My VX is broke, and and could use some help!

[etlsport]

on anything going inside the engine i would tend to stick with oem or at least well known parts. you dont want to save 50 bucks on parts and wind up spending another 300 in labor to replace them again.

it sounds like this mechanic has made you a very large list, have you verified that all of this needs to be done?

if your water pump really is leaking, its a good idea to replace the timing belt at the same time. how many miles on your vx? when the top of my lower radiator hose went bad, it leaked in the same area as the water pump would have, and dripped onto the serpentine belt. (not to be confused with the timing belt which is inside the engine)

Often when the blower motor resistor goes bad, it will cause the blower motor to stop working properly, often it will work only on "high", are you sure the motor needs to be replaced too?

why does he think the thermostat needs to be replaced? no real way to tell without opening the engine up.. granted if you are in there for the water pump its not a bad idea, just want to know why.

the upper and lower radiator hoses are easily accessible, i think book time to replace them both is like 0.7 hours, if the water pump is being done at the same time, it saves time draining coolant, but thats the only advantage to doing it at the same time.

the lower ball joint would not really cause a bumpy ride, it would cause a noisy ride and maybe a shimmy at high speeds. if the boot is torn or there is play in the joint it should be replaced.

as far as your bearings are concerned, you would know they need to be replaced by the wheel feeling loosely connected to the vehicle even if the lugnuts are tight. or putting your hand on the upper control arm and spinning the tire you will feel a grinding/vibration. if your front brakes are in any sort of bad shape, you may as well replace them as the pads and rotors come off to replace the front wheel bearings anyway

tomorrow morning when i go into work i will give you exact book times on all of the work you are having done so you can compare it to the numbers he is giving you

[deermagnet]

I don't think he's outta line with the cost. That's a lotta money, but that what this stuff costs. $70-90 hr is the going rate. I'm sure you could find a place that'll do it cheaper, but the most important thing is that it's all done right.

I had this stuff done in '06 at 118,000 miles-
-Replace timing belt, tensioner, and water pump- labor=$324.00 parts=$295.34
-Replace radiator and heater hoses, and flush 'n fill coolant- labor=$101.35 parts=$144.85
-Replace serpentine drive belt(3rd time)- labor=$0 parts=$20.83
-Oil change and lube(34th time)- labor=$10.95 parts=$19.30
-Flush 'n bleed brake fluid- labor=$86.40 parts=$8.72
-Change front and rear diffy fluids(3rd time)- labor=$86.40 parts=$54.21
-Change transfer case fluid(3rd time)- labor=$36.00 parts=$5.00
-Flush 'n fill tranny fluid(3rd time)- labor=$64.95 parts=$67.97
-Replace/repack front wheel bearings(3rd time)- labor=$179.95 parts=$98.52
-Front end alignment(5th time)- labor=$49.95 parts=$0

Totals-
Labor=$989.95
Parts=$714.74
Misc.=$4.35
Tax=$136.73
Total=$1845.77

As you can see more than half was labor. It was done at my most very trusted dealer shop by an A#1 Isuzu trained mechanic. I was very happy with everything he did and has done for years with my VX.

I've put a helluva lotta money into preventive maintenance and I'm at 235,000 miles with no complaints. You've gotta spend money and not neglect anything to keep a VX in top shape for 10-20 years.

Try doing the easy stuff yourself and leave the tuff stuff only to him and save a bunch. I wonder if he knows the manifold has to come off to change the thermostat? For that reason I've never had my thermostat changed. I'm still on my original at 235K. When it fails, it'll get changed.

Mark Griffin (a VX lifer)

[Triathlete]

Just a side note...both times my blower resistor went bad my fan completely stopped working. I highly dought you need the blower motor. I definately would not pay the mech to do it. Order the part from Merlin, remove the glove box (4 screws), 2 or 3 screws hold the resistor and a plug. Shouldn't take more than 20-30 minutes and a couple basic tools. Just saved you $200+

[VXorado]

Just a side note...both times my blower resistor went bad my fan completely stopped working. I highly dought you need the blower motor. I definately would not pay the mech to do it. Order the part from Merlin, remove the glove box (4 screws), 2 or 3 screws hold the resistor and a plug. Shouldn't take more than 20-30 minutes and a couple basic tools. Just saved you $200+

OR it's just the blower motor and not the resistor. My blower motor went out last year with not resistor problems. Like others said, highly unlikely its both the resistor and blower motor.

You can actually buy an aftermarket blower at autozone... its cheap, works & like Billy said is a peice of cake to install.

[Triathlete]

You can look at the resistor and tell if it is bad most of the time. Both times mine was bad the copper piece was seperated.

[Zargon]

Might I ask where are you getting vx worked on. Is it at a dealer? I have 130K on mine and thinking about getting the timing belt and water pump replaced.
I have seen kits including water pump, timing belt and gaskets on ebay for $150 but not sure about the quality. Replacing the timing belt if not done
correctly could cause a lot of problems for your engine. So, if you have a good mechanic and OEM parts it might work out better long term.