Have shop manual handy?

carnutzzz · 01-31-2006, 06:01 AM

Wondering how many hours the book calls for cat converter replacement. The bolts are all rusted.

Shop is telling me- 2.4. Sounds a little excessive to me.

Thanks!

Rot 911 · 01-31-2006, 06:10 AM

I don't know if that is excessive or not. I had my engine out on a stand and using a dremel tool it still took me every bit of an hour to cut off the bolts. Some of them are pretty damn hard to reach even with the engine out of the car!

carnutzzz · 01-31-2006, 06:26 AM

Thanks Kurt.

Shop quoted me 2 hours for new bolts on the cat, and a muffler/tailpipe swap. That estimate turned into 4 hours once on the lift.

I'm heading in there now to raise some hell. I can see increasing the estimate, but a 100% increase?

Zeke · 01-31-2006, 06:33 AM

Maybe if you did some of this work yourself, you'd have some more understanding and tolerance for why things sometimes take longer. I'm not trying to start a flaming war here, really. But, you have to put yourself in the other man's shoes before "heading in there... to raise some hell."

wholberg · wholberg's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by Zeke
Maybe if you did some of this work yourself, you'd have some more understanding and tolerance for why things sometimes take longer.

Especially with exhaust work. Rusted bolts can be a real PITA to get out without inflicting collateral damage.

carnutzzz · 01-31-2006, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Zeke
Maybe if you did some of this work yourself, you'd have some more understanding and tolerance for why things sometimes take longer. I'm not trying to start a flaming war here, really. But, you have to put yourself in the other man's shoes before "heading in there... to raise some hell."

Thanks for making assumptions about what I know and don't know. I've had this shop give me outrageous estimates before on other vehicles. That and 10 years working in the used car business have made me a bit wary. Pardon me.

That's why I posted- to get some understanding of the time spent. Thanks for your reply though which added nothing to this thread.

Also- isn't that what the estimate is for? A chance for the man standing in his own shoes to tell me what it will take? He knew going into it that the bolts needed to be cut off. I didn't surprise him.

Turns out, they had to do some pipe fabbing to get the tailpipe to exit in the right place. This was not explained over the phone. Once I got in there and he took me through the job, I was satisfied. No hell raised.

I'm on day 2 stuck in bed with a cold, so you can imagine where my patience level is. Not responsible for outbursts, temper tantrums, or poop-flinging.

Have a nice day.