$1000.00 for a new Raditior? Is that too much?
 

Took my Navigator into the shop casue I was smelling antifreeze.
They told me I had a crack in the raditior.

costing me 1k to get it replaced.

Does that seem right? Anyone had a raditior changed before?

Fuck I hate this economy. The old me would just say fuck it and buy a new car.
Never really dealt with repairs and shady repair shops.

Oh and they want to change some serpetine belt for 120.00 bucks too.

I feel like the bimbo that just walked into a car shop and they are throwing everything they can at me.

Serpetine belts are a PITA to replace, so would not be surprised if the $120 was $100 in labor.

$1k sounds a little steep. How much of that was labor?

Just bend over and hope they use Vaseline.

They will probably patch it up and send you on your way none the wiser.

considering you can buy a new radiator for a Navigator for $200-300... I would say that you should take it to another shop.

Depends on what kind of car.

High end car like a Benz or Ferrari. That price sounds fair.

For a Saturn or a Ford Focus that price would be kinda steep.

I was curious about the difficulty of changing a radiator. First link I saw was here and it actually looks pretty easy to do yourself, loosen a hose clamp or two and a few bolts, in about an hour or so.

Ask them how many labor hours is required for the job and what their labor rate is. Ask them what your cost on the actual radiator is. The reason they are changing the belt is it will be much easier to do while the radiator is out, and its probably showing some wear. Serpentine belts cost normally now 25.00 to 70.00 depending on how wide and long the belt is, and what brand they use. Goodyear makes a very good belt. Add on replacing both hoses, plus possibly the heater hoses, flushing it out, plus the cost of new safe for cats and environment coolant and the price will be up there quite a bit. 1k sounds a tad high, but simply asking the shop for a detailed estimate that you can take to another shop (or post up on here) will help you a lot in finding out why its so much. But honestly if they are doing all the work they should do in order to properly do the job its going to cost a bit to do it. :2 cents:

What are they, owned by Asians?
What a ripoff.

turn on your icq negro

You're getting fucked!

Find a place that will recore it for you. Some radiator problems can be effectively solved with a new copper/brass or aluminum core

and yes they are trying to fuck you.

in the actual situation that car is not worth more than 1000 ;)

That seems a little high. They will take the actual cost of the radiator and add to it for "" parts " and then there's the labor. I have to change the serpentine belt now on my Jeep Cherokee and was quoted $90 for parts and labor.

On my last Cherokee I had over 150,000 miles on it and had it in the shop for something else. The guy said I should have my radiator flushed while I was there. I wasn't having any problems with overheating and I told him no because with that many miles on it I didn't want him stirring up any sediment and stuff in the radiator. He assured me there would be no problem and it would run much cooler. I said well ok then and let him do it.

A few hours later I got a call from the shop and was informed that now my radiator was leaking and would have to be REPLACED :mad: He said it would cost $500 for the radiator plus labor.

I was so fucking mad I had to restrain myself from doing something I would regret later. I finally went down there and talked to the guy who was also the manager ( Discount Auto & Tires ) and he waived the labor but still charged me the cost of the radiator which was about double what i would have paid if I went and got one at a parts store myself.

I also had to replace on my 81 Jeep CJ which I did my self. Radiator was $210 and just undid the hoses and a few bolts and it slide right in on a little track. Took about an hour :)

I was thinking about my radiator problems and didn't think to help with yours :1orglaugh

You should try and find the leak yourself first. Just open the hood and let it run a bit to see where the leak is. A much more common problem would be a hole or split in a hose. That would only cost a few dollars to fix.

If you have no idea what's going on and they know it, they may be just selling you something you don't need. It's real easy to spot the source of a leak and that just might save you $1,000 :winkwink: