[mike 96 ws6]

My friend asked me to replace both valve cover gaskets on his 98 Tahoe 5.7L vortec. I only have hand tools - no air. Approximately how long should this take?
Thanks for any help!
Mike

[MouseFink]

Two hours with no help.

Three hours with help.

[Project89]

Originally Posted by MouseFink

Two hours with no help.

Three hours with help.

aint that the friggen truth.All my friends always wanna help me work on stuff but i know it will take longer then it should with them helping so i always so no.

the exception is one of my friends hes good and with him we can cut just about anything time in half or less .

hell me and him swaped the flexplate on my camaro in under an hour start to finish , this is normally a 2.5-3 hour job

[da34guy]

Also depends on how many beer breaks ya take !!!!!!!!!!!

[vinniekq2]

Our shop has 3 prices for labour 95/hour we do it.110/hour you watch,150/hour you help

[Richiehd]

Chilton time 1.4 hrs, with A/C add 1.0

[MouseFink]

I can remember when a car owner could obtain a booklet called a "Flat Rate Manual" for their car from the new car dealership. It gave the time it took do do every job or combination of jobs. The auto repair business is the most dishonest business there is. The Service Manager at an auto repair shop must cheat their customers in order to remain in business. An honest auto repair shop would be bankrupt in six months. If you must take your car to a auto repair shop, never take it to a shop that has a Service Manager.

If you want good and honest auto repairs done, take your car as far away from a metropolitan area as possible. If a auto repair shop in a small town regularly cheats their customers, they will be out of business in a month. In a large town, auto repair shops have twenty new customers for every customer they rob.

[hcompton]

Flat rate is the time it take a trained tech to do the job with hand tools no power tools. In order to make any money machanic must use air and work there but off. Shop always makes money.

Are they leaking cause they are rubber gaskets right? they usally just tighting the bolts is all they need they come loose over tme with rubber gasktes. Put a wrench on the bolts and make sure they are tight before you let the shop swap them out. Hope you get lucky and they just need a 1/4 turn to seal up.

[Richiehd]

Flat rate, its how its done. Sometimes you can beat the book sometimes you cant. I love when people critcize the cost of auto repair and how we are always "ripping people off" People dont understand, cars are alot more complex than years ago. Constant training, overhead, tools and equipment, computers, software and programs with information needed to fix your car are all expenses that need to be paid for. A guy said to me the other day $180 just to take my rotors off and hang them on that machine and walk away? I said "no, $180 to know how to take the rotors off, HOW to hang them on the machine that cost me $5000, put them back on correctly, road test the car to make sure its safe and get it back to you in the time I promised"
On another note 2 root canals costs $2450.00. Thats al ot more flat rate than I get.

[killeratrod]

O.K. beer breaks aside !! are we done yet!!!

[vinniekq2]

wanna bash trades.I know a few lawyers that need bashing

[Richiehd]

Sorry for the rant.....A long day yesterday

[da34guy]

Originally Posted by killeratrod

O.K. beer breaks aside !! are we done yet!!!

Depends on how much was in the fridge !!!!!!!!!!!!