I am posing this as a new question original thread was titled noise.....I have a 2 WD 1999 F 250 63,000 miles. 7.3 with automatic and 373 LS differential. I developed a noise which sounded like it was coming from between the seats.... I had it diagnosed locally as noise coming from the rear diff... They never called back to do the work... I found a nice shop on my own on the Internet in the Portland area. (nice web site) I wont give the name because its not my plan to dis the shop but to gather information.

I took the truck in... Nice shop, clean, very professional looking shop. Told them about the noise from the rear diff. They said they would check it out.. The called me back in a few hours and said they checked the rear diff and it seemed fine. They checked the run out which seemed good with dial indicator. They serviced the rear diff. They test drove the truck and were convinced the noise was coming from the front wheel bearings. They replaced the two front wheel bearings and completed the rear diff service..... The truck was in the shop a good 10 hours... When I came to pick it up they were just finishing the test drive...NOISE STILL THERE..... I think they were a bit embarrassed and stumped. I left the truck there.

Next day they did a few more hours of diagnosing and decided to tear the rear end apart....Carrier bearings were bad... One real bad. Pinion bearings showed signs of wear. I decided to replace all the bearings in the diff and the axle bearings. Timken bearings were used... Ring and Pinion gear good..

My questions....
1. what is customary when a shop makes a mis-diagnosis and does work that was not needed. (Keeping in mind that I know I now have new front wheel bearings..So I have got something).

2. At $90 per hour what do you think I should have paid for having the two front wheel bearings replaced?

What should I have paid to have the rear diff build and axle bearing replacement?

Let me tell ya.... It was expensive.... But real quiet now!

Thanks

Doug

 

As much as I'd like to thump the techs I also know that drive line noise can be very hard to pin point. You get something going bad and those harmonics just flow through the truck. Most of the time those noises are only present under load and while the vehicle is in motion so short of hanging on underneth ala Keunu Reeves it can be hard. I definately thing they should at least offer to half the labor rate and give you parts at cost on the front end... they shouldn't "profit" from there mistake, but I don't think you should get something for nothing and I don't think they should take a total beating. If this were something easier to diagnos and they were just trying to scam you my opinion would be very different.

 

I agree with Mike^^^^, they should not profit from the misdiagnosis, but, should profit for rebuilding the rear end. you do not have to worry about front bearings anymore. sticky situation. offer to pay cost for the front end parts, ask for a half labor rate on the front end, and pay the normal shop materials charge as well as pay the full bill on the rear end rebuild.

 

$90 an hour is higher than the dealer cost here. Negotiate what you can and be glad it is actually fixed. Could be worse, could still have the problem and negotiating price.