 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Maintenance and Repair / May 2005battery cable replacement: fair price?
Brought my 1994 Nissan Altima into a shop. One thing that needed fixing is the battery cables; the clamps aren't in good shape. The price the guy quoted was about $250 *for each cable*. In particular, the negative cable was $20 for the part, and the rest was labor. I asked him how much time they would log to fix one cable, and he said 90 minutes. He claimed that's from some auto mech standard book, "Mitchell" something or other. Is this a total rip-off or something? TIA, S I think you're getting ripped unless he's having to do some serious rewiring. Acura dealership replaced mine for $100 bucks flat >I think you're getting ripped unless he's having to do some serious > rewiring. Acura dealership replaced mine for $100 bucks flat Thanks for the advice. Dealer quoted me $232 for both cables on the phone. NTB quoted me about $80 for the neg cable, which was more the problem. Dropped by the dealer after getting the car back from the expensive guys. Guy came out to give me a quick estimate and said I could probably replace the neg cable clamp (or whatever you call it) myself. Is the battery in the trunk on this car? > Is the battery in the trunk on this car? Nope, under the hood. Why not do it yourself. Just get original parts from the dealer and pop 'em on. > Why not do it yourself. Just get original parts from the dealer and > pop 'em on. That's what I finally decided to do. Cheers, S >Brought my 1994 Nissan Altima into a shop. >One thing that needed fixing is the battery cables; the clamps aren't in [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >something or other. >Is this a total rip-off or something? If the only problem is the clamp, just replace the clamp, not the whole cable. A clamp will be under $10 and you can do it yourself. Just go to your local discount auto supply store and ask for a clamp. ------------- Alex > >Brought my 1994 Nissan Altima into a shop. > >One thing that needed fixing is the battery cables; the clamps aren't in [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > ------------- > Alex ugh. no. I hate those clamp on deals. the only quality clamp replacements I've ever seen are at a marine supply place, those are intended to be soldered on and then heat shrunk over. nate > ugh. no. I hate those clamp on deals. the only quality clamp > replacements I've ever seen are at a marine supply place, those are > intended to be soldered on and then heat shrunk over. There are *plenty* of good and durable replacement battery cable clamps. Those cheesy "strap and 2 bolts" types are junk, yes, but they're also most definitely not the only type that exists. The brass compression-fitting types are good and durable, especially if you use heat shrink tubing over the junction, and all the major wire-and-cable firms offer them (NAPA Belden, PowerPath, Carol, Whitaker, Standard...) > > ugh. no. I hate those clamp on deals. the only quality clamp > > replacements I've ever seen are at a marine supply place, those are [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > shrink tubing over the junction, and all the major wire-and-cable firms > offer them (NAPA Belden, PowerPath, Carol, Whitaker, Standard...) RE: those cheaper ones w/2 bolts: I'd about as soon use a worm-screw type hose clamp & snug the raw wires around the post!!! And these don't corrode(stainless) & break! s I looked at the mitchell estimator and it says it takes LABOR 0.6 hours for the labour on the negative 1.6 hours for the positive Note: this operation does not include battery cables integral with the wiring harness Parts It lists the negative as 21.83 and the positive is at 179.45 but it says the refer to local supplier for proper pricing. > Brought my 1994 Nissan Altima into a shop. > [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > S >I looked at the mitchell estimator and it says it takes > LABOR [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > and the positive is at 179.45 but it says the refer to local supplier for > proper pricing. Very good point. Guy at NTB listed that much time for labor. Problem is that they were citing 1.6 hours for each from Mitchell, rather than 0.6 only for the negative. >> Brought my 1994 Nissan Altima into a shop. >> [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] >> >> S |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.