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Forum » Q: What's crazier than a shop charing $500/hr for spark plug replacement?
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Thread: Q: What's crazier than a shop charing $500/hr for spark plug replacement?

post 1690855683 09-28-2023, 11:11 PM
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Fireplace repair men are the biggest scammers I've seen. I legit witnessed them quote a lady $800 for a $30 part. Ive also seen them unplug the sparker to light the pilot so customers call them back to pay to light their fireplaces every fall. Can't stand them... not all of them, but you gotta be careful
post 1690855753 09-28-2023, 11:14 PM
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Originally Posted By 4Bertuzzi4⏩
To be fair, a lot of dudes who believe they can work on their own vehicles, have absolutely zero business picking up a wrench. Butchery will likely be performed by the youtube university hacks.

Take an automotive course or two, otherwise you may hurt yourself.

Spark plugs are simple, until they're not.
For real. I had to show a guy how to turn a simple quarter turn valve on his water heater with a wrench. Then he asked me if he would be able to replace the gas burner assembly and gas valve. I told him he should hire somebody or he would likely flood his house lol.
post 1690855883 09-28-2023, 11:18 PM
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Took me 5 minutes to change out my wife's SUV battery. I enjoy working on our cars.
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post 1690855893 09-28-2023, 11:18 PM
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i do it myself now days. some of it is the money and some if it is just that you know what parts were actually used.

going to do my own brakes shortly and i will get good ceramic pads, if i went to a shop they would put in whatever cheap ass ones they have in stock that make lots of dust.
post 1690855953 09-28-2023, 11:20 PM
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Originally Posted By HMFIC_BROWSIN⏩
The thing is, almost no one is making $500/hr.... and when it comes to spark plugs, shops are LITERALLY charging that much. It's wild. You don't need special tools, you don't need a jack, you don't need fluids, no electrical knowledge....It's literally 1 hex bolt you take off, take out old plug, put in new, and put back on.

$500/hr = $960k/year....

So if you are making north of a million dollars a year, yes you should pay someone.
Are you driving a 30 year old car that is getting spark from a distributor?
post 1690855963 09-28-2023, 11:20 PM
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Originally Posted By niospecv⏩
Took me 5 minutes to change out my wife's SUV battery. I enjoy working on our cars.
i have an AGM battery plus i got a larger size battery than stock that fits my car. I would have paid more for some shop to install whatever cheap ass bottom barrel battery they could find.
post 1690859033 09-29-2023, 01:35 AM
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Probably on some European car where the whole engine needs to come out to do spark plugs
post 1690859063 09-29-2023, 01:38 AM
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It's all fun and games until you realize it's a ford and they all snap off, one by one.


post 1690859203 09-29-2023, 01:52 AM
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Originally Posted By HMFIC_BROWSIN⏩
You don't even need a Saturday on an inline-4... Literally you can do it while finishing your morning coffee.
True. It's one of those things that once you've done it you feel like a moron for paying someone else to do it. You don't even need to get dirty. It takes longer to drive to and from the shop than it does to change spark plugs. While there are some exceptions in vehicles, same applies for the most basic of things like headlight bulb replacements. It takes 5 minutes and each bulb is $5-15 but tards will sit in a shop for an hour and pay the shop $100 to do it for them because touching the car under the hood is yucky. I don't care if you make $1000/hr, that's still stupid. The amount of time wasted waiting is full on retard.
Yeah Buddyyy! Light weight! Light weight baby!!!!
post 1690859283 09-29-2023, 01:56 AM
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Originally Posted By Misque*******⏩
Probably on some European car where the whole engine needs to come out to do spark plugs
Reason #974 I've never bought and never will buy a European car. By far the worst reliability, and always the biggest pain to work on, including for mechanics.
Yeah Buddyyy! Light weight! Light weight baby!!!!
post 1690859303 09-29-2023, 01:57 AM
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Originally Posted By 4Bertuzzi4⏩
To be fair, a lot of dudes who believe they can work on their own vehicles, have absolutely zero business picking up a wrench. Butchery will likely be performed by the youtube university hacks.

Take an automotive course or two, otherwise you may hurt yourself.

Spark plugs are simple, until they're not.
you dont watch just one video, you watch multiple ones because some will make good points that others dont. then you dont rush it and make sure you have the right tools before you start and get stuck half way through something.

then the amount of risk you want to take would be if you have only a single car or multiple vehicles, if you have more than one car then you can let it sit while parts are in the mail.
post 1690859323 09-29-2023, 02:01 AM
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Originally Posted By niospecv⏩
Took me 5 minutes to change out my wife's SUV battery. I enjoy working on our cars.
But but but you would have had to wash your hands afterwards. Nooooooooooooo!!!!!!! Like oh my gaawd, so groce!!! People who don't do simple things on cars also don't know how to feed themselves more than stuff that's microwaveable or Ramen. The first to die in an apocalypse, unless they're an attractive woman.
Yeah Buddyyy! Light weight! Light weight baby!!!!
post 1690859403 09-29-2023, 02:10 AM
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Originally Posted By frankdtank20⏩
Reason #974 I've never bought and never will buy a European car. By far the worst reliability, and always the biggest pain to work on, including for mechanics.
Even if it took more hours that wouldn’t change the hourly rate

Brb Subaru boxer engine, spark plugs facing the chassis rails
post 1690859513 09-29-2023, 02:21 AM
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Originally Posted By r32gojirra⏩
Even if it took more hours that wouldn’t change the hourly rate

Brb Subaru boxer engine, spark plugs facing the chassis rails
Beyond what you mentioned are Subarus in general a pain to work on, like many European models are? I've known people who've owned Subarus, but never asked. I honestly don't think I'd take a European car for free. If I won a contest giveaway and got a brand new Mercedes I'd drive it for a month, then sell it and buy a Lexus. Same for any Stellantis (Jeep/Dodge/etc) product. Free? Cool. I'd drive it a few weeks and sell the POS.
Yeah Buddyyy! Light weight! Light weight baby!!!!
post 1690859613 09-29-2023, 02:30 AM
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brb just a little quick timing chain work on an audi

See that little cheap POS plastic guide? It wears out pretty quick and needs to be changed constantly. Ask me how I know.

post 1690860733 09-29-2023, 03:37 AM
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Originally Posted By bsrkoacar2⏩
Fireplace repair men are the biggest scammers I've seen. I legit witnessed them quote a lady $800 for a $30 part. Ive also seen them unplug the sparker to light the pilot so customers call them back to pay to light their fireplaces every fall. Can't stand them... not all of them, but you gotta be careful
Plumbers are terrible too when it comes to smaller jobs. I've seen plumbers charge $500+ for a 30 minute job that involved them working on fully exposed drain piping running along walls in a basements, and for which all they needed to do was bond existing, intact PVC piping back together. You want a drain unclogged, or a water heater flushed by a plumber? That'll be like $150 even from a local place doing it at their convenience.
post 1690861333 09-29-2023, 04:04 AM
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Originally Posted By ArnoldLibCuck⏩
Plumbers are terrible too when it comes to smaller jobs. I've seen plumbers charge $500+ for a 30 minute job that involved them working on fully exposed drain piping running along walls in a basements, and for which all they needed to do was bond existing, intact PVC piping back together. You want a drain unclogged, or a water heater flushed by a plumber? That'll be like $150 even from a local place doing it at their convenience.
thats mind blowing that anyone would hire a plumber to hook a hose up and open a valve to their water heater. even if you have money its your time to schedule an appointment, wait around for them to show up, bruh you could have been done with it already
post 1690861363 09-29-2023, 04:05 AM
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Originally Posted By frankdtank20⏩
Beyond what you mentioned are Subarus in general a pain to work on, like many European models are? I've known people who've owned Subarus, but never asked. I honestly don't think I'd take a European car for free. If I won a contest giveaway and got a brand new Mercedes I'd drive it for a month, then sell it and buy a Lexus. Same for any Stellantis (Jeep/Dodge/etc) product. Free? Cool. I'd drive it a few weeks and sell the POS.
Having taken apart and subsequently junked a few EJ motors in my time I’d say:
-the bearing setup in the bottom end is just not suited to longevity the same way other Japanese motors of that era (2Jz etc) were
-the open deck cylinder head design is not great for running big boost

At this point though “maintenance” involves tearing down the motor and seeing if the block is salvageable and in most cases junking it and dropping in a replacement

Edit: maybe it’s not the bearings but the crank-driven oiling system. IDK not really a Subaru guy only worked on them to help out mates who got into trouble.
post 1690863343 09-29-2023, 05:18 AM
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Originally Posted By ErnieMccracken⏩
brb just a little quick timing chain work on an audi

See that little cheap POS plastic guide? It wears out pretty quick and needs to be changed constantly. Ask me how I know.

JFLOL! brah I used to work with asked me if it was easy to replace a timing belt on his Audi (Honestly, I think his suv had a timing chain, and I told him chains should last but the guides need to be replaced sometimes). I told him it would be easy for me, and he asked if he could do it himself... I said not if you don't have much mechanical aptitude. He swore up and down that he could do it himself because he watched a few youtube videos and it looks easy. He did it himself.

Then had to have the motor replaced because "My pulleys flew off and I must have forgotten to tighten something".

$9000 later and he put his Audi up for sale.
post 1690866733 09-29-2023, 07:01 AM
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Originally Posted By ErnieMccracken⏩
brb just a little quick timing chain work on an audi

See that little cheap POS plastic guide? It wears out pretty quick and needs to be changed constantly. Ask me how I know.

Aren't those the engines where the timing chain is on the back and like a 1/2 inch from the firewall so you have to pull them to change the guide?

They finally used a chain instead of a belt and somehow made the situation worse lol
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post 1690868903 09-29-2023, 07:50 AM
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Originally Posted By HMFIC_BROWSIN⏩
The thing is, almost no one is making $500/hr.... and when it comes to spark plugs, shops are LITERALLY charging that much. It's wild. You don't need special tools, you don't need a jack, you don't need fluids, no electrical knowledge.... It's literally 1 hex bolt you take off, take out old plug, put in new, and put back on.

$500/hr = $960k/year....

So if you are making north of a million dollars a year, yes you should pay someone.
More most cars, yes I agree.

I have worked on a few cars where the entire top half of the engine seems to come off to replace one bank of the plugs (entire upper intake manifold and hours worth of misc items (hoses, wiring, brackets, etc).

One in particular, I was helping a friend replace them on a DOHC 3.0L Mitsubishi engine. Back three plugs done in 5 minutes. Front three took us a few hours. Yeah, I should have looked that one up before offering to help.

Or doing the ones on many Porsche cars where you take the rear tires of to get a clear shot at them.

I'd still never let someone do my car maintenance, but I can see how a female (and some guys would), especially if it's a larger job. But if it's a normal 30 minute replacement, every guy should learn how and do it themselves.
post 1690868923 09-29-2023, 07:51 AM
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OP was the retard that actually paid for that work to be done at that price.
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post 1690881863 09-29-2023, 12:07 PM
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Originally Posted By frankdtank20⏩
But but but you would have had to wash your hands afterwards. Nooooooooooooo!!!!!!! Like oh my gaawd, so groce!!! People who don't do simple things on cars also don't know how to feed themselves more than stuff that's microwaveable or Ramen. The first to die in an apocalypse, unless they're an attractive woman.
It's all good. I get to use this hand soap that feels amazing.

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post 1690882523 09-29-2023, 12:21 PM
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I have to take a **** ton of stuff off my 4runner engine to get to the plugs. Not always easy
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post 1690882813 09-29-2023, 12:28 PM
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most people dont have the bout 350$ worth of tools you need
post 1691062593 10-03-2023, 10:12 AM
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Originally Posted By ArnoldLibCuck⏩
A plumber charging $700 to repair an exposed drain pipe that just fell off from being loose plus a water heater flush/new drain rod.
Yes, but in that case the plumber actually has to commute to a location to do the job. A mechanic at a shop has the car brought to him... Which reduces his burden MASSIVELY. You'd have to calculate commute time, etc... But the 4 cylinder Hyundai example I saw literally comes out to a $500/hr labor rate.
Originally Posted By headturner1⏩
Crew. I’m YouTube Certified basically, but I still go after almost anything.

You’d be surprised what you can accomplish with a Milwaukee 1/2” impact and an Icon 3/8” long handled ratchet lol
Yeah I changed a heater core once on an old truck and just used youtube.
Originally Posted By elterrible987⏩
i do it myself now days. some of it is the money and some if it is just that you know what parts were actually used.

going to do my own brakes shortly and i will get good ceramic pads, if i went to a shop they would put in whatever cheap ass ones they have in stock that make lots of dust.
Also THIS^^

I bought better spark plugs than was quoted on the sheet, and they cost less than the dealer was going to charge for the worse plugs. This person also was quoted $310 for front brakes LMAO. Yeah I'll do that too for fukin free, just give me $70 for the pads/resurfacing.
post 1691062633 10-03-2023, 10:12 AM
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Just spent $475 for a spark plug replacement at the dealer LOL
post 1691063063 10-03-2023, 10:21 AM
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Originally Posted By Misque*******⏩
Probably on some European car where the whole engine needs to come out to do spark plugs
No. It was for a 4 cylinder Hyundai. Price quote for spark plugs was from a dealer.
Originally Posted By ErnieMccracken⏩
It's all fun and games until you realize it's a ford and they all snap off, one by one.
LMAO. What is with all the FORDcels and their nightmare spark plug stories?
Originally Posted By frankdtank20⏩
True. It's one of those things that once you've done it you feel like a moron for paying someone else to do it. You don't even need to get dirty. It takes longer to drive to and from the shop than it does to change spark plugs. While there are some exceptions in vehicles, same applies for the most basic of things like headlight bulb replacements. It takes 5 minutes and each bulb is $5-15 but tards will sit in a shop for an hour and pay the shop $100 to do it for them because touching the car under the hood is yucky. I don't care if you make $1000/hr, that's still stupid. The amount of time wasted waiting is full on retard.
True, the time to change your own is less than the time it takes to get someone else to do it.
Originally Posted By darkninja67⏩
OP was the retard that actually paid for that work to be done at that price.
Uh, no.... This was a friends car, they took car in for a recall, and showed me the sheet of quotes they were given for "needed work".... I almost died laughing, then I timed myself when I did the job, and it took me 25 minutes. So I rounded up to 30 minutes labor, and deducted the $56 I paid for spark plugs. The difference came out to $500/hr.
Originally Posted By SoulOfWarmth⏩
most people dont have the bout 350$ worth of tools you need
spark plug socket is $6, socket arm extension and ratchet is probably $20 if you get a nice one, the 10mm socket is $4.... So $30 for all the tools required to complete the job would put you at an hourly rate of $448/hr.... So your new income threshold would be $860k/year in order to justify paying the dealer to do your 4 cylinder spark plug job.

LMAO.
post 1691064793 10-03-2023, 10:54 AM
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Originally Posted By SoulOfWarmth⏩
most people dont have the bout 350$ worth of tools you need
It’s about $40 in tools brah
post 1691104103 10-04-2023, 05:49 AM
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Originally Posted By Mrstealyogurl89⏩
It’s about $40 in tools brah
Right, but what grown man doesn't have a basic socket set, which usually includes 2 spark plug sockets, ratchets and extensions?

The one piece that may not be included in your basic kit, which can be used for tricky access, is the universal joint socket:

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