so I normally do all my own maintence, but I have a friend that does lots of work on these diesels rebuild my fuel filter bowl that was leaking. I was busy at work and he helped me out on a bunch of stuff so I figured I would throw him a bone. anyway he charged me $200 for parts and $300 for labor I was thinking that was bit excessive? but I don't know how long it takes but I was thinking, orings $25, filter $25, new drain valve $35? and a couple of hours of labor, am I missing something?

It was a new to me truck and the filter housing was nasty half full of water and gunk. So I am sure he spent time cleaning it out.

 

Your "friend" bent you str8 over with no happy lube.

Riffraff Diesel: Complete Fuel Bowl Seal Kit

I charge 50$ labor to do a fuel bowl for a customer.

 

Christoff is steering you correctly. $22 for the rebuild kit, $20 for a new OEM Racor fuel filter, and maybe one hour of your own time. Even an hour of a mechanic's time shouldn't be too much.

Sorry to tell you...but, stick around here, and you will become more of an expert on a 7.3L than 95% of the mechanics out there (this statistic was derived through extensive scientific and academic analysis...or simply pulled out of my...).

ON EDIT: He *might* have also replaced the fuel bowl heater ($55) and possibly a full FPR rebuild ($20?). But it still should have been half the price.

 

I would ask for a detailed list of parts used. that would help answer parts used.

I was scared my first time. but now that i have taken mine out twice its much easier. first time was slow, but second time was much faster. lol

you learn a lot doing what you can on your own as I have learned. I was surprised. when I had a truck I had things done. but now that I have a van I have done a few things I paid for on the truck. and let me tell you the van makes it harder.
but all do able.

I understand sometimes it easier to just pay for someone to do it. but you also PAY for it. just saying.

seems like a vent. but your friend is just running a business so he charges as one.
depending on what you need done, you could save a lot of Money by choosing your battles.

Best of luck and dont be shy with the forum. lost of info to learn here.

 

I thought I should follow up with this:

So I questioned him and he got very defensive, obviously I have no way to dispute his hours so I just asked to see the reciepts, he refused to show me the reciepts over a very tense conversation it finally came out that he did not charge me cost, but list plus 20% plus an hour of his time $75 to get them.... I certainly agree getting parts is work and he should make a few bucks on them but that imo is way over the top. when you are making list plus 20% its in his best intrest to find the most expensive parts and replace as much as possible I suppose. He also told me before that he was $50 an hour but he charged me $75 an hour since this was engine work.

I offered to pay him his cost parts plus 4 hours at the rate he quoted me before $50, and he got totally pissed He said fine I won't charge you I will put all the old stuff back in and you can have it for free. So I hightailed it to his shop, it was after hours, to go get my truck! He headed back there too and beat me there but at least I caught him before he messed around with my truck. He gave me the keys and wrote no charge on the invoice and did finally show me the recipts, he did spend $140 on parts, filter, two oring sets (don't know what the second was for) and a new drain valve assembly. He was obviously mad and thought I was a crook.....

So next day I went there to give him a check, I know he was totally wrong with his price but I just figured lesson learned to not give him work. He ripped up my check in front of me. Oh well my conscience is cleared I tried to pay lol.

So the next day I called the ford dealer and they quoted me $218, but left out the new filter in that quote. Great conscience cleared again, I was right, so much for him yelling at me telling me he was always cheaper than anyone else especially the dealer....

drama drama.....

 

Thank you for updating and more importantly... confronting the guy about it.
Maybe next time he will remember it doesnt pay to treat people like that...

Kudos and reps sent!

 

That sucks, sorry you had to go threw that but at least you know the truth now.

Just guess how many people get bent over like this every day all over the world. I hear about it all the time, its sad.

 

yeah on top of it all book time is 1.5 hours

I didn't think it would be such a problem, it went downhill real quick if someone has a problem with something I did I would rather know about it so I could make it right or agree to disagree.

 

thanks for the update. that is good you asked the question. you would have felt burned for a long time over this and probably a salty topic if it came up.

the first time is usually the longest cause you are learning.

about 2 hours for my first time. and sadly shortly after a rebuild I had to do it all over again due to a faulty Oring..

second time was about 35-45 min. now mind you I have a van so its a little more involved than you truck guys cause lack of room. (TRUST ME)

now its back in and I Hope I dont have to do it again, but at least I know I can if I have to.

Cheers

 

as a former submarine sailor working on an engine for trucks or cars is no comparison to $M engines on subs. Nonetheless it still is a little scary. Bottom line Diesel O rings sold me complete o-ring package $30 and step by step instructions that were spot on. Also bought upgrade FPR spring for $25. Took me about 2 hrs to get it off. 2 hrs to disassemble, clean, and install new spring and o-rings and about 1 hour to reinstall and test. Test sat no leaks. One thing I would add is to align flared tubing with ports before bolting down completely the housing. Actually a very smooth repair. One other tip mark the connection on the fit up of the ports and nuts before disassembly.

I estimated my savings at a minimum of $500.

AJ