Vannin' Home Forums Ford General Discussion Not a normal vehicle.....look out where you go.

Well, chalk this one up as "lesson learned" I guess. Alternator seemed to be getting a little flaky. Replaced it a few years back, not cheap to say the least (my 05 Super Duty turbo diesel). Ford wanted $480 for the alternator and a couple hundred to put it on. As you may or may not know, I retired at the end of June so dumb ass me decided to try to save some bucks. Well, new unit from Napa, $230. so that saves over half the cost from Ford. Next on the agenda, put it on. Look under the hood, yep, still same problem, turbo crap and other stuff every where, OK, let's see if we can find somebody to put it on cheaply. Found a place, book says .4 hours to do the work, cool, they'll do it for their minimum charge of $80. OK, do it. Well, first off, .4 hrs. is BULL, second, if the shop is inexperienced with diesel work and especially diesel work on a van, go on down the road. Van is back out at the diesel shop that built my engine and bullet proofed it, seems the other shop took the turbo hose apart mid way....something you should never do with this hose. When I left the original shop and gave it some umph, it went woosh and boost went in the dumper. Turned around, went back to the shop and they fixed the hose back together and when I went out on the street it went woosh again. Didn't even bother to go back again, took it straight out to the other shop. Seems the only place you should ever take this hose apart is from the turbo itself which, on the van is one more pain in the you know where. Not only that, but either the Ford shop in Florida that replaced my air conditioner a few weeks ago or the shop today screwed up the oil tube, knocked it out of the valve cover and just used grey gunk to stick it back on, which wasn't working since it was loose outside of the valve cover. So now we'll see how much the "cheap as possible" fix is going to end up costing me. So, I guess we go back to the old saying, "you get what you pay for" but jeez, give a guy a break once in awhile!!!!!!

Yikes ! I wish you the best of luck, I turned wrenches for a living for 15 plus years and turbo stuff still scares me enough to say " Take it to someone who knows better than me." .

Finding a decent shop is a challenge. And it's not just diesels but everything. Although great diesel shops are few.
The 100K service is due on the HHR so I asked the Chevy dealer for an estimate. It was just north of $800!! I believe that they have to make a profit and a living but that seems a little high to me.
I may regret it, but after I do some homework, I might try it myself. After all, what can go wrong?

At least it ain't got a turbo.....

I try to be optimistic when I have to take a vehicle to a shop for work, but I swear the last three (or more) times I've taken one of mine to a shop it has turned out bad, and expensive. I just resolved to doing the work myself as best as I can unless it requires big equipment that I don't have and doesn't make sense to buy. It has turned out to be cheaper to do it twice if I screw it up than taking it to a shop. I took the 88 Ford you found for me Catfish to Safelite. The windshield doesn't need replaced yet, but they won't reseal it due to the chances of it breaking when they take it out. Never mind the fact that anyone could see that the urethane had long ago hardened and let go, and the glass practically fell out, but the guy called and told me he couldn't do the work because the pinch weld was too rusty and I would have to take it to a body shop first. There is virtually 0 rust on that van. What he saw was imbedded SC red clay. A swipe with a wet finger would have shown him that, so I am resealing it myself after I paint the dash the new body color. He actually saved me a couple hundred bucks so it's all good.

Well, expensive lesson......turbo tube, 90 degree bend, oil filler tube......$630. Guess I won't try to find the cheapest way again.

Sorry to hear of all your trouble.At least you got her fixed and back home.

$630 ? WOW! Expensive lesson to be sure, but as Lukester said, at least it is fixed and home. . . .