a bit of advise please guys

[dp400]

Ive got my car in at the moment for a service and Ive just had a call from the garage. They have told me i have a noisy diff and its leaking. The cost to remove the diff and re seal it is quoted at £360.00. Ive got a tower view roll bar on the car and Ive been told in the past that the reason for the noise is due to the road noise nesonating (have i spelt that right?) through the bar. I never get any oil patches under the rear of the car so im not too sure about this.
They have also told me the rocker cover gaskets are leaking and need replacing and this is gonna cost £160.00. Again the car doesnt loose any oil so im a bit unsure.
If things need doing I'll pay to get them done, but the fact that i dont know one end of a spanner from another means im always a little bit sceptical about additional jobs that im told need doing. What do you knowledgeable buch think. Does what they are saying sound reasonable and do the cost quoted seem fair??????????

[dickymint]

For a starter you could do the rocker gaskets yourself and save £150 (only a handful of bolts to remove) might even just need tightening down.

Not done work on the diff. But you say they want to remove it and re-seal it, but what about the so say noise? Personally I would get them or somebody else to change the oil in it first then see if its noisy. As you say it could well be your roll bar resonating.

[dp400]

Updated to say they are now recommending that the diff be sent off to be reconditioned at a cost of a further £400 odd quid!

[djc1001]

If they are saying £160 to replace 2 rocker gaskets - then get out of there fast.
It's a half hour job (max) and 2 gaskets. Even the newer re-usable rubber gaskets are not in that price league.

The diff's some times show what looks like leakage when it is actual mist from the vent - Bible suggests a longer vent pipe.

r's
David

[TOPTON]

If the diff was leaking, as you said, you would have noticed some oil somewhere on the floor. The noise Could be as you say, roll bar.
The rocker cover gaskets take about an hour to do at home.. Batman & ROBBIN spring to mind.
I would tell them to leave it alone and take it somewhere else if you not sure on doing things yourself


Added>>>Some garages rely on people like yourself who know nothing about the mechanics to charge silly prices. Get ya car and run

>> Edited by TOPTON on Wednesday 22 March 11:27

[badredwedge]

The new style Rubber rocker box gaskets cost about £24 a pair they are a standard R/Rover - Dicso thing, any landrover dealer will sell em to you. Get your car out of there fast and dont take it back. The job would take about 1 hour tops for any monkey with a screwdriver that a labour rate of ........... Far to much. I dont think even TVR would charge £130 an hour.

[chris390]

i would also be concerned that once youve told them to do no extra work they may loosen the rocker cover bolts in order to be able to say "told you so" get the car checked by a freind with some basic know how. might be worth checking axle as well.

[l33]

£160 for new rocker cover gaskets? !!!!!

Try about £15-20 for the gaskets and about 10-15 mins to fit. Each rocker cover held on by 4 screws. Undoing and redoing 8 easy to get at screws and £20 worth of gasket does not cost £160. Do it yourself - even a monkey couldn't get it wrong. Try landrover dealer or realsteal www.realsteel.co.uk/

As for the diff, they are a pain in the ass to get out (altouugh never done one myself). They are Jaguar diffs. You can pick a decent one up at a breakers yard for about £60. Fitting I would guess 4 hours labour? Tops, I would pay is about £250-300 all-in. Thats if you need the diff in the first place...

Personally, I would tell the garage to go and spiders and find another place.


L33

[rev-erend]

Dave

Who is doing your servicing .. the rocker cover price does not make any sence..

On the drivers side - it takes about 10 ~ 15 mins to change on the passenger side the plenum has to be removed, rocker changed and then the plenum resealed - say 30 mins for the left side.

So - 1 hour total labour, rocker cover gaskets are cheap as chips (as others have already said).

The diff is another matter - you can always get a second opinion from another garage.

[350matt]

Bear in mind that on 98% of wedges the diff causes some vibration at around 80ish mph the input and ouput seals can both be changed in situ with no need to remove the diff, which is a fair bit of work to do. Also the 4HU diff is massivly robust and very very difficult to break. I've only heard of problems with them if they've had an oil leak and run out of oil, I know of people running them with 400+ Bhp and no problems.

Like has been said before, get your car out of there and find a decent TVR indie who'll charge the same on labour rate, whereabouts in the country are you?

Matt

[redweapon]

Oil leaks are good, it keeps the rust off the chassis

[adam quantrill]

Famous 4 do those rubber rocker gaskets for about 8 quid the pair. Exactly the same as the RR ones.

[Number 7]

DP - I saw your car in the garage yesterday and today whilst having some work done on mine. I did ask what the probs. were and they mentioned the diff / rocker gaskets / driveshaft uj's, although I didn't look closely enough to see any leaks. Others have mentioned that roll bars can amplify noise. What can really tell a worn diff would not only be noise, but in my experience, vibration, especially lifting off and applying throttle. Can't remember what mileage your car had, but unless its been run low on oil, or the pinion bearing nut has come loose, they can take high quite high mileages before needing attention. Maybe a second opinion might be in order?I had my diff rebuilt about 2 yrs. ago by the firm that your garage will get to do the work, and I was pleased with the job. I took the diff out and replaced it myself. The garage actually told me themselves who they use. Cost £455 inc. vat. If you can wield the spanners, its not that difficult to remove the diff, just time consuming, especially putting it back. Bear in mind also that its best to have the rear camber / toe checked after. As for the rocker gaskets, very straightforward as has been said, although you need to remove the plenum to do the n/s. I use cork myself, cheaper. And I suspect the rubber ones deform in use anyway, so re-using them may not be an option.

Edit: just re-read your comment about spanners - so diy not an option. If you need the rocker gaskets doing, and can get to Kent, I'd be happy to help.

HTH.

7.


>> Edited by Number 7 on Wednesday 22 March 18:51

[dp400]

Thanks for all your advice guys. As a result of my concerns and the comments on here ive told them not to do the rocker gaskets and just change the oil in the diff.

Rev - I took it to the garage your told me not to. So feel free to say i told you so!

Number 7 - thanks for the offer on the gaskets, top bloke. I may have a bash myself, not sure yet.

[rev-erend]

Oh..

Many seem impressed with them but I've one bad experience and a couple of good ones..

[firefox1712]

With them adding on this then adding on that, it does sound as if they are treating you as a cash cow just to squeeze money out of you.

Just one of my experiences with garages involved a well known (advertises in the main classic mags from time to time) classic car resto/mech firm in this area. Thay had quoted me £25 per hour to do some work on a car (cheap I know - a couple of years back, but that was their rate). Part of the work involved welding some small holes in the manifold. Up came the bill and I had been charged an extra £25 per hour for the welding (on top of the existing £25 PH) for the chap to have his dad standing by with a fire extinguisher! Then they charged me for a silly amount of time just to check and tighten a few bolts which by their own admission would hardly tighten at all anyway. On top of that they also charged me for the time taken to look at a wiring diagram and other info I had supplied in order to help them!

I'm off to buy an old Sierra that I can throw away when it costs anything to fix!

[silverback mike]

DP, have a go at the rocker gaskets, it's an easy job, re the diff, I would do exactly as you have, change the oil, and while it's draining, pop a finger in there to see if there are any small metal fragments that emerge, that's always a good indication of what's happening inside there, it's definatlely the cheaper option initially.

[Number 7]

silverback mike said:

pop a finger in there to see if there are any small metal fragments that emerge, that's always a good indication of what's happening inside there, it's definatlely the cheaper option initially.

The diff should have a magnetic drain plug anyway, so any bits get caught. The oil will almost certainly contain particles from the friction plates, appearing as glitter. Nothing to worry about.

7.

[silverback mike]

Number 7 said:

silverback mike said: pop a finger in there to see if there are any small metal fragments that emerge, that's always a good indication of what's happening inside there, it's definatlely the cheaper option initially. The diff should have a magnetic drain plug anyway, so any bits get caught. The oil will almost certainly contain particles from the friction plates, appearing as glitter. Nothing to worry about. 7.

I see, I have never drained a wedge, bit do understand the magnetic bit. I only mention it as I had a 944 with a nasty diff. When I drained it lots and lots of small metallic fragments came out from where it had been grinding away. These were a lot more substantial than glitter. I put some additive in as well which quietened it right down for a while.

[wedg1e]

Robbing bastards. No other way to describe them.