Had a significant oil leak in the right back side of my 4.6 engine in my 02 FX4.
Took into local dealership and got the call to approve up to $2200 of work.

Dealer says:
- head gasket leak in back right side of engine (figured so, I couldn't get near it to find it.
- will fix for $2000 and that includes up to $400 for as he put it "a cracked manifold or any other potential problems they may encounter".
- will do both side while they have it torn apart for $2200, again that includes to potential $400)
- it's over due and they will replace the 8 plugs with motorcrafts while repairing.

I guess what I am wondering is:
- am i being raped on this or ?
- is it likely they would have $400 worth of other issues on this repair?

Truck has been good to me since 80,000 when i bought it and now has 115,000.

Thanks for any feedback!

 

If thats for both head gaskets. Which you need to do, no need to wait for the other to fail down the road. Just change them both while the timing assembly is apart and the other head is off, much easier and cost effective. If thats just for one, seems a bit high.

 

>- will do both side while they have it torn apart for $2200, again that includes to potential $400) <

I figured it's all so labor intense, told them to go ahead and do both, yes. I just hope they don't find a reason to suck up the extra 400 for things that "might" go wrong.

Thanks

 

I see you live here in Michigan where they salt our roads every winter. What do your exhaust manifolds and studs look like? If they are rusted bad like most of 97-2000 model year trucks I've seen it would be a great time to have them changed while the heads are off. I know in my area they wanted at least $600.00 to change them with the heads on the truck. You can find manifolds online for around $50.00 each, maybe make a deal with them on labor? Just a thought.

 

If I let the dealer do it, I would try to negotiate. I called the Miami Ford Dealer for a quote on a spark plug change and they knocked off about $100 when I balked. I'm still thinking about $240 to change plugs. I bought the plugs already.