Rory

Damn that guy isn't very confident in the rebuild. Why is the headgasket leaking 40k later? I know the 3.0s have issues but still... Seems like it must have been over heated.

Sounds to me like the dealer has incompetent people. Thats lame. But as a mechanic, if the book says the job is a four hour job, and I do it in one, you would want to pay me less money for being more efficient? Labor times are really arbitrary, there is nobody who governs them. I can quote you any time that I want for any job and its totally on me to be honest. I would like to see the timing belt done on a 3.0 in an hour, I have done a few and I feel like a speed demon for finishing in two. I mean walk outside drive it in do the job and drive it out ready to give to the customer. Don't forget the test drive thats not included in the labor time.

Keep in mind most shops only sell two things to cover all the overhead:

Parts and Labor. As a result the mark-up is outrageous,

The bottom line is that you have to take your car to someone you can establish a relationship with. If you are a number within the calculations for someones bottom line, you will get screwed every time.

I say get the longblock, you can't trust the previous owner.

rdharper

Amen bro. Nice Post.