I notced my car had been leaking coolant so I brought it in and the estimate came out to be 1100 dollars for 3 hoses that connect to the radiator and coolant reservoir. Does it sound like a reasonable price or am I being had? I don't know of any local rotary mechanics and I am out of warranty. Any suggestions?

ok so apparantly I need a new upper coolant hose, lower coolant hose, a coolant bottle bypass hose and a thermostat. All that with 6.6 hours of labor comes out to $1100+. Does that sound right to you guys?

I found the parts on Finishline for about 80 bucks so it looks like they want 1000 for labor.

What does their labor/hour cost?

For what they are charging you, I'd fly there to CA and do the job for you.

i had an issue like that happend to me last year my car was leaking coolant bad. i got mine under warrenty but $1100 is too much i think personally.

135 an hour. its kind of outrageous

my warranty just expired a few months ago

jeez the car is only worth maybe 15K and shelling out 1100 dollars for this repair is hard to stomach.

6.6 hrs????? That's crazy. The reservior hose should take 2 min. Upper/lower radiator maybe 1hr. Why the thermostat? Is that where the leak is? Are you running warm?

Mike

Gee I got a whole engine installed for $1,000 along with new belts, hoses, themo, mounts, & starter. But that wasn't a dealer. But the guy did say getting those hoses of was a pain. If your out of warranty like myself you should stay away from the dealership.

jeez the car is only worth maybe 15K and shelling out 1100 dollars for this repair is hard to stomach.

I'll do it for $400!

Seriously, that's an insane price. Check with the local board, there are a couple rotary shops up in the Bay Area. Much better to take it to them, it's probably higher quality work too.

yah sounds like I need a second opinion. I don't know of any local rotary mechanics though. I guess I'll need to ask around.

The intake and battery trays need to be removed to most easily get to that stuff but, once they are, it's a cinch.

Dealerships! Find a good shop and buy the parts on-line

i've got to think any radiator place could do it for a 1/10th of that price

Yeah, maybe I'm missing something but it doesn't sound rotary-specific.

A coworker clued me in about a Bay area rotary shop in Santa Clara called Rotorsport. I can't say that I've ever had any dealings with them, but I bet they can beat the price the stealership gave you. If nothing else, it's a place for a second opinion.

http://www.rotorsport2.com/

thansk guys I think I'll take her to rotorsport. Thanks for the link Socket7. Worse comes to worse I'll end up at the dealership again anyways.

The hose are freaking cheap. 1100 bucks ? wow

135 bux per hour is already nutz. 1100 bucks for 1 hour job + not even 100 bux for parts. Wow. They just won the Rip off of the year awards !

I did my own Radiator install and replace my own hose with *better* silicone ones. That was my first time and it took me maybe 4 hours to do it, yeah I know. but I got stuck at 2 parts, First one was, I was thinking of *saving my stock Rad just in case*, so I tried to pull the rubber hose out of the upper outlet. Well, it was stuck like nutz. and after about 1/2 hour of trying to pull it out, the plastic outlet cant handle it and decided to just break off. Yep, my old rad is gone. the crazy thing is, the hose still perfect, not even a single crack.

Second hard part was, to PUT the Silicone hose back into the correct location. Good thing about Silicone hose is that they dont *flex* like rubber. Heat or cold. Thats a great thing to have for cooling systems.
but the bad thing is, cuz its *not* flexible, and the sizing was just right, it was a nightmare to try to put it back together.

if u ask me to do everything again now Im pretty sure I can do it within an hour or 2 if I take my time. I know all the tricks from the *painful 1st timer experience*.

but think of this, those dudes Working @ dealership doing these kind of shit all day long. It will never take them 6+ hours to do it.

and thermostat ? pst, that thing cost like what 25 bux ? and it takes no longer than 15 minutes to replace it if you know where to look. wow

So, stay away from that dealership, run as fast as you can. and go do it at rotosport.

i saw "coolant leak at oak tree."

i pictured something. :(

picked the car back up from the stealership and taking it to Rotorsport on Monday. Maybe with the cash I save I'll treat myself to some extra work.

Paul at Rotorsport in Santa Clara is great and Mike at Mr. Mazda in Campbell is awesome as well. Ivan Kojnok who works on people's cars in Sunnyvale on weekends is good - he's at 408-730-0567

do not go back to the stealership ever!!!!!!!!!! you have no more warrenty, that means no more dealership.. period!!!!! we have tooooo many rotary specislist in the bay area to take your car to.

hell if you have a garage, ill do the labor for free... im working on a project and i could benifit from this... replacing hoses and a thermostat is cake

ive got tools, if you have a garage.. no labor charge.. you just buy parts and you get experience too..

but you gotta wait until i get back to the bay area in mid feb..

plus i got a hook up on dyno so we can get a base line when your car is all better

yes free labor.. i dont own my business yet, i have no right to charge

pm me... ben

ok here.. listen to me..

buy the mazsport modified water pump.. 250
buy ebay or other silicon hoses upper and lower 70
well go to pepboys and get silicon hoses that go to the reservior 25 or less
thermostat and gasket 25
radiator fluid 10

thats all you need to spend.. i just recommend the water pump because your redoing your cooling system anyways.. you dont need an upgraded radiator

if you cant wait... good luck with everything.. cheers

Yes, if you are down there... fix it permantly.

A new upgrade water pump and hoses would be good advice if plan on keeping it long and driving it another 75k or more miles.

ok guys i took your advice and took it to Rotorsport and talked to Paul. I got the water pump changed to per his advice and the total came out to about 600 bucks! What a difference. With the money I saved I treated myself to the RB Intake and Duct. Thanks guys!

do not go back to the stealership ever!!!!!!!!!! you have no more warrenty, that means no more dealership.. period!!!!! we have tooooo many rotary specislist in the bay area to take your car to.

hell if you have a garage, ill do the labor for free... im working on a project and i could benifit from this... replacing hoses and a thermostat is cake

ive got tools, if you have a garage.. no labor charge.. you just buy parts and you get experience too..

but you gotta wait until i get back to the bay area in mid feb..

plus i got a hook up on dyno so we can get a base line when your car is all better

yes free labor.. i dont own my business yet, i have no right to charge

pm me... ben


Wow I might have to take you up on that in the future. :)

ok guys i took your advice and took it to Rotorsport and talked to Paul. I got the water pump changed to per his advice and the total came out to about 600 bucks! What a difference. With the money I saved I treated myself to the RB Intake and Duct. Thanks guys!

please tell me you replaced your water pump with the mazmart one.

Meh, if u were closer to NYC, I can replace it for you for free :) all I need in return is some beers ... ;)

Happy to know that its fixed ! Now go z00m z00m more !

please tell me you replaced your water pump with the mazmart one.

Meh, if u were closer to NYC, I can replace it for you for free :) all I need in return is some beers ... ;)

Happy to know that its fixed ! Now go z00m z00m more !


I think it is just the stock one. How much more is the Mazmart one? Paul won't be working on the car until tomorrow so it might still be possible to change it.

Mazmart pump cost 250 I believe. I have it. You can give Paul @ Mazmart or Will a ring and he will probably ship it out today.

Changing the pump is pretty easy. Do it slowly, hmm if u never did these kind of stuff b4 I would say hmm maybe 3 hours the most ? the most diffcult part will be breaking the pulley nut loose (if you dont have impact wrench)

Oh forgot to mention, in case u dunno whats so special about Mazmart water pump is that, it changed the Fin design to prevent a problem in the upper RPM range.

http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?t=116423

Read this thread. the 250 bux price includes the pump itself, and a new gasket.

And in CASE you still wanna go for OEM Mazda pump you can get the pump for like 80 bux, and the gasket for 5 bux.

OE Pump -
http://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/index.cfm?action=getJointLocator&siteid=214264&chapter=&Sectionids=8,0&groupid=62105&subgroupid=0&componentid=0&make=22&model=RX-8&year=2004&graphicID=F685040&callout=10&catalogid=1&displayCatalogid=0
Water pump Gasket
http://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/index.cfm?action=getJointLocator&siteid=214264&chapter=&Sectionids=8,0&groupid=20151&subgroupid=60676&componentid=0&make=22&model=RX-8&year=2004&graphicID=F685040&callout=11&catalogid=1&displayCatalogid=0

thanks for the links. reading now.

ok i just placed the order for the Mazmart one. Man I'm spending too much money. Its being overnighted to Paul.

maybe Paul @ Mazmart should gimme a future discount for getting him all the customers *Cough*you hear that Paul*cough* :lol:

man am i glad i don"t live in cali!just had mine replaced under wro.(49,000 miles)you better bet i will do mine myself and with the mazmart one if and ever it go's again when the warrenty up!llooking at it should take no more than a hour and a half to do with the right tools!been repairing cars and trucks for years and never liked the dealer labor costs for the job they do and the charges for the work. i help out my friends and co workers but i could never rob them like that.

the RB intake is awesome. Love the new sound.