Charge for carb tune up.

Question. Just had my bike in for carb work. Needed to be synced and cleaned. Inline 4 cylinder. Bill was 350$. Not sure if that seems right.
Plus this was not a shop. Just a fella doing the work out of his home.
I just wanna know if this is fare.

 

If he didn't replace anything he might have spent 30 minutes on your bike.
What did he actually do?
350 would replace all the rubber parts and buy a 4-carb mercury stick if you'd done it yourself. In all likelihood you will end up doing that anyway.
What were the symptoms before and after?

 

Synced first to see if that fixed the problem. Then fuel sample to see if carbs were dirty.
Carbs were dirty. Took off, cleaned and broke down each one to clean, had a stripped main jet that took some time. put back on, float was sticking, took off fixed sticky float. Put back on re synced.

 

His bill sounds legit but they will need a rebuild at some point.

 

No parts were replaced? Throttle shaft seals, rubber tipped float needles, fuel tube o-rings, bowl gaskets, enrichment boots, etc. ?
Several members here offer carb cleaning/ rebuild services for (I think) about the same price, but they are in love with XJ's and are very proficient.

So yeah - if he charged that much just for cleaning.... uh. But then is that Canadian $$$? I have no idea what the exchange rate and am too lazy to google it. If the guy has integrity he will work with you until things are right.

 

Ok all that being said , does it run perfectly.
Having me do the same job would be 350-400 plus parts including doing shaft seals etc, so total would be closer to $500

 

Runs alot better then it did. No part replaced other then a stripped main jet. Still has a bog taking off from a light in first. And need a touch of throttle after warm sitting for 5 mins.

Prices are canadian.

 

Damn, I must be slow.....the two racks I have torn down, I average about a day per carb, counting soak time...4 day process from time I pulled, till time I put back on....but I do them one at a time......24 hour soak in carb dip, followed by a rinse with aerosol carb cleaner, followed by 1 hr in ultrasonic tank, followed by another rinse in aerosol carb cleaner....then throughly blown out with air.........have got by on both sets by only having to replace fuel o rings, idle mixture o rings and washers, and throttle shafts seals........

 

If the work was done properly it sounds legit, especially with a sync and tune. I paid Dave to rebuild mine and I was about $400 in parts and labor.

Disclaimer. I am not implying Daves charges were high/low. I needed a lot of parts and also bought some shiny show pieces too. Only you and him can determine a price. The work on the other hand is top notch.

 

I also paid right at $400 for parts and labor to have my carbs rebuilt and synced. I remember $70 of the total was for new carb bodies off eBay because mine were broken, a little metal tab had sheared off. They charge $60 an hour for labor.

 

Thing is mine went rebuilt. Just cleaned and synced.
350 does that sound right.

 

Sounds reasonable to me , I would think he likely changed the fuel tube o rings , but having those in stock and bought in bulk would be cheap and likely also changed the stipped jet

 

Colour tuning would be a good idea now too then possibly another running sync

 

I think you meant "Thing is mine weren't rebuilt" I would still say that sounds reasonable considering you paid to have them removed, reinstalled, and sync'd. Almost any motor that isn't running well will benefit from a carb cleaning, but only a full rebuild is going to get it perfect. If it runs good, doesn't leak, and starts well forget about it and go ride.

 

Not by my standards.
Grant it my standards should NOT be used as a benchmark by any means.

@Joe34 you paid for the cleaning and the mechanics ability, not outrageous but consider that anyone can do it, but there IS a learning curve and that equals time and time can equal money. Case in point, I did mine, took at least a week working on them here and there. Then I ended up pulling them off the bike about three times to redo some "oops".
Now I know what I did wrong and next time I will do better, plus I can get the rack on and off really quickly.

 

I agree, you got your carbs back from the guy and your bike runs, you didn't get totally ripped off or anything.

I wanted all new parts while I had them off and broke down but that was my prerogative. If I was on a super limited budget and wanted them back quickly I probably would only have asked for the bad parts to be changed and only had the work done that was absolutely necessary. I think I got a pretty good deal for the work I had done, but they did take FOREVER to get to them. Everything is a trade off..

 

Bike was running. I rode it to the place.

 

I got that part, I was just clarifying your earlier post. I believe you meant they weren't rebuilt by the guy, more of a removal, cleaning, and reinstall and sync. I would say $350 is fair for sure. I'd say the work was probably better since you took it to a guy that runs out of his garage, a shop most likely would've charged more and done less.

 

damm, i owe myself a few grand

 

I guess we'd need to know exactly what he did before we can say whether it's a good deal or not.

When I clean a rack it is:

Totally stripped down
EVERY single piece is cleaned and checked
Anything that is bad gets replaced
All seals and rings replaced
Floats set back to initial settings
Mixture screws set to initial settings
Bench-synced
Ready for you to install and dial in to YOUR bike

yes, by the time labor and parts are paid--it can easily come in in the $350-$400 range. Some have been more because of hidden damage, broken bodies, etc.... BUT--she a rack goes back on and is dialed in,let's see....I know many that have been on 10 yrs now and still need NOTHING done

Dave F

 

Like i said. It was just tore down and cleaned. Nothing replaced. And then synced on bike.

 

Then if nothing was replaced, I'd have a problem with that.

 

So. Do you think 350 is steep for just a carb clean and sync.

 

For just cleaning and syncing, with no parts being put in?
Yes! If the rack was taken apart, then all the no-rings, throttleshaft seals, etc.... That MAY have not leaked yet, will now probably start pretty soon----because they most likely didn't leak (YET) simply because the seals were STUCK to their surfaces and now that 'stuck' contact has been broken. I can pretty well bet that Thedave hardened and/or shrunk over the years. If they were'nt replaced, you're probably gonna find that you start getting fuel leaks/air leaks soon.....and then wonder why they weren't taken care of while the rack was off and apart.

 

I'm thinking it was not a complete teardown. I can't imagine separating the carbs from each other and NOT replacing at least the fuel o-rings... as Hogfiddles said...

If the carbs were separated from each other, then put back together without replacing those rubber rings, their "seated-ness" (that's not an actual word... but seems to apply here... heh) has been disrupted and could begin leaking now.

If you get a few seasons out of the 350 spent, I would not sweat it. Just consider the full cleaning/replacement of replaceable parts the next time. Would be interesting to know how much MORE your guy would have charged if you wanted the "deluxe package" with fresh seals, rings, gaskets, etc.

 

You've given me your arm. I've noticed that you have two nice legs...

 

That seems to be about what I've seen carburetor services offered for whenever I take my bike in for state inspection or to get a tire mounted. He's in line with industry pricing. That being said, if you can invest the time to learn how to do it yourself, you'll probably end up with a much nicer set of carbs. I know I replaced stuff on mine that I'm certain a bike mechanic wouldn't have for $350.

Also, as Jayradoh said...

That's a good chunk of change for work that, while annoying, is not particularly technically hard. Worst case scenario, if you get stuck you sound the alarm and ask for help here, and someone will point out something you missed, and you'll be embarrassed but thankful for their observation .

 

Yes! Been there done that.