Xoutpost.com - Theromostat Replacement

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Theromostat Replacement

While driving home the other night from work my 2002 X5 4.4i spontanousely overheated and blew out the upper radiotor hose. I replaced the upper radiator hose the mext morning but it was still running hot. I feared the worst and had it towed to the dealer ship. They have told me it will be $1,100 to have the thermostat and upper hose replaced. I just wanted to find out if this was way off base. I am tempted to change it myself as it looks like it is less than three hundred if I buy upper and lower radiator hoses and the thermostat.

jhoran1046 Welcome to the site. If the problem is as they describe "the thermostat and upper hose"
needs to be replaced then in my opinion that's a bit much. Might be good the get a second opinion from a BMW indie.

That is awfully high for those two items. I dare say it's a rip off. Is there a reason for the spontaneous overheating? Any other items to be replaced in that estimate?

My friend and I did that (along with water pump and a few other items) on my '01 4.4 a few months ago, and it was definitely not $800 worth of labor. It was our first time doing it on an X5 and it was not difficult at all.

Hello, I had mine replaced about a year ago, I bought the part myself at the dealer about $160 and then brought it over for replacement wich was about $250 for labor.

I paid €75 for a new genuine BMW thermostat last year and fitted it myself in a couple of hours. $1,100 is WAY too high.

Taking into consideration that this isn't that serious of a job I feel the dealership is fairly out of line on their price. The parts cost from us would be under 140 usd as seen here. As for the labor you've already experienced replacing one half of the upper hose and there are a few diy's floating around on thermostats.

http://c1552172.r72.cf0.rackcdn.com/15527_x300.jpg
http://c1552172.r72.cf0.rackcdn.com/19216_x300.jpg

James

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhoran1046 (Post 843307)

Dealer put mark up on parts, the MSRP for these two components is around $170. Then there is exuberant amount of labor charges. Your best bet would be to find indy shop that specializing german cars, but you still loooking at some good coins unless you'll do it yourself. I have a feeling you better off replacing the water-pump as well, not much extra labor charge if any.

The thermostat apparently stopped working and it stuck closed. I have always had them stick open when they went bad. I have asked the service person if they found any other issues. He said that they did not find anything else that would have caused the hose to burst, it was just a bad thermostat that was stuck closed. Below is the estimate that I have been given for the repairs. Does anyone know what the quote min and and quote max mean.

Thermostat & Gasket, r&r 4.4i, 4.6is 00/03

QTY PART NUMBER PART-------- DESCRIPTION --------------PART PRICE----- EXT PRICE
1 ---BM11-53-1-436-386 -------THERMOSTAT WITH CHAR -------136.44 --------136.44
1 ---BM82-14-1-467-704 -------ANTIFREEZE--------------------- 23.80--------- 23.80

MISC CODE-------- MISC DESCRIPTION ---QUOTE MIN --------QUOTE MAX -------PRICE
SS ----------------SERVICE CHARGE ------------1.56 --------------26.59 --------26.59
LABOR $: -----405.88
PARTS $: -----160.24
GOG $:----------0.00
MISC. $: -------26.59
TAX $: ---------11.62
------------------------
SUBTOTAL $: 604.33

Upper Radiator Hose, r&r 4.4i, 4.6is 12-99/03

QTY ---PART NUMBER -----------PART DESCRIPTION -------PART PRICE -------EXT PRICE
1 ------BM11-53-7-500-746 -----------WATER HOSE------------ 96.19 ------------96.19
1------ BM82-14-1-467-704 ------------ANTIFREEZE ------------23.80 ------------23.80
2 BMMISC MISC. ITEMS 0.00 20.00

MISC CODE--------MISC DESCRIPTION -------QUOTE MIN --------QUOTE MAX ------PRICE
SS ---------------SERVICE CHARGE ----------1.56 ---------------26.59------------17.96

LABOR $: -------199.50
PARTS $: -------139.99
GOG $: -----------0.00
MISC. $: --------17.96
TAX $: ----------10.15
------------------------
SUBTOTAL $:----367.60

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhoran1046 (Post 843507)

Does anyone know what the quote min and and quote max mean?

That is a charge for shop service supplies. It is charged as a percentage of the labour $ by a lot of shops. It isn't unusual to see such a charge. In this case, it is 9% of your labour charge, which is on the high side IMO. They have a minimum (probably for their minimum billable service time, in this case around $17, which gives you the $1.56) and a maximum, or ceiling. For the first job, you hit the maximum. For the second job they charged it again, but you were quoted 9% as you didn't reach the maximum. Given that both jobs would be done together, I wouldn't expect to see it charged twice.

Shop supplies started off being for rags, bulk lubes, etc. It has turned into a standard way of inflating the labour charge. I see that they didn't charge you an environmental charge as well, something related to properly disposing of the old antifreeze, etc. That one has become just as common.

They did hit you for $20 of miscellaneous parts, perhaps hose clamps.

Jeff