Just curious. How long did it take you and did you have all of the tools that you needed to do it yourself at home?
A socket set and a torque wrench, all you need. Maybe a plastic scraper to scrape any old gasket off the head or the block. I just cleaned the surfaces with PBBlaster.
It took me about 6 hours I'd say on the Honda, but that was in the evening after work over 2 days. Pulled it first evening, cleaned out the cylinders since they were filled with antifreeze, put it back together the following evening. That was with no head work. I just gave it a brief look with a straight edge, not very precise at all, but it did have nearly 180k miles so I wasn't that worried about it.
I'm the furthest away from a mechanic. I just do it because I don't have that kind of money laying around to take it to the shop. I changed the clutch in my old truck as well, $1200, cost me $125 for a high performance aftermarket clutch and a weekend of time.
When they tell you that you need to replace a rebuildable item, that is where they really get you. $475 for a remanufactured starter just for the part at Toyota on my old truck. I called and asked for the rebuild kit and they had no such item. I got off the phone and on the internet,
"What was the part number for the rebuild kit again?" Immediately called Toyota parts back with the kit number and the same guy says,
"Oh, yea, the starter rebuild kit. Yeah, we can get that in, $11.95" 10 minutes before that it wasn't available and they would have ordered me a remanufactured starter for $475.
Brakes are the same way. Midas and Monroe are notorious for telling you that the brake calipers need replaced just about every time you get brakes done there. $300some later, you have a new caliper, of which you could have spent about $4, taken the seals out, cleaned the piston, put the new seals in and had it fixed.
Changed a ball joint on my old Toyota. Brother-in-law worked for a dealership and he had access to the shop after hours. I went there so we could use the lift. Instructions are to pull the brake caliper, pull rotor, pull hub, pull axle, disconnect everything, remove ball joint, replace and reassemble. Shop book states 2.5 hours, at $80-100 that is a bit expensive. In reality, the mechanic would charge that 2.5 hour rate, but do the same thing we did. Pull the tire, unbolt the ball joint. One guy lift up the suspension with a prybar while the other removes and replaces ball joint. Bolt it back up and put tire back on. Literally took us 5 minutes, but would have been charged $200-250 labor.
Last year I had to change the lower control arms on my wife's vehicle. Now suspension is definitely a real PITA. Had to change them because the dealer free state inspection failed the vehicle. It did take me a while to do these. After having the vehicle in the driveway for nearly a week, it was all back together again and passed inspection. 2 days after that, the ABS sensor ring on the axle broke. Couldn't stop the vehicle because it kept kicking the ABS in (very dangerous and stupid design, IMO.) Since I had just spent the week messing around the suspension swearing up a storm, I broke down and took it to a local guy to replace. First time any of my vehicles had seen a repair shop since about 1994.
Although that amount is crazy, better than buying a new car. Mine is paid off.
Unfortunately, he's NOT handy at all! He is a real estate agent, so he's really skilled at negotiating good deals! He is going to call our mechanic in the morning and discuss further options (using all the great info that we've received from all of you).
