I need some advice, and help...

Hello everyone, New to the forum. Bought my 1999 328i sbout a month ago and i love it....untill now. There was a really high pitch squeel coming from the trans and the clutch wasnt disengaging. Took it to eurasia in edmonton alberta, and this is what they have told me. It needs a new slave cylinder, clutch flywheel and a coupe of other things that total close to 4 grand. Now heres my question. I paid 3000 dollars for the car. has 330000 kms on it, fully loaded, black. beautiful inside and out. No history of any accidents, zero dents on the body. In your guys expert opinions, is it worth to be fixed, or should i just cut my loss's and call it a day. Any advice would be much appretiated.

4 grand for a clutch, flywheel and slave cylinder? doesnt sound right.

Originally Posted by YEG_E46

Hello everyone, New to the forum. Bought my 1999 328i sbout a month ago and i love it....untill now. There was a really high pitch squeel coming from the trans and the clutch wasnt disengaging. Took it to eurasia in edmonton alberta, and this is what they have told me. It needs a new slave cylinder, clutch flywheel and a coupe of other things that total close to 4 grand. Now heres my question. I paid 3000 dollars for the car. has 330000 kms on it, fully loaded, black. beautiful inside and out. No history of any accidents, zero dents on the body. In your guys expert opinions, is it worth to be fixed, or should i just cut my loss's and call it a day. Any advice would be much appretiated.

DIY fix is worth it. Shop fix is not worth it.

Originally Posted by WDE46

DIY fix is worth it. Shop fix is not worth it.

That's a tough predicament

Well it's an old car - so some parts will have to be changed - wear and tear

Try get another quote if u cant DIY

Make sure your subframe is in good cond...

And consider if u will love ur car and keep it for a long long time -
Then consider getting it fixed

Just my 2 cents buddy

Good luck!

4000 seems like an awful lot. If you are able I would try and do it yourself with some quality aftermarket parts. You could probably do all of it for around a grand if you shop around on parts price.

Go onto the Regional Forum on his forum and other BMW Forums to find "shade tree mechanics" who have a good reputation on the Forum. The threads are easy to find and once the positive news on the person gets out, people just write/post about them. For example, on M3Forum, there is a fellah in the San Diego/SoCal region whose handle is: KAIV, and he is exactly such a person; he does valve adjustmemts, VANOS hub replacements and many other complicated repair procedures. Find one of these Fellahs in your region. The job cost will hopefully be a fraction of the $4,0000 dollar cost provided by a shop.

Originally Posted by YEG_E46

Hello everyone, New to the forum. Bought my 1999 328i sbout a month ago and i love it....untill now. There was a really high pitch squeel coming from the trans and the clutch wasnt disengaging. Took it to eurasia in edmonton alberta, and this is what they have told me. It needs a new slave cylinder, clutch flywheel and a coupe of other things that total close to 4 grand. Now heres my question. I paid 3000 dollars for the car. has 330000 kms on it, fully loaded, black. beautiful inside and out. No history of any accidents, zero dents on the body. In your guys expert opinions, is it worth to be fixed, or should i just cut my loss's and call it a day. Any advice would be much appretiated.

Total manual clutch parts about $800

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...93&hg=21&fg=05

The slave is $70.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...94&hg=21&fg=10

$4K seems ridiculously excessive. Get another quote.

When you think about it it would be considerably cheaper to take a week off work and DIY.

But even at $100 an hour it should only be about $700. It should not take more than a day to chnage a clutch.

Originally Posted by RayPooley

Total manual clutch parts about $800

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...93&hg=21&fg=05

The slave is $70.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...94&hg=21&fg=10

$4K seems ridiculously excessive. Get another quote.

When you think about it it would be considerably cheaper to take a week off work and DIY.

But even at $100 an hour it should only be about $700. It should not take more than a day to chnage a clutch.

+1, but you can probably do it in 2-3 days easily. Take a personal day on a Friday, or Thurs/Fri, and you'll have it back on the road Saturday night.

My local dealer quoted me $1,500 to do the clutch (now dunno what all was included in that) so this seems high. You won't get your money back even if you do this yourself. At best it'd make your car sell faster. You need to decide if it's worth it to you. Shop around and get some quotes (if you can't/don't want to DIY it) and then decide if it's worth it to YOU.

Whoever you talked to is either a theif, don't know what they are doing, or don't know anything about ordering parts. Not many other categories they could fit into. If you can't trust them on a quote, I would be wary of them coming within 3ft of my car. go back in and tell that mother****** that if he EVER tries to lie to you to again he will not see another customer come in for three years. Watch godfather a couple times for examples if needed.

jk.


but seriously. What a loser. be like.. " uhh. can you itemize this for me please. Where are you coming up with your numbers, your hourly rate, parts prices, because 4k is not possible for this job. Like, i really can't figure out how you are even coming CLOSE to this. Quotes are part of a business too. I will give a bad review on a quote ALL day. need to hold people accountable. Especially mechanics.

Originally Posted by golf_234

Whoever you talked to is either a theif, don't know what they are doing, or don't know anything about ordering parts. Not many other categories they could fit into. If you can't trust them on a quote, I would be wary of them coming within 3ft of my car. go back in and tell that mother****** that if he EVER tries to lie to you to again he will not see another customer come in for three years. Watch godfather a couple times for examples if needed.

jk.


but seriously. What a loser. be like.. " uhh. can you itemize this for me please. Where are you coming up with your numbers, your hourly rate, parts prices, because 4k is not possible for this job. Like, i really can't figure out how you are even coming CLOSE to this. Quotes are part of a business too. I will give a bad review on a quote ALL day. need to hold people accountable. Especially mechanics.

I got a quote for an ATF and filter change a few weeks ago. It was for around $650 (previously I got one for $700+). I asked the guy exactly why it was so expensive. He really couldn't justify it. I broke down the parts cost to a maximum of $150 and he had nothing to say. I asked, "So you want to charge me for 5+ hours of labor for a job I can do myself in 2 or less?" No legitimate response, just bullshit like "Well, we use BMW ATF." Dude, I see that Redline D4 ATF on the shelves behind you.

Anyway, I have found that most mechanics are criminals and don't know what they are doing, nor do they take pride in their work. I don't think I'll ever take a car I own to a mechanic unless I have to for the rest of my life. The auto repair industry is a scam.

650 for an ATF and filter change? My mechanic told me get everything and I'll charge you 50$ I don't have tools nor space so this is the route I'm taking and I'll be there the whole time so I can make sure everything is good

Originally Posted by WDE46

I got a quote for an ATF and filter change a few weeks ago. It was for around $650 (previously I got one for $700+). I asked the guy exactly why it was so expensive. He really couldn't justify it. I broke down the parts cost to a maximum of $150 and he had nothing to say. I asked, "So you want to charge me for 5+ hours of labor for a job I can do myself in 2 or less?" No legitimate response, just bullshit like "Well, we use BMW ATF." Dude, I see that Redline D4 ATF on the shelves behind you.

Anyway, I have found that most mechanics are criminals and don't know what they are doing, nor do they take pride in their work. I don't think I'll ever take a car I own to a mechanic unless I have to for the rest of my life. The auto repair industry is a scam.

Wow. lol
Incredible.. its like uhh cool ..... haven't learned much here other than that you are a complete scammer. What did you end up doing. /threadjack

Originally Posted by golf_234

Wow. lol
Incredible.. its like uhh cool ..... haven't learned much here other than that you are a complete scammer. What did you end up doing. /threadjack

I haven't done anything about it yet. I'll end up chaning the fluid myself though. I have to tools and time to do it on a weekend in the future.

They did try to tell me that my car doesn't need it (70K miles) before they gave me the quote. I told them I didn't care what their recommendation was and that I wanted the fluid changed. Either way, they are scamming the **** out of people who don't know as much as I do about my car. They also wanted $575 for tierod installation (or $350 if I provided parts) and $200 for an alignment.

Sorry to thread jack, but I was just sharing my lesson learned:

SHOPS SUCK

Originally Posted by WDE46

I haven't done anything about it yet. I'll end up chaning the fluid myself though. I have to tools and time to do it on a weekend in the future.

They did try to tell me that my car doesn't need it (70K miles) before they gave me the quote. I told them I didn't care what their recommendation was and that I wanted the fluid changed. Either way, they are scamming the **** out of people who don't know as much as I do about my car. They also wanted $575 for tierod installation (or $350 if I provided parts) and $200 for an alignment.

Sorry to thread jack, but I was just sharing my lesson learned:

SHOPS SUCK

Not all shops suck, but some do. I am cheap as hell and price/look around a lot before letting someone work on my car. Occasionally, if something big goes down, I will pony up for a premium shop in Nashville - but they are very honest/fair about labor time and they do not mark up parts (at least for me.) My usual rule of thumb is if a shop won't let me furnish the parts, I probably won't use them. There are some great indy mechanics out there who will do that tie rod and allignment job for a lot less - keep looking.

Originally Posted by vandyboy

Not all shops suck, but some do. I am cheap as hell and price/look around a lot before letting someone work on my car. Occasionally, if something big goes down, I will pony up for a premium shop in Nashville - but they are very honest/fair about labor time and they do not mark up parts (at least for me.) My usual rule of thumb is if a shop won't let me furnish the parts, I probably won't use them. There are some great indy mechanics out there who will do that tie rod and allignment job for a lot less - keep looking.

What shops in Nashville do you use? The shop I am referring to is in Nashville.

When I use a shop, it is Nashville Autohaus - they are the best indy BMW shop in town. Import Auto Maintenance is a good shop as well. I know of some other good mechanics, too. Send me an email: rob.knox@comcast.net

Originally Posted by vandyboy

When I use a shop, it is Nashville Autohaus - they are the best indy BMW shop in town. Import Auto Maintenance is a good shop as well. I know of some other good mechanics, too. Send me an email: rob.knox@comcast.net

Okay because I am referring to EuroFix on Keniwood Drive (by 100 Oaks) and another shop that quoted similar prices (Aiken BMW).

You should find another shop.. I'm guessing you're not super-handy and you found the best 'European' indy shop because it's your new baby, but I'm sure a job like this is regular stuff any decent indy can manage for a quarter of the cost. You should buy the parts yourself and pay the shop for just labor, supplies and incidentals. Clutch kits shouldn't cost more than 5-600 tops, and 5-6 hours of labor at $80-100 tops.. Just a very approximate ballpark guess without knowing exact part/labor estimates, but I can't be too far off.