Service

FordACE · 15-11-2005, 02:53 PM

ED falcon futura is getting serviced today. 195000kms on the clock. I'm spewing, my brother brought it into ford, and they've quoted us $650 for the service. what the heck is the go with that price? If i wasn't at work i would have told them to shove it. apparently injectors are getting cleaned or something as well. at this price it better come back a new car.
Does this sound reasonable at all?

Paul

Obriza · 15-11-2005, 03:11 PM

i bet that most of that money is for labour, dealerships tend to do this alot. i remember when my sister took her car into holden for a service, they found tha they had to replace a tube (cant remember which one), but it ended up costing over $800! with almost $450 just on labour. this job wouldve only taken not even 3 hrs to do.

CruizinEB · 15-11-2005, 03:17 PM

they price high so you think the car is a piece of crap and buy the latest V8

FordACE · 15-11-2005, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRUIZIN EB

they price high so you think the car is a piece of crap and buy the latest V8

i love my ED. it's my pride and joy. but this cost of service is beyond the joke. i'm about to scream.

CruizinEB · 15-11-2005, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FordACE

i love my ED. it's my pride and joy. but this cost of service is beyond the joke. i'm about to scream.

i would say don't go to ford shop around there are some very good mechanics out there you've just got to do some searching ;)

15-11-2005, 03:20 PM

a full service for an e-series can include;

- engine oil change
- brake fluid change and bleed
- coolant flush
- pressure test cooling system
- change spark plugs
- clean injectors
- fuel filter
- oil filter
- air filter
- leads
- brake pads
- machine or replace the rotors

$650 sounds ok, but you could probably shop around and get it cheaper. If it includes anything less than what ive just mentioned, then you're getting ripped.

FordACE · 15-11-2005, 03:27 PM

i just finished uni exams yesterday so im spewing because 650 dollars is something i dont' have laying around. they could have told me it was going to be that much to begin with. not tell me that on the day. i was thinking it couldn't be more than $300 for sure.

woodstock, the brake pads are brand new already, the leads are new, the coolant i already flushed it myself and my bro told them not to do that. there was no mention of spark plugs being changed. injectors to be cleaned was on the list. airfilter is a k&n so it's staying as it is. so where the is 650 dollars going?

CruizinEB · 15-11-2005, 03:29 PM

i will never go to ford because of one time, my fathers AU V8's alloy radiator was damaged and it was still under warranty so he got it replaced, the night he got it back we were driving home and lost all puling power down the freeway, we found out that the trany lost all it's fluid because ford changed a hose with a piece of garden hose with no clamps.

after all the costs of towing on a tilt tray and fixing the trany, he lost 1500 :(

FordACE · 15-11-2005, 03:41 PM

yeah that's true. but when i pick this car up this afternoon i won't be paying $650 for a service. i will be making them show me all they did and exactly how long it took. ie, they can't charge 650 dollars which includes new brake pads etc if they didn't even change the freaking things.

xxxc · 15-11-2005, 06:30 PM

dealerships are f!cked up and overpriced

LTDHO · 15-11-2005, 07:02 PM

Fordace, this has been covered several times before.

People only go to ford are ppl with too much money!

EB6 · 15-11-2005, 10:01 PM

HA HA i work at kia and when you get a 100 000k service on a carnival u get and oil and filter, spark plugs and the 3 timing belts changed and that will set ya back about $1200, it does take all day to do dont know if u have enver seen one of those motors but yeah shop around for sure or u will get jipped and if your paying 650 for anything but a full major service, all filters fluids so on i would be ****ed.

neb · 15-11-2005, 10:21 PM

maybe you should buy yourself a service manual and try servicing it yourself. if you do the work yourself, oil change, oil filter, coolant, air filter, fuel filter, leads, plugs ... should be able to get it all for under $150

FordACE · 15-11-2005, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neb

maybe you should buy yourself a service manual and try servicing it yourself. if you do the work yourself, oil change, oil filter, coolant, air filter, fuel filter, leads, plugs ... should be able to get it all for under $150

i'm not stupid. I know my way around a car and other mechanical devices. the main problem is time. The other problem is my car has a warranty which requires it to get a log book service.

Next time my car gets serviced I will go to Ultra tune or some other place.

The service cost today totalled $577, and to be honest, not much was done. engine oil, filter, fuel filter, plugs, and repacked some bearings on the front. 400 dollars of it was labour.

Thanks for all your input guys.

15-11-2005, 10:38 PM

What was the outcome FORDace?

15-11-2005, 10:40 PM

^^^^ That's a bloody rip mate. You say time's a factor, all up, you'd be looking at around 2 hours to change the things they did. Engine oil is 15mins, spark plugs, 10, air filter, 20 seconds, fuel filter is tricky, but with a hoist, easy as pie..

FordACE · 15-11-2005, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by woodstock_rocks

^^^^ That's a bloody rip mate. You say time's a factor, all up, you'd be looking at around 2 hours to change the things they did. Engine oil is 15mins, spark plugs, 10, air filter, 20 seconds, fuel filter is tricky, but with a hoist, easy as pie..

repacking the bearings on the front took alot of time apparently. the rotors had to come off etc. the most fun part of the service is that i thought the car would at least feel better for it. in all, it's down on power, and the brakes feel like they don't even work. how the heck do they make brakes feel even more crap then they originally are? did they grease the rotors. haha

edit: oh yeah, they cleaned the injectors too. but, all they did was a preventative clean. ie, not much

FordACE · 15-11-2005, 11:02 PM

i just relooked at the bill and the labour was a total of $316. i guess i will just have to smile and bear it now that i had it done. here is the invoice for your perusal.

p.s, miscallaneous fluids. they topped up the radiator water, which was already overfill and charged me $10 for it. a full bottle of concentrate is no more then 20 bucks at autobarn.

FordACE · 15-11-2005, 11:06 PM

oh and the funniest thing ever. Last time i got it serviced there, which was only a minor service, they recommended that i get my airconditioning system checked for leaks on this service that i just got done. The reason it was funny is because they said the airconditioner wasn't getting cold. and i was like, okay, that's strange. and guess what? it wasn't getting cold because they had the thermostat in the hot setting. intelligent. If my brother didn't tell them that the airconditioner was fine, they would have even charged me to put a die in the sytem to find a leak that didn't exist.

15-11-2005, 11:22 PM

God, ya gotta love some of the items listed on the invoice that they put there to fill up space... "checked operation of bonet lock/safety catch" bwhahahah

Damo · 15-11-2005, 11:24 PM

$11 oil filter, $38 for fuel filter ? $57 for spark plugs. Far out, Ford really do suck in regards to servicing. I would charge a slab of coldies to do all that. Parts would be like less than $100

You should check if the even pulled the rotors off to repack the front bearings.

argonEL · 16-11-2005, 02:53 AM

LOL
It says on there "replaced air cleaner element"
Yet you didn't have one replaced ... Hmmm?

FordACE · 16-11-2005, 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by argonEL

LOL
It says on there "replaced air cleaner element"
Yet you didn't have one replaced ... Hmmm?

oh , they told me when i went to pick it up that the air filter wasn't changed because I had a non-replaceable. I think the service would have been the 650 they quoted me if it wasn't for the non-replaceable filter.

py:

Thanks guys for all your input. I'll be shopping around next time and seeing who can do what for what price.

LTDHO · 16-11-2005, 07:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by argonEL

LOL
It says on there "replaced air cleaner element"
Yet you didn't have one replaced ... Hmmm?

(on other peoples cars) I always check to see if all the invoiced items replaced.
I used to know a Service manage for a Honda dealer and he told me that up to half of the items were not replaced. Most the time the plugs were never done, but still invoiced.

CruizinEB · 16-11-2005, 03:05 AM

lest you know they sell there cars at a loss and make up the difference by charging Heep's for servicing, lest its one way to look at it

ratter · 16-11-2005, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRUIZIN EB

lest you know they sell there cars at a loss and make up the difference by charging Heep's for servicing, lest its one way to look at it

Bullsh#t

Each department in a dealership is run as a seperate buisness, each department has to make it's own profit, the service departments do not make money from the parts they sell you as part oas part of the service, spare parts do. The service department makes it's money from labour, profit from oils and fluids and some service extras i.e injector cleaners etc.

If a used or new car department lost money for more than probably 2 months in a row, the manager would be out on his **** in no time.

New car departments do make a great deal on the sale of new cars, if the buyers twist their arms hard enough, but they try to recoup some of their money back by selling paint protection, fabric protection, rust proofing, tinted windows etc etc

FoxMulder · 16-11-2005, 06:46 AM

Cruizin EB is right. Ford, (and most Australian car manufacturers, except Toyota) sell their cars at a loss. It's the only way they can compete with the cheap overseas crap that gets spewed out. (Hyundai for example). The only way the companies stay afloat is to charge exhorbitant prices on the parts and servicing of the cars. I think one of my teachers told me that the base model XT, without any extra options was selling at a $600 loss (before haggling, and the dealerships usually have a $5000 leeway on the price). With all the cars they sell, it helps for them to overcharge on parts and labour.

I heard on the radio that a test was done, to see how much the cars would cost if all the components of the car were bought seperately. Apparently it would cost over $120,000.

dvk · 17-11-2005, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FoxMulder

Cruizin EB is right. Ford, (and most Australian car manufacturers, except Toyota) sell their cars at a loss.

I'm going to call bull on this. I'm sure they sell them with much narrower margins, but they definitely don't sell them at a loss. The large aussy 6 market is a volume business, and to sell cars at even a small loss, would be impossible to compensate even with the most insane servicing costs.

They sell them with narrower margins to move stock in order to generate extra revenue from the easy logbook services, that's about the extent of the truth as far as I know.

Papa Smurf · 16-11-2005, 07:21 AM

FordACE, I work for a Ford dealer and yes having your car serviced at a FORD Dealer can be a little pricey at times? I would suggest you search around and find a GOOD place to have your car serviced and stick to them. Tell them next time you have a service that you will PAY what they tell you it costs for the service and no more.

FordACE · 16-11-2005, 02:53 PM

does anyone know if there are aftermarket radiator water level sensors? I need a new one, because it is faulty and ford want a mere $63 for it. Went to supercheap and was told they are a ford only part. autobarn may have them?