[Drivaar]

Hi everyone!

Quick question about pricing in California for the following repair on a 2007 E90 335i... does it look reasonable for an indy shop?

1. Replace Coolant Tank
- 1.5 hours @ $130/hr to replace tank
- 0.5 hours @ $130/hr to bleed cooling system
- Coolant tank: $120
- Tank cap $17
- 1 Gal of coolant: $17

2. Replace Radiator
- 1.7 hours @ $130/hr to replace radiator
- Radiator: $360

3. Replace both radiator hoses
- 1.0 hours @ $130/hr to replace both hoses
- 2 x $66.37 for the two hoses (upper and lower radiator hose)

Just want to make sure the estimates (both for labor and parts) aren't marked up too much, as I'll need to find a new shop if that's the case... repairs will be coming more often now.

Two other small points:

1. In my immediate area, this is the highest-rated shop (by a lot... 5/5 Yelp stars), and they are friendly and seem knowledgeable. Of course, like every shop, they have made some mistakes, but have been pretty good about admitting it.

2. I'm not going to DIY... have had some injuries that make that tricky for me, unfortunately.

Thank you as always for your advice!

[Nitrousbird]

Why would you not do this yourself? Especially for the coolant tank, that's a cake job right there.

The car does its own coolant bleeding. Any charge for that is too much.

The parts prices are reasonable if buying OEM. But you can get the full tank kit with cap for $66 or less if going aftermarket.

Radiator and hoses can be had OEM for $50 less as well, even cheaper aftermarket.

You could DIY that whole job easily for under $400.

[Efthreeoh]

I've done most of this work, except actually removing and replacing the coolant reservoir, which would be another 10 minutes. I wrote a DIY for replacing all the hoses on the N52, so you can go look it up and read through the procedure for replacing the radiator. The upper and lower radiator hoses can get stuck on the radiator and can be almost impossible to remove. The quotes you got are piecemeal quotes, meaning they are stand alone jobs bid independently. In each case the labor quoted each contain draining and refilling/bleeding the cooling system, when in reality it will be only done once. In reality if the parts being replaced are the radiator and coolant hoses, the tech is just going to cut the hoses and pull out the radiator he is not going to remove the hoses from the radiator to remove it. Also I didn't see where the temperature sensor was addressed. I'd ask him about it. On the N52 it snaps in the lower radiator hose. When I did mine it didn't seat and hold well because the plastic tabs were compromised when I removed it and the o-ring was shot. I ended up having to go back in and replace the temp sensor.

I'd negotiate job as the labor at 2 hours plus the parts. And 2 hours is being generous. He's charging your $130 an hour which is almost dealer rates. I would expect that this is an independent certified BMW mechanic and not some "foreign and domestic" repair place. If he pushes back on the two hours, then tell him his rates are commensurate with a mechanic who is expert in BMW repair and will do the job at half the labor estimate based on his experience.

[Drivaar]

Thanks for the responses!

I guess I should add a little more info (now added to the original post as well):

1. In my immediate area, this is the highest-rated shop (by a lot... 5/5 Yelp stars), and they are friendly and seem knowledgeable. Of course, like every shop, they have made some mistakes, but have been pretty good about admitting it.

2. I'm not going to DIY... have had some injuries that make that tricky for me, unfortunately.

[Drivaar]

(bump)

[-June-]

Efthreeoh... that's gold . , thanks also for the DYI. I will be looking into it, for future reference.