Hi, this is Martin in Menifee CA.
My car is a 2001 xk8 convert. with 109,000 miles. I'm the second owner and the car was service by Bauer Jaguar in Anaheim Hills for its lifetime.
Received a quote today from a local

shop here in the desert I have used before for eight hours labor to replace the valve cover gaskets, inner and outer, and seal washers..
This shop has always been fair with me so I'm surprised at the eight hour time?
Please advise if this is reasonable or not?
I am not intending to argue with my long time shop but should discretely look elsewhere if this estimate is out of line.
All will be handled confidentially
Regards,
Martin

 

I don't have a 'Chilton' or other labor time guide but Jaguar warranty time is 2 hours CAM COVER GASKETS, ENGINE SET.

I always multiply warranty time times time and a half.(warranty time is WAY short on time)
(2 x 1.5= 3 hours)

I charge 3 hours shop time plus parts to replace cam cover gasket set on a 2001 XK8.

Somebody looked up the time incorrectly or they want a lot of gravy added to the paycheck.

 

Motorcarman,

Thanks for the data.
I though something was amiss.

Martin

 

Has your local shop ever done this job before? They may simply be adding a margin, knowing what can go wrong working on a 25 year old car - things like the dipstick tube not going back in, or something leaking after you have put it all back together. 3 hours sounds on the low side to me, but then again I've only done this once.

Whilst it is open, are you going to check the secondary tensioners to see if they need updating?

 

… or the dip stick not coming out like in my case

 

I leave the dipstick in the holder tube and use a slide hammer to lift it slightly and turn it out of the way.

The dipstick guides the tube back in the block.(done)

 

2 hrs but having said that never let your car go into a dealership/repair shop its just asking for trouble ...DIY

 

It's a good point really, maybe it took the local shop 6 hours to get the dipstick out last time they tried this, hence the inflated quote.

 

I certainly agree with this job... when I bought my car it had had these gaskets done 2k miles before and they were already leaking. Because they all do that. I changed them for mahle gaskets, same issue within 1000 miles. If you follow the jag procedure for changing these, they will leak again. You have to add rtv as well. Plus I used a lincoln LS gasket, 1/4 the price and it hasn't leaked since.