The mechanics within my drivable radius are trying to pull an arm and a leg in this situation that is only if they agree to do it. A couple have refused to touch it. Dealer is asking for $6k labor only treating it a timing chain and a complete head job including valves etc. But I have taken your advice and asked the new guy to take out the camshaft completely with the timing gear and reinstall following step-by-step instructions from the service manual. I monitored him and he followed as I asked. Not done yet though. He’s scheduled to return on Wednesday. A few components are still not yet installed hopefully by the end of the Wednesday I will know what comes out of it.
You are going to find that most shops are not going to want to take any major, or often even minor repair on your Cruiser. That is not where they make their money. Just not their business model. I used to refer some jobs to a friend who operates a very good shop. He is a Cruiser enthusiast even. Or was in the past. It got to the point that he was not only turning those jobs away, but asking me not to refer them.
Modern shops make their money on quick in and out work on modern cars. Not major jobs on older rigs. They lose money trying to acquaint themselves with the quirks of rigs that rolled off the production line before some of their mechanics were even born.
And... skilled labor is expensive. Comprehensive repairs are time consuming. Machine work as well.
Looks like the dealer might have been quoting the timing chain replacement and the head work as two separate jobs. In spite of the fact that head removal would have been included in the timing chain replacement. Unethical to say the least *IF* that is what they were doing.
16 hours for the timing chain job... an additional 10 hours to quote the head separately
Assume about $180 an hour as a guess for dealership labor rates in southern CA... that would put you at just under $4700 for labor... assume as much as $1000 for the head work if it is the dealership guys pricing it... add in all the various fees and stuff they might tack on...
Yep, $6K easy. Even if they didn't jerk you around, a price right around $5k would not surprise me.
My point... if you can not do the work yourself on your land Cruiser, you ARE gonna spend money.
Trying to save money by dropping down to the lower levels of the food chain... Not a good idea. I would assume that there has got to be at least one or two guys offering mobile automotive service in your area who are skilled and experienced, ethical, well equipped and capable of handling major repairs in your driveway. Maybe? possibly?
You are not gonna find them easily IF they are out there.
Next subject:
Anything that I or anyone else has said here should have been taken as conjecture and suggestion ONLY. You really should not be paying a mechanic to do a specific task on your vehicle based only on internet guesses! No matter how confident I or others may be about what the problem with your rig is... we still have not even laid eyes on it.
You never tell a professional mechanic what is wrong with your rig and tell him to fix it. Unless you are skilled enough yourself to have diagnosed it and would be able to fix it yourself and you just do not have the time. You tell him what the symptoms are, and pass on any GUESSES that you might have and task HIM to keep that in mind and determine what the actual problem is and to fix it.
If you tell him to do something, pay him to do something, he does it, and that was not the problem... now what?
If he can not figure the problem out himself... he is not the one to be working on the rig.
And... if someone is not qualified to work on your rig... "monitoring them... when you are also not qualified to work on the rig... solves nothing. If they ARE qualified to work on your rig and you "monitor" them to make sure they do it right... Seriously?
Find someone who can fix it WITHOUT you telling them what the internet told you to do... pay them what they are worth... step back and wait.
Mark...
