i am the female owner of a h reg toyota townace, turbo diesal.
i have just had a reconditioned cylinder head fitted, service and brakes overhauled.
i beleive the mechanic has exagerrated the amount of labour time and would like to know approximately how long these jobs should have taken to complete.
thanks

- (#8331) A J VINSON, 5 Feb 04 04:02

It's hard to say, don't know what problems he had. Do you know what the brake overhaul was, just a check over or replacement everything?
I do my own so don't know hourly rates but would guess at a one man work day time wise.

- (#8331) Clive (Bristol), 5 Feb 04 04:12

Hello AJ
it would help to know what times he has booked for each job.
Changing the head is a very labour intensive job. Remove seat and floor, strip down the front of the engine, disconnect the battery, remove the starter motor, then remove the fuel pipes to the injectors, remove the glow plug electrics, remove the EGR valve, remove the inlet and exhaust manifolds, remove the rocker cover, then remove the head. At this point the head needs to be stripped down, and the camshaft, valves and other bits need to be cleaned and fitted to the new head prior to refitting it to the block, which also needs to be cleaned. Then there are 18 bolts to tighten to a specific torque, then tighten 90° then tighten another 90°.
When I had my head changed last year, my mechanic spent a long day on stripping it down, and another long day and a half rebuilding it again.

- (#8331) dave Bright, 5 Feb 04 04:20

thankyou for your very prompt replies.
i thought the cylinder head was at the top of the engine and therefore easily accessible.
i have been charged 18 hours of labour for this, although from your description of work this sounds about right.
there were new brake shoes, pads, two wheel cylinders and the o/s/f caliper was freed?? five hours was charged for this. are these standard parts from toyota as i thought i could only buy parts through bbc spares. how can i check that he's really done what he says? sorry to sound so cynical but i have had no luck with mechanics in angus, scotland.
i also have small rust spots all over the body which has been quoted at 330 pounds plus vat, is this ok ?

- (#8331) AJ VINSON, 5 Feb 04 05:14

Yes the head is at the top of the engine, but there is not a lot of room in the engine bay, and there is a lot in there. This makes even some of the simplest repairs time consuming, because there is always something in the way of the thing that needs to be replaced or removed. 18 hours is two and a half days that it took my mechanic to complete the job, so no surprises there.

Some parts on the imports were also used on other models sold as new in the UK and are therefore available as stock items from your local Toyota dealer. Some other parts are not used on UK models, but are available from savvy Toyota dealers who have recognised a potential market opportunity. All parts are available from all Toyota dealers, but if its unique to the Townace, it may have to be shipped direct from Japan by sea freight taking 6 to 12 weeks. Bill at BBC spares employs people in Japan to strip down good Aces, and ships the bits over in a container, so there is an alternative and cheaper parts supply via BBC spares.

- (#8331) dave Bright (Bournemouth), 5 Feb 04 05:51

To answer your questions. I think the times quoted seem fairly reasonable. Garages can charge anything from £25 an hour from your small independant to £65 and more at a dealer. As for checking the work - if you are prepared to remove the wheels you should see shiny new pads on the front and on the rear new cylinders and shoes. Otherwise you will have to go on trust. Some garages will give you the old components as 'proof' of doing the work. A practice that is sadly dieing out it seems. I assume you asked for some sort of guarantee?

Yes Toyota supply all new parts sourced from UK HQ then Europe HQ in Belgium or failing all else - Japan. Usually 5 days air freight if VOR or 3 - 6 weeks by sea depending upon availability.

Some parts such as brakes and suspension are available as non OEM ie. copied by other manufacturers. I believe Dave Mason has compiled a list of such suppliers on AceAnswers. Then there's used spares from the likes of BBC Spares.

- (#8331) Ian Dunse (Derbs), 5 Feb 04 07:28

with the horror stories we hear about being "ripped off" (which is not exclusive to the motor trade of course) you are right to be a bit cynical but, as others say, the 18 hours is reasonable given the complexity of this engine and the difficulties in getting access to it. i should think that your mechanic will have replaced the timing belt whilst he had access to the cylinder head so this item, the head gasket, the head bolts, the recon head etc, will all have to have been sourced (unless the work was done by a toyota dealer)and this adds to the overall time and consequent charges. also, the reconditioned head was probably "bare" so, all the valves, camshaft, shims etc had to be changed and the head re-built. if this was an unfamiliar vehicle, to your mechanic, in my view he has done very well but, a good mechanic should have detailed all this work, on his invoice, so that his customer is able to see how the total hours are arrived at.








- (#8331) John Davis, 5 Feb 04 08:44