1500 USD for an alternator and new battery right?

[Perfectlap]

^ this book rate issue really ticks me off. Who wrote this book...smurfs?
I could see Papa Smurf taking 30 minutes to change an O2 sensor, you know since he only has three digits per hand. But an eperienced, certified mechanic?
And it's not like you have a choice to not pay the book rate either.
INdependent shop near really aren't all that much cheaper than the local dealer and they refuse to install parts you provide. One guy wanted to charge me about 5X's per spark plug vs. what I found on Pap-parts or autohauz.
I mean c'mon I can see a marginal mark up but not enough to buy the product several times over.

[boxs2000]

My alternator went out about 2 years ago. When I called the dealer they wanted about 1300 for the job so the 1500 you were quoted was about right with a new battery. I still felt it was way too much. In researching the internet you can find a rebuilt alternator for about 200-250 not oe. An oe for a little more. I did find a tread on Renntech which they showed how to replace the voltage regulator, which is the common part that goes bad and not the whole alternator. I decided to give it a try, the voltage regulator cost me about 65 bucks and the labor took me about 4 hours and voila, that fixed it! I don't have the part number for the voltage regulator, but if you take the old one off the current alternator, you can take that part which is a Bosch part to the Mercedes Dealer and they can get it for you since its the same one as they MBZ, Audi and BMW uses. Porsche does not sell it because they want to to spend the 1500 or 750 buck that they charge to sell the part alone. The labor was not hard just time consuming because the bolts that hold the alternator in is hard to get to (so make sure you have many different socket extensions). Also if you decide to do it yourself, you may as well change the serpentine belt since you will need to remove it anyway. So with some elbow grease you can do the job for less than 100 bucks!

[Jeph]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

^ this book rate issue really ticks me off. Who wrote this book...smurfs?
I could see Papa Smurf taking 30 minutes to change an O2 sensor, you know since he only has three digits per hand. But an eperienced, certified mechanic?

I don't know if I can agree with that. Papa Smurf seems more like the service adviser type. I see Handy Smurf doing all that actual labor. It was probably Brainy who wrote the book on rates.


(4 digits per hand)

[Benny986]

an OE bosch alternator for a manual box S should run you about 150. tiptronic is 350.

FWIW, the tiptronic alternator lists for $1,400. YIKES!

a good battery is another $100.

you should be able to change your own battery. as for the alternator, depends on how handy you are.