mechanic charges

zelia1

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Feb 2, 2009
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hi i have a 94 jetta that needs the head of the engine repaired and replacing the timing belt i would like to know about a average price on how much i should be paying i feel i am being ripped off big time please help oops it is in san cristobal dominican republic and i am in the u.s
 

MikeFisher

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such a cost is hard to calculate without taking a look on the damage and what needs to be replaced, and in case of replacement of course it differs in age/condition of a replaced part.
if the cylinder head get's 'repaired', that includes to send it to Simon to make it 'plain' again to fit, such costs around 3.000-4.000.- pesos.
mechanic costs to remove, send to repair and later put back on the descibed parts should be cheap in San Cristobal, would count on around 2.000.- for the mechanic who does that work.
in addition count needed spare parts.
an other point is why the head is damaged, such usually does not get damaged itself, there's mostly a reason/some other part what caused that damage, so a diagnostic on that repair is from here impossible.
rates for parts of course differ a lot by brand/model/size aso of that 94 jeepeta.
Mike
 

augustus

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Dec 19, 2007
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You said VW not JEEP, right............Also, if you trust the mechanic, yes......If you don't, I would wait until I got there.....

Personally, as an overall rule......I don't trust them from a distance, further than what I can see...........

Speaking from experience
 

zelia1

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Feb 2, 2009
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head got damaged due to overheating. it a 94 vw jetta so needs timing belt and misc stuff
 

TheHun

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head got damaged due to overheating. it a 94 vw jetta so needs timing belt and misc stuff

Than- beside the head- you still have to get the cooling syst. problem repaired, unless you want to paid for a head / head gasket replacement weekly.
You have to repair the cause not just the symptom.
Also, do not pay extra to replace the timing belt, pay only for a new belt, because to remove the head they have to remove the t-belt anyway.
In my shop I charge DR$ 1000/hour, however I repair an other car line.
In the DR you might see 1-2 good mechanic out of 100, one of them will tell you that he can't fix your car because he does not have the right tools, equipment or knowledge. The "know it all" guys are the ones who usually fukk it up and it will cost you more at the end.
Also, many times here the quality of the parts are really questionable.
I have seen the cheapest, lowest on the "foodchain" quality parts here that I would not install for my own enemy. There are good quality parts also, but they are not cheap at all, many times it cost 2, 3x higher than in the US.
Most mechanic here will not offer warranty , maybe 30 days on labor only and nothing on the parts. If there is a problem they will blame it on the parts anyway. No offense, but MOST dominicans are masters of the excuses - mechanics are not better.
DO YOUR RESEARCH before you deal with a tech. Get references, ask your friends, neighbors who is their mechanic, get 2nd and 3rd opinions and quotes - just like you would do it in the US. The cheapest are not definitely the best.
My work is not cheap. It happens that some of my new clients choose a lowest cost options and later return with more problems and pay more than the original estimate. Better for me ;)
There is a smart saying: "The cheapest mechanics are the most expensive"
May I ask how much do they want to charge you and what parts are involved?

The Hun (an ASE master tech)
 

MikeFisher

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sorry for my 'reading' mistake,
yeap, it's jetta and not jeepeta, lol.
nd the Hun is right, good mechanics are very rare.
here on the east i know only one i would let touch my car.
Mike
 

donmobay

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Dec 10, 2005
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wait

till you get here... gasoline or diesel.... it should be less than 500$ us. gasoline...
 

zelia1

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for the head and the parts mechanic wants about 10,000 pesos about 300 dollars it has a 2.0 engine.
 
Feb 7, 2007
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Calculate as per posts above: 4.000 pesos + 2.000 pesos = 6.000 pesos, laves 4.000 pesos for parts (US$ 110). Not bad at all.
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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That is a fine piece of machinery. Go to Avelino Abreu and see what they want for the work. It will be more expensive, but it will be with factory trained (at least they say that) mechanics...and they do have a good reputation...

HB
 

TheHun

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May 4, 2008
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That's about the right price. In the US you would pay about 3X that.
DON"T FORGET!! You have to fix the cause, not just the cyl.head!
Ask them: What caused the overheating?? I'm almost 100% sure it was not the head. The head problem is just the result of the overheating.
As I said before, get the cooling system problem fixed also, otherwise you will waste the $300.
Good luck!

The Hun
 

TheHun

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Just some price info:

The following are the recent US list prices (note: most of the times local part prices are higher! ) :
1994 VW Jetta 2.0

cyl. head gasket kit: 153.47
timing belt: 38.92
tim.belt tensioner: 54.67
drive belts about $ 30-40 (depends on the type of alternator)
So $300 is really dirt cheap for this job.
However, here are some of the parts that you might also need (there are many other parts exist on the cooling system, but these are the most common ones):

cooling fan assembly: 356.52
thermostat: 25.00
water pump: 131.93
radiator: 291.32
So are you sure that $ 300 will fix all the "overheating" problem?

The Hun
 

zelia1

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Feb 2, 2009
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well 300 u.s dollars is alot in d.r . my stupid brother in law drove the car with no water what so ever then the timing belt snapped and he kept on until it shut down. i guess because he did not pay for the car and does not pay to maintain it he didn't care!!! i feel that i am over charged because this is only for the head repair and new timing belt. not for labor. he is asking 4500 pesos for that. the thing is i will be traveling there next week with my family 3 kids so i dont want to mess this vacation for them because we only go there about 1 time every 5-6 years. I canceled christmas for this trip so as you can imagine there supper hyped to go. dont want to get there and no car.
 

TheHun

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uuuups!
You did not mentioned that the timing belt snapped!!
Now there is more to the story. There are bent valves involved for sure, possible permanent damage to the head, possible piston, cyl. wall damage...
They can't give you an exact estimate until they will remove the head and do further inspection.
Just make your brother in-law pay for it or shoot him..

The Hun
 
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MikeFisher

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uuuups!
You did not mentioned that the timing belt snapped!!
Now there is more to the story. There are bent valves involved for sure, possible permanent damage to the head, possible piston, cyl. wall damage...
They can't give you an exact estimate until they will remove the head and do further inspection.
Just make your brother in-law pay for it or shoot him..

The Hun

completely agreement,
not only on the shooting on tyhe bro in law, lol.
that belt snapped b/c the engine blocked,
would be a huge surprise not to find cylinder damge aso once the head is removed. i don't know your bro in law or the used mechanic aso, but by experiences observed with many people here the game is the following:
they tell you even before they inspected the real damage about a 10.000.- reparation plus mechanics labor cost of 4500.- pesos, you sey yes and send the money they open the head and find out what they anyways know:
more pieces needed, more damage than expected, more money needed, it is sorrily very often running exactly that way as long as you are not really well befriended with a specific mechanic which you trust.
fro reading what happened i would really not count on the car ready next week.
Mike
 

zelia1

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Feb 2, 2009
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i just received the news the mechanic already fixed the car. and it cost me 300 dollars. i understand the price in the u.s but i also keep in mind in d.r it should be much cheaper. alot of people with regular jobs only make about 300 dollars a month. the thing that got me going was that the retard brother-inlaw told the mechanic that an american that was going on vacation was going to pay for it. but thank god everything is o.k .
 

MikeFisher

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Feb 28, 2006
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i just received the news the mechanic already fixed the car. and it cost me 300 dollars. i understand the price in the u.s but i also keep in mind in d.r it should be much cheaper. alot of people with regular jobs only make about 300 dollars a month. the thing that got me going was that the retard brother-inlaw told the mechanic that an american that was going on vacation was going to pay for it. but thank god everything is o.k .

by your description of what happened that rate been a good deal if they fixed it all o.k.
glad to hear you will not need the motoconchos when down here on vaca, mechanixs stuff can sometimes/often really be a p.i.t.a., ha ha
Mike