not horrible. +1 id definitely shop around though. you'd think that a larger city would mean more competition and better prices.

 

We did shop around. The 2 other shops I found that would work on rovers wouldn't even give me a quote. I'm going 60 miles for this one. Normally I would do the work myself, but after reading the manual on it and pricing all the parts I'm going to pay the extra to have someone else do it and have a warranty on the work.

 

yesterday "the shop" started looking at the car. head gaskets definitely leaking. also need spark plugs & wires, throttle body heater, thermostat, left rear hub, lower radiator hose, and 2 motor mounts. gonna do the motor mounts and hub ourselves. we had already replaced an o-ring on that hub previously. $2400 total

 

so parts are $400, what kind of warranty are you getting for your $2000 in labor. The reason I ask is the going rate around here for an Indy is 1600-1800.

 

IMHO if you are ready to replace a hub and motor mounts... thermostat, hoses, and even HG should not be much of a stretch. Of course, you have to allow for down time. Will take DIY about two weekends with shop inbetween. SWMBO will discover advanced vocabulary from Prince Charming. Most shops don't do their own machine shop work, they take the heads to a cylinder head shop that mills them down to flatness spec (less than .002 inch variation) and will replace the valve seals if you provide them (comes in the kit of parts for head gasket job usually). Going rate near me is about $200 for the shop work. Dollars being scarce these days, might be a thought.

 

You stand correct, if you can change motor mounts and hubs, head gaskets are not much of a stretch.... You should be tooled up and if not ..harbor freight will have all the tools you will need for cheap. You should be able to tear the engine down in less than half a day....If you don't need the car as you say you have another..might as well take a look at the oil pump and seal everything up. My friends shop does a complete engine seal front and back for about $500.00. Heads here in miami are no more than $150.00 ... I paid $100.00......Ask the shop what they would charge for resealing the entire engine..If you are already spending 2k you might consider it getting it done .. Tell them you can get it done somewhere else for less......bargain with them...I pulled my complete... "entire"...engine out...block and all.. in a day and had not done it before. Don't let them give you "its a land rover and very difficult" story....It a big load of sh$t... It's just a v8 .....


Here is what i used from a guy named Paulp38 A... His is the same motor you have but his block is a 4.0 and your is a 4.6. They are the same....Very good guide for you guys...You can skip step 7.1 ..you dont need to do this step....intermediate steering shaft...leave it alone ...it does not effect your truck..a P38...it can..

Engine Refresh (top end) « PaulP38A.com



Let us know, Thanks, Chris..

 

I would suggest doing the head gaskets yourself. When it comes right down to it, it's just nuts and bolts. For what you will pay in labor you can do the headgaskets, hoses, and a whole bunch more stuff.

Read everything you can in regards to doing the job before you even open the hood! Who's to say that the shop will do things right? A warranty is good, but I would be pissed if I had to use that warranty because it should have been done right the first time. Needless to say, the ONLY person who touches my truck is the emissions guy. I can handle everything else myself. You can fix your truck if you have common sense and patience. A headgasket set is only about $130 + shipping, The hoses can be purchased as a complete kit reasonably.

I would shy away from Harbor Freight, at least for the tools needed to do head gaskets. It's totally going to SUCK when the socket breaks on the first 90 degree rotation of the head bolts. By the time you go get another socket the head may be warped from uneven tension.

If you shop wisely you could do the engine work with all new hoses, tune up, lift kit, tires, brakes, and a full tank of gas.

 

The head gaskets are a big job, but they can be a DIY repair. I had never done a head gasket job before I did mine, but did have some basic knowledge and a good set of tools. If you take your time, read and then re-read the RAVE and some threads, and do the job right then you can save a lot of money.
However if you're really not comfortable trying this repair then you may not have enough basic skills to attempt this on your own. The important thing is that the job is done right and you get your Rover back.
If you do decide to try this yourself then I have a thread on here that may help you. "Doing a major 100k mile service this month" I did the Head Gaskets,water pump,oil pump,timing chain kit, thermostat, hose kit, plugs, 8mm wires, oil pressure guage, all new fluids and all new exhaust gaskets for around 1,700. That includes the machine shop (valve job, cleaning and resurface), tools, Fluids, beer everything.
If you just do the head gaskets and have all the tools it will be way less then that.

 

appreciate all the diy suggestions, but hubby isn't comfortable doing it, works long hours (so it'd take forever) and i kind of need the car back asap, so, the shop it is. they are almost done with everything already. and, to whoever said it was only $400 in parts, man, i wanna know where you get 'em, cuz i calculated almost a grand.

 

Have you looked at or used any of their sockets in the last year or so? I absolutely agree with you on the old ones, but they've significantly changed them at of late. They aren't bad at all.

I still use impact sockets on high torque applications wherever I can fit them (everywhere but that damn rear driver's side on a V8 Rover if you're doing heads with the motor still in and without pulling motor mounts).