Got a estimate. Does this seem ok?

[p nut]

I got an estimate for some repairs. Just making sure this was somewhat of a decent pricing.

IM Gasket = $350
Oil Pan Gasket = $160
Transmission Seals = $150

Total = $660

This is from a BMW dealer, which actally was priced out cheaper than the independent shops around my area.

[Rob]

honestly, if you can change your oil, you can do the first two.

[p nut]

Reall? It's that easy? Hmm... I'll have to search a bit.

[Jand3rson]

$350 to change the intake manifold gasket? That's absolutely fucking retarded. Do it yourself, it's not hard at all.

[Dave]

Oil pan gasket is more of a job than the IM gasket.

[p nut]

$350 to change the intake manifold gasket? That's absolutely fucking retarded. Do it yourself, it's not hard at all.

Yeah, this one shop wanted $440 + ~$10 for coolant (he said he needed to remove some hoses to get to the gasket?).

I'm reading up on the article on pelicanparts. Hope it's as easy as they say it is. They rated it at 2 on a 1-5 difficulty scale, with 1 being putting air in your tires.

[Jand3rson]

Oil pan gasket is more of a job than the IM gasket.

Werd, and neither of them are that hard.

Yes, you will have to remove a lot of junk to get the intake manifold off, but there's no way it's worth $350 to have someone do it. You can do the oil pan gasket and intake manifold gasket by yourself, or with a friend in a day, probably an afternoon.

[MR 325]

$350 to change the intake manifold gasket? That's absolutely fucking retarded. Do it yourself, it's not hard at all.

Agreed. It's amazing what some shops charge people. Some guy on another forum is about to pay like a grand to have his control arm bushings replaced and one strut. LOL

[Jand3rson]

Agreed. It's amazing what some shops charge people. Some guy on another forum is about to pay like a grand to have his control arm bushings replaced and one strut. LOL

Labor at most european car shops is $70 per hour, and since he took his car to a dealer, I can't imagine what their labor comes out to. Gaskets are dirt cheap, so almost all of that is labor. Did they give you a quote on the number of hours those jobs would take? We did the oil pan gasket on my wife's 325i in about 2-3 hours.

[Digitalwave]

Sounds like rape, but that is coming from somebody that does all his own work.

[p nut]

They didn't say how long it would take. I just talked to a friend of mine, who worked at that dealership (not in service), and he said their rate is $98/hour.

I think I will do the IM gasket myself. I did find another reputable shop that will do all the tranny seals + the clutch for $325+parts (5 hours @ $65/hour). I do not feel like going through a clutch job, so I'll probably have them do the clutch and the oil pan gasket.

Thanks for all the inputs!

[hamann318is]

Agreed. It's amazing what some shops charge people. Some guy on another forum is about to pay like a grand to have his control arm bushings replaced and one strut. LOL

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha... ha.

[318i sTiLL FLy]

Somoene on here would prolly do it and drive down their to do it for like half the price's them freakin dealer's want.

[Jand3rson]

Dude, do the oil pan gasket yourself, it's so easy.

Here's a write-up I did myself on how to do it. It's on how to change the oil pan, but it's the same procedure.

http://www.strictlyeta.net/technical/oilpan.html

[golde30]

the stealership in SF charges $160/hour. they wanted $240 to change my turn signal relay when i went to buy the part. i busted out laughing rite in their face and laughed all the way out of the stealership...LOL