General Repairs And Their Costs

[NRX]

Hi all,

I'm a n00b to the cars and don't know a jack about repairs and the costs involved, yet I'm hopefully buying my first ever car in this month. There were several repairs to be done to the cars I visited and the sellers quoted some prices for those when I asked them, the thing is they could easily be hiding the real cost. SO I would be really grateful if you could post rough estimates for the usual repairs done.

Few things I need to know at the moment, Please do reply and please bare with me

1. Front suspension replacement of a 98 Ford laser

2. Left CV joint replacement for the above car.

3. 2 x New 14" Tires

4. Tuneup cost ( What are the usual things local garages do in a tuneup ? )

5. Replace Valve cover gaskets ( probably To fix a smoke issue)

6. Replace head gasket ( in case the smoke is due to coolant leak)

7. Cost of new spark plugs

8. Rings replacement (if I'm very unlucky )

5,6,7,8 : These are not confirmed issues, the vehicle smokes black ( running rich) and a grayish white. SO these are probable guesses

Thanks in advance.

P.S: if an engine burns oil but the spark plugs doesn't seem to be covered in oil what could be the issue ?

Edited October 21, 2011 by NRX

[blkr6]

man i dont know the costs in sri lanka but let me give my honest opinion

Please avoid the NO.6 you dont know what you are getting in to. unless you get an amazing deal.

except NO3. you can do everything at home. its easy and fun. i can to the exted of writing you a DIY for you to do it.

Valve Cover -easy

CV Joints- medium

Shocks- Shocks-medium

if the spark plug is not on the oily side then it burns a very little oil or you have a leak.

[invisibleuser]

for tires it will be cost you around 7- to 13 thousand for 1 tire depending on the brand.

[NRX]

man i dont know the costs in sri lanka but let me give my honest opinion

Please avoid the NO.6 you dont know what you are getting in to. unless you get an amazing deal.

except NO3. you can do everything at home. its easy and fun. i can to the exted of writing you a DIY for you to do it.

Valve Cover -easy

CV Joints- medium

Shocks- Shocks-medium

if the spark plug is not on the oily side then it burns a very little oil or you have a leak.

Thanks is the head gasket replacement that much a big costly job machan ? I watched few videos and the only thing replaced was the gasket part, though had to remove most of the engine to get to that

[NRX]

for tires it will be cost you around 7- to 13 thousand for 1 tire depending on the brand.

Cool, so the buyer actually was telling the truth

[blkr6]

Thanks is the head gasket replacement that much a big costly job machan ? I watched few videos and the only thing replaced was the gasket part, though had to remove most of the engine to get to that

yes its gonna cost you in labor compared to the other jobs. how is the car running? hopefully overheating haven't done any permanent damage to the engine.

[carboy2011]

machan please avoid 5,6 and 8 it can be frustrating,expensive,time consuming (at some garages) and not worth it,hey ur trying for a 98 model Ford and these repairs are not worth unless ur getting the car really cheap

Edited October 20, 2011 by carboy2011

[The Don]

yes its gonna cost you in labor compared to the other jobs. how is the car running? hopefully overheating haven't done any permanent damage to the engine.

blkr6, I think it is important you point out that you are not speaking with a lot of Sri Lankan perspective. Since the labour cost in SL is relatively low I would urge the OP to get everything done professionally from a competent mechanic.

Even the replacement of a head gasket is not that costly, relatively speaking of course. I've changed a whole engine for 50K SLR including labour a couple of years ago.

[NRX]

Well machan,I;m just preparing for the worst , the issue is that particular car smokes a bit.

http://www.autolanka...d-accelerating/

Do you think a mechanic can find out if it has any issues by just inspecting at the owners place ? because the owner might not be willing to take he car to a garage :-/

[NRX]

@blkr6

machan, the car is running fine, my dad went for a test drive and he said  nothing felt wrong, engine temp was like 35% of the gauge, which I think is normal.. , the car just smokes a bit and I'm looking into the possibilities of the issue and preparing for the worst

[ransam]

Has it pass the green test recently?

[LashNeo]

I own a familia which is more or less the same as the ford laser you are talking about. So i can give figures for some of the things.

A tune up at a decent place will cost you around Rs 3500/= only for the labor. They will do things like Air filter cleaning/replacement Throttle body cleanup, spark plug clean up/replacement, Engine RPM adjustment etc. A air filter will cost around 1300-1400 i think. So the total cost for a tune up would be around Rs 5000 If you don't have to replace the plugs.

Front shocks will be priced from Rs 9000 to 11,000 depending on the brand.

I think it's better if you can call few places like A**ri Mo*t**s, Ma**na Mo*t**s, T**z to check up on the prices of shocks, suspension, CV joints etc.

Ah and by the way, do you honestly think that, that car is a good buy? Coz, AFAIK ford lasers are pretty decent machines. They are long lasting and durable if looked after carefully. By looking at the list of problems you have mentioned above it doesn't seem to be in very good shape. If i were you i will not buy that thing with all those issues unless i get a real bargain. There are so many well kept lasers in the market going cheap. So better to keep an eye on some of them as well i guess.

BTW, Mind if i ask you the price you are willing to pay ?

[NRX]

I own a familia which is more or less the same as the ford laser you are talking about. So i can give figures for some of the things.

A tune up at a decent place will cost you around Rs 3500/= only for the labor. They will do things like Air filter cleaning/replacement Throttle body cleanup, spark plug clean up/replacement, Engine RPM adjustment etc. A air filter will cost around 1300-1400 i think. So the total cost for a tune up would be around Rs 5000 If you don't have to replace the plugs.

Front shocks will be priced from Rs 9000 to 11,000 depending on the brand.

I think it's better if you can call few places like A**ri Mo*t**s, Ma**na Mo*t**s, T**z to check up on the prices of shocks, suspension, CV joints etc.

Ah and by the way, do you honestly think that, that car is a good buy? Coz, AFAIK ford lasers are pretty decent machines. They are long lasting and durable if looked after carefully. By looking at the list of problems you have mentioned above it doesn't seem to be in very good shape. If i were you i will not buy that thing with all those issues unless i get a real bargain. There are so many well kept lasers in the market going cheap. So better to keep an eye on some of them as well i guess.

BTW, Mind if i ask you the price you are willing to pay ?

Well machan #5,6,7,8 are actually not confirmed issues, the car smokes bit black and grayish white and it has 180K on the clock. So I looked into the possibilities of the cause

1,2,3,4 are confirmed.

Car is in good shape and I fell in the first time I saw it. I inspected the car and offered him 10.5 and told him I will be back with a mechanic.. This was before knowing the smoke issue . But my dad is against buying the car coz of the smoke and it being a ford Ridiculous ! >_<

Edited October 21, 2011 by NRX

[Sylvi]

NRX,

If you are really interested in that Ford car go ahead go with a mechanic do a compression test then you will find the engine is bad or good for some time. Fords have engine spares to buy locally.

Sylvi Wijesinghe.

[LashNeo]

Well machan #5,6,7,8 are actually not confirmed issues, the car smokes bit black and grayish white and it has 180K on the clock. So I looked into the possibilities of the cause

1,2,3,4 are confirmed.

Car is in good shape and I fell in the first time I saw it. I inspected the car and offered him 10.5 and told him I will be back with a mechanic.. This was before knowing the smoke issue . But my dad is against buying the car coz of the smoke and it being a ford Ridiculous ! >_<

Aha.. i get the picture now. 10.5 for a 98 Ford laser is really a good deal considering the current market prices i think.

Even if you have to do a complete engine overhaul it's a profitable deal i guess. But anyway it's better to get it checked from an expert.

Your dad's opinion certainly is ridiculous. But we can't blame him can we? It seems like he belongs to that average Sri lankan car buyer who would go for a 20 year old Toyota or a new Maruti without even considering other options.

But, it's people like him who give the opportunity for guys like us to buy great cars from other brands cheaply.

Although the average car buyer would diss the ford, there are guys like you and me who admire it isn't it?

Maybe you can convince him buy explaining him that the laser is almost the same as the familia. I suppose he don't mind if you buy a famila eh? Since a 98 familia would cost at least 5lakhs more, that would be a good point for convincing him i guess.

[Chamitha6]

Burning of Lube oil can be occured due to two reasons with out considering leaks

1) oil leaking from piston rings to the combustion chamber.

2)oil leaking from Valve seals to the combustion chamber.

but if you can run 1000km lees than burning of 1 litre of Lube oil no need to be worry.But it will affect to the green test.But be care full of cooling problems.I think that your car is valuable for that price. all repairs will not cost more than 60k.but i don't know much Ford Laser spare parts

Edited October 22, 2011 by Chamitha6