How long should head gaskets take?

[james.oco200]

Hey guys, I recently had Ford do head gaskets and studs on my 06 because they already had the cab off and motor removed to fix an oil leak under warranty. They charged me 12 hrs of labor citing that it took that long! I haven't done that kind of work on this engine but I am having a hard time believing I wasn't screwed! Any master techs that can chime in?

[broncos5332]

Thats pretty accurate. It takes a full day or a day and a half to replace head gaskets and studs. You have to disassemble a lot of stuff to get to the head gaskets.

[PGreenSVT]

If the cab is already off there is no reason for that to take 12 hours. If that was total labor that is one thing but that 12 hrs for just the head gaskets seems a bit out of line to me.

[SharkDiver]

Originally Posted by PGreenSVT

If the cab is already off there is no reason for that to take 12 hours. If that was total labor that is one thing but that 12 hrs for just the head gaskets seems a bit out of line to me.

That seems to make sence.. I bet they just go by book time no matter the condition of the vehicle.. I would guess ford made out good on this repair job.

[broncos5332]

They are going to charge you for atleast 10hrs of labor. Oil cooler and egr cooler is 10hrs of labor so do the math.

[PGreenSVT]

Originally Posted by broncos5332

They are going to charge you for atleast 10hrs of labor. Oil cooler and egr cooler is 10hrs of labor so do the math.

Those are done with the cab on. If the cab is off it doesn't take 10 hours to replace the oil and egr coolers. Once the cab is off and everything is readily accessible teardown shouldn't take more than 2 hrs. max. It'll take a bit more going back together having to torque stuff and cleaning up the gasket surfaces. When the cab is off if a mechanic that knows what he is doing can't do that in less than 8 hrs. something is wrong.

[broncos5332]

Labor for oil cooler and egr cooler replacement is around 1500 bucks. An average dealer charges you atleast 80 bucks an hour. I use to work at mack haik ford diesel shop. The 12 hr quote is correct. Call a dealer and ask em

[Lbs]

He already got charged for the time to remove the cab from the frame.

If you're getting charged 12 hours on doing headgaskets and studs then you are getting double charged for removing the cab.

[ZMANN]

I was charged an additional 2hrs labor just for doing ARP's when mine was getting warranty head gaskets

but 12 lol thats painful at $120 or at least thats our rate for Ford in AZ

[m-chan68]

To james.oco200, I will assume that the oil leak repair in question was to replace the bedplate seal, since you mention the cab was lifted and the engine removed for this repair (it is also the only oil leak repair that comes to my mind, requiring disassembly to that extent). For what it's worth, to replace EGR/oil coolers AND head gaskets under WARRANTY time, pays 25 flate rate labour hours. Again, that is WARRANTY time, not retail. Typically, when quoting a RETAIL repair (meaning a the vehicle's warranty has expired), most places will quote labour hours that are between 30 to 40 % more than what the WARRANTY time pays.

Off topic, to replace a bedplate seal requires engine removal, and mounting it on a stand to be turned upside down. This process also involves removing the front and rear covers of the engine, in order to enable removal of the bedplate itself. It DOES NOT require removal of cylinder heads.

Since you REQUESTED the servicing tech to install head studs, this repair now necessitated removal of the cylinder heads (along with the injectors and all associated valvetrain parts), and then the cleaning of gasket surfaces necessary to prepare for re-installation, you've now added to the repair he was doing. 12 hours of labour is about HALF of the 25 labour hours he would've been paid if he were doing just the head gaskets and coolers under the TSB. That's right, HALF of the WARRANTY time, since it was already apart about half way. That said, I think it was pretty fair.

To the guys comments that "any mechanic" should be able to tear it apart in 2 hours and re-assemble for just a little more than that, I can only ask what kind of a "hack" would you rather have wrenching on your ride? Even if it didn't take the actual time charged, this is what flat rate is all about. How long it actually takes is dependent soley on the servicing tech. If a job PAYS 4 hours, but takes actually 1 hour or 7 hours, that is what the tech gets paid (and what the customer is charged) 4 hours. For those who feel it unfair that they paid labour hour charges greater than the actual time the job took, look at it this way. You're not paying for the actual time the job took to carry out. You're paying for the time it took for the tech to acquire the experience/knowledge to be able to carry out the job in less time than the labour time you paid.