I have a 2004 Mercury Mountaineer with 110,927 miles on it. Recently my SUV was acting like the engine would die on me, especially at the hottest part of the day here in CA. I used my diagnostic tool to discover my Cylinder 3 was misfiring. I took it to a mechanic and they said with no codes they couldn't tell what the problem was. Finally the service light came on and I took it back, they ran a diagnostic and said it was Cylinder 3 claiming that replacing the spark plug a coil was common problem. Later they called and said that they traced the problem to a burned wire and that they could buy just the 1 wire. Since I was at work my Dad picked up the car...come to find out it cost $155 for this repair. Was I scammed?? Seems wire should not burn unless there was a fire. Also why couldn't they buy just 1 wire? And wire are what $0.50 so for like 6 it would be $3 most and labor should be like $20 right? So no way I should have paid over like $50 for diagnostic, wires and labor.
You would really hate what it would have cost to have that repaired at my shop then.
You got a good deal considering they had to run down the burned wire and repair it. But if you want to save money, do it yourself next time. Lots of info out there on how to replace burned wires.
Well, tbh... Couple things bother me. First off you scanned the car yourself and found cylinder 3 misfire, and then brought it to this shop who said the code wasn't there? Like did you erase the code? Cause if not that's kinda wack that you found the code it they did not.
As for the claim that spark plug and coil are common problems. Yes that is the first assumption typically on cars during a misfire. Because it is the most common. So good there.
Maybe ya got a language barrier? Cause it's not exactly a 1 wire replacement, unless they are a backyard mechanic with minimal soldering skill using a 10 gauge on a 14 gauge wire. Did they show you proof of the burned wire? And where they replaced it.
On your end. Simply put, no you didn't get scammed, you live in California so let me just tell ya as another Californian. Labor charge on average for a typical shop here be $80 in the rural areas to $120 if you in the city. Diagnosis average is around $100 no matter where you are here.
Part was probably like 2-5 dollars since it's not just any random wire if I am thinking of an ignition coil wire that is... You don't really specify what melted do I wouldn't know, can only guess that. So overall, for an hour-ish of work, diagnosis, part and labor. Price is ight. Though maybe a little strange. You are essentially paying for something you did not do yourself/did not have the knowledge for. If you bought said part and knew what you were looking for then you would only spend the $2-5 dollar for the part and do it yourself if you had found this burnt wire.
If this gives you any motivation to do more jobs yourself that is to save that hard earned money haha!
Also if you consider that wages vary from 15-40 dollars depending on how specialize the tech is, that is also take into account as well. Most shops refer to and charge by "book time" rather than how much time it takes to actually repair a car... Looking at you bmw...
Excellent explanation Bruce.
Okay. When I scanned it and they did all it said was Cylinder 3 was misfiring. There was no like PO3 with a detailed explanation. Also the "Serving Engine Soon" was never continously lit so the computer I am guessing never knew what to say in specific.
Seems like you got more than one electrical fault then my friend, any misfire is suppose to trigger a check engine. And if they scanned it with a $1-10k scan tool they would have been able to find hidden/stored codes regardless. Unless for whatever reason they just used an AutoZone special scanner... That be why I'm confused. Nevertheless I assume the problem is fixed at least for now? I would be content as the price is fair as most have mentioned. Did you happen to get where the burn wire is from? Genuinely curious.
$155 to diagnose and fix an electrical issue? I would be thrilled and keep this mechanic in my speed dial.
Hey they figured out I wouldn't complain they could charge you whatever they wanted if it wasn't running right and they didn't sell you unnecessary things realize today most mechanics charge about 140 an hour labor
Thanks. I feel better now that you have...been kind to this particular mechanic. Good to know I found a better one than some you have mentioned
Where I live it would’ve been slightly higher then average but that’s not a bad value at all.
Mechanics charge like $100 an hour so… yeah not fun at all…
TBH, labor sounds about right. Most mechanics I go to charge at least $100 / hour. At least!
That’s the way it is with many cars. Parts are cheap, but the labor is expensive.
In your case, I think you got a fair deal.
With labour rates these days it doesn't take long to go through $155.00.
No you didn't. The labor rate is in the range given.
Okay, You couldn't figure out what was wrong.
You took it to a shop.
The mechanic took some time to trace the problem to the solution.
Right so far?
He fixed it and charged you for his effort.
Now even though you had no idea how to fix the problem, you assume that it was an easy fix.
Forget codes, learn how to use your brain to figure things out like your mechanic did. And stop whinning about a few bucks!
The main red flag I see is the "there's no codes, so I can't figure out what's wrong."
every single mechanic should have a relatively high level scan tool that can read scores of live data streams and freeze frame data streams.
All they'd have to do is plug it in and look. Anyone who relies on codes alone is someone I wouldn't trust. But that's just me.
Even when I plugged it in I never got a specific code. Like I have seen thing like PO3 PO4 with a bit of details about what was happening. All I ever saw was the Cylinder 3 was misfiring. And even that never triggered the "Service Engine" light. It did come one once and then went off again (and stayed off)