Have 1997 Saturn and just had the valve cover gasket and spark plug seals replace. The gasket was aprox $200. Is this correct I'm from the days when a valve cover gasket cost $7.00 Labor was only $45.00 but a $200+ gasket sounds way out of line?
Yeah, it does sound a bit rich. On my 1997 SL2, I replaced the valve cover gasket myself for $34.38 for a Felpro gasket set and tube of Permatex sealer at Advance Auto Parts. The kit includes the molded gasket for the cover, gaskets around the spark plug holes, and grommets for each bolt.
Maybe a Gen-U-Wine Saturn part costs more.
The labor seems low, based on my experience, but then I took additional time to disassemble the vent boxes in the cover and clean out accumulated crud. Personally, I hate to put the cover back on dirty for no other reason than to make sure the sealing surfaces are clean, but it's also an opportunity to clean up the insides of the engine just a little bit. To just swap out the gasket and put the cover back on, dirt and all, doesn't take long.
RK Henry
Every dealership has thier cost of labour, what was this dealership's labour cost per hour? That's usually the most expensive part.
marx404
Yes, you are correct it's very high. I had my valve cover gasket replaced for 200 bucks. Then the same NJ dealership, who during a tune up took and kept/trashed my K&N reusable air filter, told me I needed a cam cover gasket several months later. I asked, "huh? I paid for a new valve cover gasked almost a year ago, it's bad again?" The tech laughed, and said, how could you pay for a valve cover gasket, when the car doesn't have a valve cover. It's a cam cover.
I now do most of the maintance myself now. Last "cam cover" gasket cost me about 20-30 bucks at NAPA, and took me an hour. So I'm guessing 200 bucks was rediculus, too.
good luck, wait till you get a break job and it's higher(about twice) than venders who offer lifetime warranties on pads. ha ha ha, that was a nice lession. Go Saturn!
tom
I had a engine oil cooler line replace on my 2000K3500 (IT RUSTED THROUGH!!!) as I could not get it out with my tools and they charged me 135 bucks at a chevy dealer and they had to work on it for a few hours too (I had the new line already) and that was a lot harder job than a valve cover gasket.
----------------- The SnoMan
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