Today my dealer made me laugh at him......

[Wirenut2266]

So I posted a day or so ago about trying to get a replacement tank heater cord for my S185, up on water jacket near injectors. So replacement cord is $19, WOW. Before I commit to purchase I put my Fluke 87 electrical meter across leads of heater, crap, nothing, heater is burnt out. So now I call dealer ask if he has new heater, yup, $59 and if I install total around $400 !!!!! Come on are you serious? I pop out old tank heater 10 minutes, install new tank heater purchased from Napa 10 minutes, refill about a gallon and a half of antifreeze, done. Total time was less than 30 minutes, and you want $400???? I'm all about supporting my local business owners, but WOW. Napa part #11444 for $26 I understand they have overhead and expenses, but they too must understand most folks just aren't willing to chump up that kind of $$$ for a fairly basic repair. I own my own business also, I would rather charge a little less and stay busy compared to sticking it to the common folk once in awhile waiting for phone to ring. Just my two cents........ Bruce

 

[1awert1]

I think we have all been thru that sticker shock BS, from dealers.....and some ppl will pay it....Isn't BC owned by a Korea firm now????

 

[donald73d]

I think we have all been thru that sticker shock BS, from dealers.....and some ppl will pay it....Isn't BC owned by a Korea firm now????

Just curious, is this a heater in the coolant overflow tank you run (via plugging it into 110V) when its cold to assist in starting? I am surprised NAPA had one that would fit.

 

[mrdeere1959]

$42.22 list price at my dealer + 1hr @$70.00. it takes about an hr to drain off some coolant remove and clean opening, install replace coolant and pressure ck cooling system

 

[Wirenut2266]

$42.22 list price at my dealer + 1hr @$70.00. it takes about an hr to drain off some coolant remove and clean opening, install replace coolant and pressure ck cooling system

This is just a plain Jane 1 3/8" frost plug heater on side of water jacket next to injectors/glow plugs. Went to "Kats" website, found diesel engine model V2003, simple. I will agree by the time you refill coolant and run a few minutes to get air out and pressure test I'll agree to "maybe" a total of a hour. Still, $400+ is stickin it to you hard! "Kats" website is by far the biggest mfg. of commercial heating products, has tons of info for tractors, BC, commercial, etc..... Bruce

 

[Fishfiles]

This is just a plain Jane 1 3/8" frost plug heater on side of water jacket next to injectors/glow plugs. Went to "Kats" website, found diesel engine model V2003, simple. I will agree by the time you refill coolant and run a few minutes to get air out and pressure test I'll agree to "maybe" a total of a hour. Still, $400+ is stickin it to you hard! "Kats" website is by far the biggest mfg. of commercial heating products, has tons of info for tractors, BC, commercial, etc..... Bruce

Henry Ford , the founder of Ford Motor Company , said " I will give everyone in the United States a car for free as long as the have to bring the car to me for all parts and service " -----------he knew way back then that the money was in parts in service and not the sale of the vehicle -----------with that being said , you may have noticed that a lot of parts are OEM ( dealer only ) , sometimes it is just for a couple of years till an after market source picks it up , sometimes it stays OEM , but the point is that the manufactures try and make the machine where you have to get parts and bring it to them , as it requires special tools and software programs to work on them , it is coming more and more soon on new machines you will not be able to do much more than an oil change or change a battery

 

[jerry]

Henry Ford , the founder of Ford Motor Company , said " I will give everyone in the United States a car for free as long as the have to bring the car to me for all parts and service " -----------he knew way back then that the money was in parts in service and not the sale of the vehicle -----------with that being said , you may have noticed that a lot of parts are OEM ( dealer only ) , sometimes it is just for a couple of years till an after market source picks it up , sometimes it stays OEM , but the point is that the manufactures try and make the machine where you have to get parts and bring it to them , as it requires special tools and software programs to work on them , it is coming more and more soon on new machines you will not be able to do much more than an oil change or change a battery

I replaced the u joint in 632 Bobcat a few years ago and dealer quoted me 1000 for the job. I bought the parts from the dealer and did it at home, working as slowly as I did they still would have charged 200 per hour for labor. I did buy the parts from them because of grease zerk orientation and the price was not much higher than elsewhere.
If anyone is having a hard time greasing their u joint it may be that it was replaced with one from another source.

 

[Jyuma]

Fluke!... nice meter.
bTw... here's a good test to determine if dealers are charging too much for service. Open up a service center next to them and see if you can turn a profit by charging less than they charge. If the asnwer is no, then they aren't charging too much.

 

[Miker67]

Fluke!... nice meter.
bTw... here's a good test to determine if dealers are charging too much for service. Open up a service center next to them and see if you can turn a profit by charging less than they charge. If the asnwer is no, then they aren't charging too much.

Alternators are an interesting one too. I decided to replace mine while my motor was down and the dealership quoted me right at $400.00 for one. I went to my local private diesel repair shop and got thiers for $125.00 and when I got home and opened the box, low and behold the alternator inside had the OEM bobcat sticker and bobcat part number.
I felt violated and I didn't even spend the money they were asking.