Cracked valve guide, quoted 500; please advise.

[Rerun]

I generally trust this mechanic, but I just wanted to ask to be safe. Said I had a cracked valve guide and he needed to machine it. Said with machine work and labor it was going to be around 500 bucks. Any feedback would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

 

[TheUser]

I really don't know if that's the going rate or what, but my god, $500 to fix a valve guide...I'd consider either asking around other places or maybe consider a set of used GT-40-P's or something. Maybe someone can let you know if that's a rip off though

 

[ponyboy19]

He's probably charging you for a complete cylinder head R/R plus machine work and parts. Do the work yourself and you could probably get a complete refresh on both heads for 1/2 - 3/4 that. Why is he saying it's a cracked valve guide. I blew mine out due to improper vavle geometry and it ticked, burn oil, and bent valves. Just curious as to what your car is doing and how he diagnosed it as that?

 

[Ranchero5.0]

Ditto that, sounds like he's giving you the stupid person answer to your problems and just wants to get the car in the garage so he can figure out what the real problem is once it's torn down.

Jamie

 

[5.0Droptop]

for that price buy a set of thumpers and put them on your self.

 

[NKau]

For that price, as someone else said, you could purchase some pretty nice ported stockers for that price with new seals, springs, etc. I'm not sure that the price for that is too far off. It sounded high to me at first too, but if you think of the machine work cost, and the time it takes to remove a head and replace it (figuring $50 an hour shop labor) I think that's actually close to a "fair" price. At that rate, you should probably limp the car around until you can scrape the money together for some better heads (GT40, Thumper ported); hard to justify putting that kind of money into refurbishing stock heads.

 

[Rerun]

He's probably charging you for a complete cylinder head R/R plus machine work and parts. Do the work yourself and you could probably get a complete refresh on both heads for 1/2 - 3/4 that. Why is he saying it's a cracked valve guide. I blew mine out due to improper vavle geometry and it ticked, burn oil, and bent valves. Just curious as to what your car is doing and how he diagnosed it as that?

Sounds pretty much exactly what mine is doing. The damn thing was ticking and burned oil whenever I started it. He was thinking the geometery is off or the cam is too wild for the vehicle.

 

[TheRedBlur]

no too bad, sucks if he wants you to take the head off and bring it in.
I dunno, i got port matching on my intakes and to the heads, I also got some mild porting done on my holleys, all for $800 friend prices
he's probably gonna do a shake and bake to clean them off, check for cracks, put in new seals, check spring rates, grind the valves and seats, and maybe do all of the seals
and of course machine the face of the head
you could get it for cheaper, but if he's good, pay extra, you don't want to go back in 1,500 miles because he cinched on quality guides

jsut my opinion

 

[rd]

Not a bad price for a shop to remove the head, repair and reinstall. The actual head repair, if you do just one guide, should be about $100 or so. Remember that you have to clean it so you can inspect and work on it, then fixit, clean it up some, etc.

I would not be able to r and r the heads for that. Consider that head gasket replacement, with no valve work, is $1200 and up for a v6 these days.

Most shops are getting $70 to $90 per hour. You cannot make any money if you charge less.

 

[v8only]

as mentioned, not a bad price at all to yank the heads off, however, I would do it yourself, as mentioned.

You could get some gt40p's for cheaper than that and put them off yourself.

 

[thumper460]

The heads need to be inspected to verify the bad valve guide!! to replace ONE is cool IF the rest are ok!! I haven't found TOO many bad valve guides on the Bazillion ( ...OK , it seems like a bazillion!! LOL) Heads I have worked. I'm sure he is talking, ALL guides/valve job / and surface...( here in Fl.. 110.00 for guides and 185.00 for stock valve job and surface) !! But hey, we all know Calif is Pricey!! What you pay to live out there!! huh?? LOL

Just me............................

Thumper