So here's the whole story. I bought a 2004 Disco 2 motor with 6000 verified miles on it from a friend, straight out of the vehicle (totaled in rear) with all the ancillary parts still attached. Then I bought a 1999 Disco 2 on craigslist with a slipped cylinder (70k, single owner, always dealer maintained, flawless except the engine). I had both shipped to the 'Roverman' in New Bedford, New York for the installation about an hour north of NYC. He says he can't quote me exactly since he won't know which parts he'll have to replace until the work is going but guesses $1000-2000 and promises to keep me posted....

I get a few phone calls and over the course of a weekhe replaces, the motor mounts, antifreeze hoses, fuel rails (from old motor), coolant, oil, rear main seal, K&N air filter. In labor he bolts in the new engine, doesn't even have to switch over the ancillary parts since they are all still attached, reprograms the CPU, new hoses,spends a little time figuring out the fuel rail is clogged and that's about it as far as I can tell. Finally I get him to tell me a price and he says he's run up 33 hours but he'll only charge me for 20. How much does he want??

$3395.10

I've owned my share of luxery vehicles, MB,Audi and even the all-dreaded Saab, but nothing ever rang up a single bill like this. Am I wrong in thinking this is unreasonable? These guys were recommended to me by Copley Motors in Boston who's a very reputable dealer and I had hoped by picking a specialist I'd be saving time not burning money but this seems rediculous.

I'd appreciate suggestions on how to move forward.

 

Sounds reasonable to me. I replaced a head gasket, various belts, various other gaskets, plugs, wires and new brakes and dropped $3500.

 

doesnt seem that bad honestly. How much did they spend in additional parts that you didnt supply? had a motor replaced in my very common 1986 IROC, and this is a chevy mind you. Just to, reattach all auxilarys, tune and set timing was like 15 hours labor from my freind mechanic. 15hr@60.00=$900.00. That was an older chevy with simple elecrtonic systems, newer land rover with BOSCH electronics is a different ballgame. I guess it all depends on how much they are charging you for hourly rate, and what parts they had to buy. I would ask him to break down the bill for you to figure out how they got to 3495 or whatever.

 

I agree with hawellja......you need to see an itemized breakdown to really figure out where the money's coming from.For sake of argument, lets say his laborrate is$100/hr (which wouldbeinsane), at the 20 hours he's charging you for, that leaves your labor cost at $2,000. So, that would suggest that there's at least $1,400 in parts.

Unfortunately, I think this is the type of thing you can expect when you dump an engine swap on someone you don't have a relationship with. What you pay for a job like that will varydrastically based on who you go to, how well you know them, whether you give them time to do it as "filler work", etc., etc. Shops make better margins on simple/smaller jobs. Tying up a tech for 20-30 hours is taking away from a number of those smaller jobs and they might be taking that into consideration when hitting you with that tab. This is why allowing a shop to do this size job as a "down time" project can save you some dough.

Just my .02

 

As for the parts he has changed out, this is pretty normal and should be done. Have him take the K&N air filter out or you will be buying a new MAF before summer is over, Rovers hate them.
I also agree, you need to see a print out of all the expenses.
Mike

 

Thanks for the input. You're all right of course, I'll post a breakdown when I've got it. For the record this was supposed to be a 'downtime' situation, I have no pressing need for the car and told him they could take it for as long as they needed. So it's been there for about three weeks or so. I wouln't be so pissed except that he discribed the job as 'an easy bolt-in opperation' and implied that it would be between $1000-2000, which is about what I would've paid for my friendly corner mechanics who aren't 'specialists'. I'm going to price up the parts online and see what it looks like, I suspect even with a healthy profit margin it'll be hard to get anywhere near $1400 for fluids, gaskets and hoses.