dave1123

I just spoke to my mechanic buddy and he gave me a quote at $500 labor to replace my heater core! It's 8 hours labor according to the Flat Rate Manual, but he wants to keep it overnight to make sure it's done right. Doing the math, that's $62.50/hour which ain't bad. I talked to 2 other shops in my area and got quotes of $1200 and $1500! My buddy says to bend over! I've ordered the core from rockauto.com for $35+shipping. Now I have to find the cash and he has to find the time. I AM NOT going to fix the A/C because I really don't want to spend the money on non-essentials. The climate here is not that hot long enough for me to worry about it, especially since most of my driving is at night. I've delivered newspapers in a swimsuit before! With a shirt for going into stores.

The A/C leak IS in the evaporator, but it hasn't run in 5 years so who knows what else it needs now.

blueseasons

The cheapest mechanic I can find here is $115.00 an hour and most are at $150.00 an hour. The higher priced shops tend to have a long wait time just to get your car looked at. When you start looking at spending a grand plus for repair on a WJ. You start spending almost half of what these cars are selling for now.

dave1123

Yeah...I've been told I'm crazy to spend a lot of money to repair my WJ, but it's a creampuff from PA with no rust. Outside of the usually mileage related repairs, I've only had to replace a cracked head and a couple of sensors in 100K miles.

BUT now it's got 218K miles on it with no problems with the 42re yet. Maybe I shouldn't talk about it.....!

I had a tree branch fall on it and smash the windshield and the A pillar. The body shop told me he had to bring it in under $1500 or the insurance company would total it! There are a couple of small dents in the roof and hood that weren't fixed to do that, but hey, I don't care. It is, after all, a jeep! Dents give it charisma!

My mechanic is a classic and hotrod nut who only fixes cars because he makes a living doing what he likes to do. He's got a sick 34 coupe with a 409 in it! This is not a barn queen either! He drives it to Saratoga at least once every summer. His shop is back in the trees off the road with no sign out, but he has to schedule work by appointment.