Heres the scenerio, have a fuel leak at carbs(plastic T and O rings) local shop wants $300 for the repair, ok with that. I asked about doing a tune up at the same time, since they'll have half the bike pulled apart anyways. they still want to charge me the normal labor $ for the tune up in addition to the fuel leak $ Any constructive thoughts?
Yeah, do it yourself. Get a manual and see the carb rebuild tutorial here: http://users.rcn.com/kochc/moto/carb/carb.html It's not hard, just tedious. You can buy a set of 100 or so metric nitrile O-rings from Harbor Freight for about $13. Fix the fuel leak. Tuneup: - Set the pilot screws at stock setting - Free - Adjust your valves - Free - Replace stator cover gasket with gasket paper and paper hole punch $8 - Replace coolant crossover tube O-rings - Free(Harbor freight kit already bought) - Replace coolant - $15 - Replace the plugs - $15 - Synch your carbs - $60 if you have to buy the tool - Replace the brake/clutch fluid - $8 So for a little over $100 and 12 hrs labor (for the first timer), you will have a reliable bike with no leaks. Next time you do the tuneup, it will only take 6 hrs. Most big shops are like car repair shops - according to the "book" a specific repair will take 2.5 hrs of labor - so that is what they charge. Even if the car is torn apart and the actual repair takes 1 hour. This is standard practice. Sounds like this is what the shop is doing. Unless this shop commonly works on old V4's, you'll be paying someone to learn how to do the repair on your bike. Me, I'd rather learn how to do it myself for free. Plus no one cares more about my bike than me. P.S. The $300 charge seems a little excessive for just replacing an O-ring. That's more like a price for a full rebuild. Ask them how much if you bring in just the carbs and just fix the leak.
Thanks mason, knew that doing it myself would the dollar wise way to do it, time is the issue. Basically was looking for opinons and or experience with the shops' policy.
