot, I called the local shop to ask about getting this done and it was a female's voice on the other end. She knew exactly what we were talking about and asked me some very specific questions (good questions, i even learned a thing or 2) about my pump and whats going on with it.

I get what you guys are saying about the local shop being able to follow up with any problems that arise, its just that if I had a problem I would not chance driving 2.5 hours to get to the shop you know what I mean? Well I'd probably chance it, but I'd bring warm clothes and my AAA card.


OK- So I've got the pump pulled, injectors will be out today and everything mailed off to them Monday AM. Now that I have so much off the top of my engine, is there anything I should check while I have so much open access to stuff? I'll have at least a week of down time.

One thing I'm going to look at is the condition of my GP controller ground where it attaches to the valve cover. I read threads saying it was a horrible place for a ground, destined to cause problems, etc... Should I just go ahead and move it, or just take a mental note of its appearance & clean it up?

Anything else worth looking into along these lines? The engine itself is filthy, I plan to spend some time under there with a soft wire brush & roll of paper towels cleaning it up. The degreaser I got from napa didn't work for $--t, so I'm using diesel. I might throw a fresh coat of paint on my metal fuel lines. I should start taking pictures...

 

Go with the local guy...better in the long run.

 

for some of your later questions:
grounding the GP controller, any position is fine, but when in doubt just run an extra ground wire to it from a good ground.
i agree with getting it all clean - on a clean engine you can find any leaks right away, and you just feel better about the condition of your truck. as for what you clean it with, most degreasers are designed to be used on mostly-clean surfaces, and are nearly useless on the big jobs. gasoline or diesel are cost effective, carb cleaner is very effective but costs a bit more. when using any of these, its advised to have a large drip pan under the engine to catch as much of what drips off as you can. even if you could care less about the environmental impact, remember that whatever you drop in your driveway, you'll be laying it in next time you work under your truck

 

Coveralls FTW!

 

Hahaha!!!!