How much to have someone replace my valve cover gaskets?

[wannavette]

I need to have my valve cover gaskets replaced and I got A price today of $450!Due to how labor intensive it is-Being a new vette owner is this something I should get used to when I need something done.I thought I could do it myself till I found out you had to remove alternator etc...

 

[Rowdy1]

You Can Do It

It's not that big a deal. Just remember how everything comes apart, tag it if you're not sure and ask a friend to help, someone with a little knowledge is all it takes. I find that price absurd, even at $65 an hour it's a rape!

 

[WEFs02]

That sounds absolutely outragous.

 

[Robert]

I just did my 84 with Felpro.....not too bad a job.


Tell you what....you fly me out round trip, put me up for the night and give me a good breakfast, and I will do it for nothing!!

:-}

 

[Ken]

Once you do it yourself, you'll find it easier and easier each successive time. Ain't a big deal, and you should never have been quoted a price as steep as the $450 figure you quoted. That price is outrageous, and it's a rip-off! :nono

Get a Helm manual and teach yourself; it's so much more rewarding to do it yourself if you can.

 

[Moonunit 451]

All this advise is absolutely correct! Didn't want to rain on your parade, but, you gat a 18 yr old car, and you got a Vette. Learn how to use a wrench, and enjoy it, or YOU WILL GO BROKE!

It will take an afternoon, with some swearing, the first time, and Ken is right on. Hope you got some tools and some aptitude or some money, this is not for the faint of heart. You are gonna have to LEARN how to enjoy working on your car.

 

[Grizzly]

One of the best things you can do is take lots and lots of pictures. If you don't already have one an inexpensive digital camera is one of the best tools in the tool box.

 

[Moonunit 451]

One of the best things you can do is take lots and lots of pictures. If you don't already have one an inexpensive digital camera is one of the best tools in the tool box.

Absolutely, great advise

 

[safety_match]

My brother is in landscaping and he gets all kinds of requests for quotes. If he gets a request for work that he doesn't really want to do he quotes very high. At this point he figures that most customers will back off. If they don't then he is quite happy to perform the job at a very inflated rate.
Sounds like either your estimator doesn't know what he is up to or he doesn't really want the job...go elsewhere.

Safety

 

[rrubel]

First time I did the covers in my 86 it took about 2 hours. You have to loosen some stuff on the driver's side and remove some small parts on the passenger side, but no sweat otherwise. You really don't have to remove the whole alternator, just one bolt. However, you can *replace* the alternator in about 10 minutes so it's no sweat pulling it anyway. Which is good, given how often an early C4 burns through one .

[RICHR]

 

[Rock Doc]

I have changed out the starter and the altenater and some other smaller things on my 86 vert. I have just started as a hobby to work on this car. I would not hesitate to tackle the valve cover gasket job. It might take some trial and error but you could get it done and in the process begin a very satisfying feeling of doing your own work and at the same time save some green.

Rock Doc

1986 Bright Red Vert
2003 Black Coupe

 

[BruceBed]

Just had mine done . I had the gaskets replaced on both sides, cleaned and repainted. I didn't pay anywhere near that.

 

[wannavette]

I'm going to do it myself-I have been getting real familiar with my Haynes book latley.Here's something funny my local Chevy dealer $85 for the gaskets,$785 labor charge:eyerole WOW!!!

 

[NevadaJim]

One of the best things you can do is take lots and lots of pictures. If you don't already have one an inexpensive digital camera is one of the best tools in the tool box.

Great advice, and I'd also add to take your time and stay organized. Keep the nuts and bolts with the parts you take off. As other's have said, after you've done it a few times, it will become easier and most importantly, you'll have saved some money.

 

[Moonunit 451]

I'm going to do it myself-I have been getting real familiar with my Haynes book latley.Here's something funny my local Chevy dealer $85 for the gaskets,$785 labor charge:eyerole WOW!!!

:cool If you run into any problems you know where to come for help!

 

[rrubel]

Good point. I bought a couple of those divided compartment cases (like crafters use for beads or fishermen use for lures and such) and wrote a label for each set of bolts/screws I put in a compartment. Worked decently well with my rebuild; only had two or three screws out of about a million that I needed to hunt for. I also use a Dymo labeller and put labels on wires and their connectors.

Moonunit51 goes a better step further and uses color-coded zip ties on wires and their corresponding connectors...
[RICHR]

 

[bluetex84]

nothing to it

The first time I had to dive into mine,i had to replace the power steering pump.I did NOT wanna do it but I had to,(couldn't afford for someone else to do it).But once ya dig in and get it done ,The hardest part is just doing it.Since then i had to replace the water pump ,alternator,and vavle cover gaskets,noone has even mentioned but nothing is hard since we have the fortune of the tilt hood.