Is $460 too much for 1 oem coil pack & spark plugs from mechanic?
 

Hey guys,
So I found out one of my coil packs has gone ape shit and has been giving me annoying problems with misfires and such. My mechanic is quoting me 460 to swap out the bad coil pack and change all 4 sparks with all OEM parts for $460. I trust this mechanic as they specialize on subies. And after seeing all the DIY's I just don't want to mess with this as I will be needing more jacks and more tools and is a total PITA. He recommends just doing the sparks while they're down there swapping the coil pack. I'm at 40k miles but I'm sure putting some new sparks in should help restore that New Car feel "sorta." You guys think this is about right for a Subie mechanic specialist at $460 out the door?

That should be under warranty, no? The dealership should do it for free...

Coil packs can be done in a trackside parking lot. Spark plugs on boxers are a little daunting at first, but enough extensions and u-joints make very easy work of them. I would not pay anyone $460 for something I could do myself in an hour or two.

Ferrari raises a good point though. Why isn't the dealer handling this under warranty?

he has 40K miles, Spark plugs and coil pack under base warranty 3/36

Not everybody has the aptitude, tools, resources, space or desire to work on their car. I for example have the aptitude but zero tools (if it can't be done with vice grips and a hammer I am screwed) nor a space to store the required equipment or to do the work so anything beyond the very basics will have to be done elsewhere. This means that I have to pay to have such work done (money I do have) as much as I would enjoy doing it myself.
@spatcha88 I have no clue as to costs in the States but sounds like a good deal if you were having it done here in Canada.

cost of labor & parts included it's good I think

but it should be under warrenty

Bumper to bumper is 3 yrs/36K. Powertrain warranty is 5 years/50K

Learn young grasshoppers, exercise your rights....

Pretty sure spark plugs are not a warranty item.
Ya the coil should be covered though.

Hey, I've got the tools and the space, you're free to come over and use them both.

To go there is the only way on earth I could get my wife to ride in my car! Hell of a drive though.

She can fly down after you get here; you can pick her up at the airport.

Do I have too? Pretty sure she keeps a bag packed just in case I say "Want to go to Vegas?"

Heh, that's up to you.


It's just starting to get warm here, too. I think the high is in the 80's this week. (That's 28 for you Celcius types). Probably beats Ontario just a little.

Ya by about 78 degrees!

I was just complaining about having to turn on the AC in my house, too.

yeah unfortunately dealer wont cover this.. But do you guys think I should be seeing a noticeable difference by changing sparks at 41k miles??

You'll see a noticeable difference by having a working coilpack; the spark plugs themselves may be just fine. What error code were you getting?

I have a friend who has gotten the spark plugs covered after a few coil pack failures.

Cool! Maybe the pack failure made the difference. Never once have I had plugs covered by warranty. Mind you we don't have to change pugs (or caps, or points, or all the other crap we had to do during a tune up) every few K miles anymore like we used too anyway.

I agree with you it's probably not normal for the plugs to be covered. :thumbup:

Just wanted to make sure all the noobs that read this thread don't go running to their dealer for their "free" plug change and then rant about how they got screwed when they wouldn't do it!
You know how it goes.

Ya the coil is about $100 each retail. I just checked with our catalog.

Coil pack is $100, spark plugs cost roughly $80 last I checked. Coil packs need to come out to change spark plugs so there shouldn't be any real labor associated with that. That comes down to $280 worth of labor to change the plugs. That's on the high side so you may want to shop around and ask specifically about cost to change plugs for your car. My alignment shop does WRX/STI plugs for $165, and that includes the cost of plugs. Would it be a little more for the BRZ/FRS? Maybe, but I couldn't tell you specifically. I've done both, the BRZ isn't much harder.

Is he planning on doing the job by lifting the engine? That might be the cost of the extra labor.

Subaru spark plugs are a PIA to get to, sometimes the motor needs to be lifted, or you end up taking a lot of things out of the engine bay to have enough room to move your tools around.

I'll try and find the picture from when I did the plugs on my 07 impreza but basically the entire air intake system came out, the battery and tray came out, almost had to remove the windshield wiper fluid bottle. By the time I was able to get to the plugs an hour had already gone by.
@Itzed could be spot on with the labor charge. Either lifting the motor or removing items to get room to work