So I bought a 00 Disco that had the ujoints goin bad, so I was having them replaced as part of the deal.

There was some wear n tare damage to the coupler part so they bought a salvage piece without damage on it, so all I needed was the upgraded ujoints with the greese fittings etc.

i called land rover dealer in ocean, nj and asked if they had the ujoints. They responded that they only sell the complete shaft piece for like $350 or whatever, and only stock oem ujoints that are nongreasable. ok, so i go online and come up with the part number TVC100010 from lucky8 as the Defender 90 oem greaseble ujoint that can be used in discos as a HD replacement. They are selling it for $18 but I would perfer I get them within the next few hours, so I call back the dealership with the part number. the guy on the phone was like oh wow yea that is the replacement ujoint, that doesnt crossreferance in thier system as a sellable unit when looking up just the disco. ok thats fine, and they have 3 in stock. awesome! so im about to go down there and pick them up, and he tells me they are $124 EACH. I said, is that the complete shaft because i only need the UJOINT that is associated with that. He replys, no, that IS the correct ujoint, and that IS the individual price. now, how F***KIN rediculous is that? its not like the $18 price is for an aftermarket piece, it IS a Land Rover part for gods sake! I can see dealerships charging a bit more over say Autozone or Pep Boys who sell $5-15 ujoints left and right, but $124?!?!?!

wow, you just lost ALL future buisness with me, i will be getting ALL my parts online, and certainly will never purchase a new land rover from a dealer, EVER.... even if the build reputation increases to cummins diesel quality and they can defy gravity.

anywho, jsut thought id share that. also considering you can get an entire disco for $500-1000, why spend a QUARTER of the price for a whole new damn car on some needle bearings and caps taht cost them $0.50 each to produce on the factory line.

on a second note, they also wanted $55 for the BELT. oh, my, lord.

 

Stealerships amaze me sometimes...LOL

 

I'm not surprised.

 

I've been in the dealerships as a tech for years. Customers pay all sorts of amazing prices with out question.

 

It really is a shame when the prices are more like gouging. Honestly, I know many good dealers including some LR ones. I worked at a dealership in college, and after college worked for AutoTrader.com and now Cars.com so they were/are clients of ours. I have good friends who own dealerships who are great, and know of others not-so-great. The fact is though, that their overhead is HUGE and parts/service are the only ways to keep the lights on. Selling new cars doesn't make much money, and selling used only does a bit better. The money is in service and parts, but as cars get better, have longer warranties and even service plans, that makes it a bit harder. On top of that, manufacturers like LR don't exactly give the parts away for free.
All that being said, it IS ridiculous the prices you were quoted.

 

I just paid ~1350 (today) for a 60k service plus rear brake pads on my 2004 SE7 with only 55k miles. I guess I am one of those suckers who thinks the dealer service is the best for my Disco, been taking it there since beginning. Without fail the dealer in northern NJ calls always me back during the day to report on their recommendations and today was no exception.

Brace yourself for this...

(service adviser) "Um, the technician noted a small amount of Antifreeze on the back side of the engine block and we recommend a new intake gasket...."

Brief silence.. (me) OK, really, wow.. well the car only has 55k and i haven't seen any leaks or smelled anything and isn't the engine the new german in the 04 engine right... how can this be?

More silence... (service adviser) well, this is not uncommon for these cars and you can also pretty much expect to have to do the head gasket at 75k in these cars.

(me) ok, wow well how much would that be for the intake gasket?
(sa) hold for one second please......back, Um yes sir that would be $2100 for the intake gasket..

I told them I would hold off on that for now and he told me to keep an eye on radiator fluid level. When I picked up car the tech inspection sheet mentions something about fluid "starting to seep.. intake ".

Can you believe this?? I can't make this stuff up.

I read on another post by Disco Mike that the whole job (Head and Intake) should be ~$1600 so what gives?

I think I am going to go to Home Depot and buy one of those Milwaukee inspection cameras and look back there to see if these respectable dealer people are lying to me...

What do you suggest?

 

You should have made a new thread for this "Learn how to internetz". Yes your car will need a new head gasket probably, the motors are the same as the rest of the 4.6's in the 2004's only some didn't get the oil pump failure like alot of 03's did. Id hold off on doing them right away. Disco mike however is the disco god, read some of his threads about head gasket failure. $2100 is outrageous, my headgasket job at the dealer was $1500.

 

Hey snowdude thanks for the reply. I'm going to go ahead and call BS on the whole head/intake gasket issue. Bottom line is that these things should not fail, period. I will fix this thing (if necessary) and move on.. If anybody has a recommendation for a good mechanic in Northern NJ please chime in.

 

Only buy from a dealer if you absolutely cannot find the part anywhere else.

 

Lesson learned...the hard way. What do you think is a reasonable price to pay for the Intake job or combo Intake/Head? I am in northern NJ and the price quoted just for the intake gasket at Prestige LR in Paramus is $2100. Obviously I cant take it there anymore...

Thanks for all your suggestions. I would like to keep this truck, love it actually, but given the issue at hand and the prospect of future dealer reaming I am starting to consider other options..