took my 01 Ex in the other day and had a front to rear inspection done on it. I let them know about the SES light that came on and told them it was the GPCM. The man said $250 for part and $190. I understand the price of the part but $190 for labor. Does it not sit on the valve cover and is held on by 2 nuts and and 2 plugs? I had the oil changed, transmission flushed and told him to stop there because he quoted me a $2900.00 bill. That includes $184 front and $184 for rear for brakes. The upper and lower ball joints are bad, I cant remember price on for labor on that but I think it was around $430 as well as an intercooler boot that was leaking a little oil that ran to the turbo. That was like $300 for labor. After all that I still love my truck. Its gonna take a little while to get her right again but I have nothin but time. Who out there has changed the GPCM and is it as easy as it looks. I am trying to save all I can. I have a friend that will do allot less on the labor.

 

You actually LET them do all that?!?

GPCM- Can be purchased off of ebay MUCH cheaper than the dealer and ridiculously easy to replace.
oil changed- Easy to do, can be done oil and filter $60
$184 front and $184 for rear for brakes- No more than $100 (front and rear) for new pads at Oreilly's and a 1-2 hours of your time.

intercooler boot that was leaking a little oil that ran to the turbo. That was like $300 for labor- Clay at Riffraff Diesel could've sold you 2 sets of new, better boots and clamps for that much.

Don't know where you live, but If you're here in Houston, I would do it all for free. Yeah, you read it right FOR FREE.

It's more of a hobby than anything and I don't want any money for it. I enjoy helping people, teaching them something new, and saving them an expensive headache. I've done the work before and with the right equipment can have it done within a day or so. Haven't ventured down the ball joint road, but I may have to soon....

I FIRMLY believe in not paying someone to do something I can do myself...I'd much rather invest my time than money I'll regret spending.

 

Man thanks for the offer, if I lived closer I would take you up on that. As for the gpcm, advance auto has one for 230, partsguyed has one for 122, that's a big price difference for not knowing if that's the same part. It looks very simple, like a plug and play kinda thing.I will probably try that one myself. The boots leaking was a 300 dollar labor cost. Is it that hard ? How much do the boots and clamps run? I will probably be aggrevating you before this is over with. Thanks a lot for the help. I got ther run down on the prices it would cost me from ford to do these things. I will post them later. Its got 144 on the ticker and I knew things were gonna be needed repairing when I got it.

 

Toreador, could u move to NC! Thanks really cool. Dealerships r crazy, please ask around n ur area who works on diesel or ask the dealership. I asked the dealership who did the diesel performance in the area and was hooked up with a very nice guy who's doing my exhaust, intake, tune and overall maintance , as my hands do not fit a wrench.

 

I live in Hamsptead just outside of wilmington NC. How far are you from me??

 

Joe:

Toreador has made a great offer for the Houstonians, but I'd be willing to bet that there's one or more like him in just about every state...

If your warranty's expired, i'd highly recommend never gracing the parts or service counter of your dealership ever again. They charge too much for what they do, and they don't generally do what's best for the owner or vehicle, but what's best for the business. I'm sure there are exceptions to the statement above, but I HIGHLY recommend becoming a DIY'er.

Most of the stuff done on your vehicle today, even at the dealership, is "pluck and chuck" repairs. They take out the old part, throw it away, and install a new one. Your instincts are right; what they're doing isn't rocket science, and with the right basic tools, you can do >50% of your own maintenance and repairs. The farther you try to go above that 50%, the more you need to spend on tools, but it's still pretty do-able.

Start with a Chiltons or Haynes manual from your local parts store; it'll tell you how to do just about anything basic you need to do. Be forewarned, they always gloss over at least one step in every procedure..."Remove the glomitz from the frambulator" but they don't tell you that there's a hidden screw on the bottom of the glomitz that requires a left-handed torx screwdriver. That's where this place comes in handy (or any other appropriate auto forum). Post up your problem on here ("I've removed all the bolts I can see, and I still can't get the glomitz off! HELP!"), and depending on time of day, you can probably get an answer in an hour or less.

I'm completely self-taught. Everything I've done and learned is through trial and error, internet searches, and busted knuckles. But, in the process I've learned a LOT about my vehicles, saved quite a bit of money, and gained confidence that I KNOW things are done right on my vehicle, because if they aren't, I'll do it over again until it is right.

GO FOR ALL OF IT! Search for others that have the same problems. A lot of times, someone who has been through it before you was even nice enough to take pictures and post up a good how-to writeup. If not, you can for those coming after you. That's how we all pay our dues for FTE (and forums like it).

 

Joe, you need to start posting your 7.3 related questions in the 7.3L forum so you can get hooked up with The Brotherhood!

The 7.3L forum isn't just a tech forum where you can educate yourself on the ins and outs of the PSD, but it's also a networking forum where guys get together and help each other out all the time.

Back in July, we had a tech day get-together where the guys installed a new Garrett 38R ball-bearing turbo on my truck, fixed an oil leak on my EBPV, installed a CCV kit, replaced my no-name muffler with an MBRP muffler I grabbed off of Craigslist, and helped me wire up my back-up camera.

I forget how many trucks we had there that weekend where everyone just helped everyone.

$300 bucks is a ridiculous charge for labor to replace one IC boot that took them all of 5 minutes to take care of, with 4 minutes dedicated to finding the proper size screwdriver to use on the clamp!

Click on the link in my sig to learn how the term "The Brotherhood" came about.

We have guys in and near Jersey that can help you out bro. Drop in to the 7.3L forum, introduce yourself, and stop getting ripped off by the Stealership!

I'll look for your thread over there!

Stewart

 

I just laugh every time I drive by the big fancy new building that my local Ford stealership put up. NO reason ever to stop again... I KNOW I will get hosed over. They have to pay for that building somehow..
Example: I did call to "check" the price on a egr/dpfe value I needed for my squad. Ford price $280, Napa price $137 with tax.

 

GPCM for your truck is a GPCM for your truck - partsguyed will hook you up! Yes, it is as easy as it looks...

You do need to look carefully at the pigtails/harness that connects to GPCM. I replaced one before I figured out the pigtail was melted and not making good connection - doubt the stealership even looked at that... International makes a 'repair kit' for this problem that includes new pigtails, proper connectors and DETAILED instructions.

If you can safely jack up your truck and remove the tires, you can probably handle changing rotors and brake pads. Lifetime warranty rotors at O'rielly's cost me $66/ea and Hawk LTS pads (about the best you can buy) only $70ish/pr. Changing calipers (if you have a a pull to one side when you brake) is a little more involved, but we can surely guide ya thru it. Again, parts not that expensive - I usually justify buying the BEST parts by saving the money I would have paid for labor.

My local tire store (NOT a chain) does the best suspension and alignment work in my area, and ball joints just cost me a little over $500 - parts AND labor. Ford quoted $1400 BTW!

Clay at RiffRaff won't just sell you superior boots, he'll talk ya thru any problems you have installing them! Of course your friends here at FTE are always willing to help online as well.

Good luck! Let us know how it turns out!

 

this is what I got back from Ford today

1. Replace 7.3 diesel fuel filter 82.95
2. BG diesel fuel service w/cetane booster 176.95
3. front brake repair with motorcraft 184.95
4. same for rear 184.95
5. 2 wheel alignment 54.95
6. Diagnose and replace glow plug module 440.22
7. intercooler an manifold ducts leave 638.52
8. ball joints worn 822.20
_______
2585.69
TAX 89.71
MISC CHARGE 30.00
TOTAL 2705.40


IS THIS CRAZY OR WHAT??

 

Sorry but i belive you got raped there... im 16 and i could of done all that right there....

 

Oh I did not get this done, I figured this forum could save me over half of that

 

Hi Joe, I'm right up the road from you Asheboro. Hopefully you can find a guy in your area to treat you right or if you're interest in coming to Asheboro, I can give you his # . I feel very luck to have found him and it was the stealership that gave me his name. Can u believel that. Toreador, I was in Houston during the summer driving a 67 VW bus all over the US and had a guy ask if he could work on the Sunny D bus for FREE. You can find great people all over, but I'd stay away from the stealership.

 

Gas to stealership - $5
Time at stealership - $25
Invoice from stealership - $1000+
FTE Forum and Members help - Priceless.
Nothing better then the people on here.