got the bill from mechanic. is this reasonable?

[gmajorabm]

wassup iboats! new boat owner. unfortunately of course buying a cheaper boat always come with its prices. this was the bill i got from the mecanic. as i dont have any idea what these things cost. i just want to know wat you folks thought about it. i took the boat in because it was not shiftiing correctly. hard to get into gear and would die out in reverse. please let me know if this was a fair price or if i was getting upcharged. thanks guys! its a omc cobra 4.3L btw. thank you! i cant seem to load the picture from my phone. says the image is to large to load the bill. but i will just break down the bill here for you guys

inspection: 1 hr. 125$/hr
shift cable: 185$
ujoint bellow:65$
water pump:60$
gear lube: 60$
labor: 4hrs 500$
total:975$

labor description: inspect and advise- shift very stiff run test and shift interrupter staying activated too much stress on cable. drive making noise recommend further teardowb. remove outdrive disasemble and inspect for damage and advise. found bad shift cable,replace cable assy. also water in lower unit and fluid very black. service outdrive with new fluid and reinstall outdrive and adjusr shift.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

The charge for gear lube seems high. I want to know what they mean by lower unit fluid very black. Any lower unit fluid contamination is a problem, changing the fluid doesn't address the problem. Please talk to them about this contaminated LU fluid, why? Is it a complete cable change or just the connection assembly or adjustment? A cable should be around 200 depending on length an adjustment shouldn't take an hour. The balance at 125 hour labour and parts seems right to me, but I'm in Ontario Canada where gas is 6 bucks a US gallon and we pay $125.00 an hour for Marine labour which is about $140.00 USD an hr. and you are in a different market.

 

[gmajorabm]

thank wow! this forum is super fast! thanks for your reply! it is the red cable on the omc cobra. not sure which one it was as i dont know much. but i did see tye cable. it was basically very used up and i can even see strands of the cable coming apart. as far as the Lu oil being black. he said the boat looks like it hasnt been serviced in years. its a old boat btw. 1988 reinell 173e. he said that some water could be getting into thru a few different ways. told me the oil should be greenish color. when u saw the oil it was pretty much pitch black. i want to know if this mecanic is someone i can trust and if his prices were fair. the cable thar he showed me was about 4-6 feet long and red if that helps at all. anyways he says things are shifting smoothe now. he also said if will be even smoother once im on the water underload. i still will have to water test it as it was too late when i picked the boat up. he also said there is a shift interrupter switch that needs to replace. told me to be a lil easy with the shifting for now. also wants to charge another 3-400$ for the switch and labor.

 

[roscoe]

Doesn't seem outrageous to me.

Shops charge high hourly rates everywhere, but more in some places, and even more if its an on the water marina.

Take care of that outdrive.

 

[gmajorabm]

thanks guys! yah as someone who doesnt know much about the cost of things. i just didnt wanna get robbed ya know? its easy for people to take advantage. but i also thought it was pretty fair. as im in an area where pretty much boats are the thing here.

 

[Scott Danforth]

welcome to BOAT ownership.....BOAT is an acronym for Break Out Another Thousand

when it comes to boat maintenance, you can either pay people to do the work or you can do the work yourself.

 

[oldjeep]

Seems reasonable. OMC cable/esa adjustment is a black art and takes some time to get right so that you don't chew up the gear set. If the mechanic is recommending a tear down to look at the noise then my guess is that the gears/clutch dogs are already messed up and that would have been $800 worth of parts 15 years ago when I had my last OMC cobra drive.

 

[trailking82]

Seems reasonable to me, maybe alittle high on the lower unit gear oil.

The OMC Cobra comes with its unique set of issues, finding any mechanic that actually understands them and can properly work on them is the real issue. Below is a link, read up on it and pass it to your mechanic if you want him touching it again. The OMC sterndrive went out of business in the mid nineties, some say it was directly due to their complex, propriety designed outdrive... that they seemed didnt know how to get it setup until near their demise, at which point was too late. The drive isnt bad, finding parts are still manageable and not too difficult. If you are mechanically inclined i recommend you to start doing the maintenance if time allows. Some shops wont take the time to learn, all they care about and know are Mercruisier. As far as the engine goes, its just a 4.3l GM V6... used by every strendrive company, nothing real special there.

http://www.hastings.org/~stuart/cobra/

 

[gmajorabm]

thanks guys! thank god after tearing down the dribe it was just a few things mis aligned and a loose prop causing the noises. any ways sounds really good now. i will test it in the water in a couple hours. hopefully things are as sound as he says

 

[gmajorabm]

trailking yah i have read the article. good thing this guys knows about omc. he says he been building them since forever. has a pretty big shop also. and a few yelp replies ppl said that their omc drives are now running perfect. so its a good thing to see others had good experience. thanks for all your replies. i shall do the water test and see how it goes

 

[Old Ironmaker]

One of my Johnny D sayings is "If you don't know the price of potatoes don't go into the French Fry business." Just today I had to buy 30 5.5" lag screws and lock washers and if the clerk said 60 bucks I wouldn't know any better. It was $22.00 plus tax paying by the pound rather than by the screw and washer individually which would have been $45.00. It was the newish local hardware store owner and could have had me pay the 45 and I wouldn't have been the wiser. He has a customer for as long as I am here and it only cost him 20 bucks.

So now you at least have a better handle on shop rates. A good and honest Marine Mechanic is a blessing. I know many that are back bay mechanics that charge 60 an hour but it takes them 3 hours to find the problem then charge to repair it.

 

[gmajorabm]

yah for sure. im glad there is internet and forums nowadays everyone able to help out and put input. im thanksful for everyones input

 

[Stumpalump]

Not sure about omc but if was a Mercruiser then he should have replaced the gimble bearing while it was apart. Your next boat or one after that will be straight inboard or outboard. I can't believe many buy more than one or two outdrive powered boats. You got off cheap but you ain't done paying for it yet.

 

[gmajorabm]

he said gimble bearings were still in good condition. im hoping to just be able to get away with a decent boat for cheap. already 2k into it but i bought new seats and did sum interior work

 

[gmajorabm]

update;
so after testing it out in the water things seem to be working as it should. forward reverse and neutral are engaging fine. no problems driving it. one thing i did notice which was there before is that the gears seem to make a clubk noise engaging from nuetral to forward and from neutral to reserve. gears are engaging and staying engage. just not sure if that noise is suppose to be the norm. heard dat the clutch dog is what makes that noise. can anyone chime in for me? thanks again guys!

 

[Old Ironmaker]

update;
so after testing it out in the water things seem to be working as it should. forward reverse and neutral are engaging fine. no problems driving it. one thing i did notice which was there before is that the gears seem to make a clubk noise engaging from nuetral to forward and from neutral to reserve. gears are engaging and staying engage. just not sure if that noise is suppose to be the norm. heard dat the clutch dog is what makes that noise. can anyone chime in for me? thanks again guys!

Your idle RPM may be too high thus the clubk sound, I mean clunk is what you meant to say. It isn't the norm on my outboard unless my idle speed isn't what it supposed to be. Adjusting the idle is no big deal if you know where it is and how to do it, right. If not you may be looking at another $125.00, here we go$$$ Did you tell your guy about the clunk sound?

 

[gmajorabm]

that was something that i had brought up when i had first brought the boat in. upon picking it up he did say my idle was a little high. at 1000 rpm. he said he was able to get it down to 800. which i believe so because when i was testing it today that was something i paid attention to. seems to be idling around the 800 rpm mark. since the rpm gauge starts at 1000 and the needle was under it. so im assumming it looked around 800 rpm give or take. he also mention that once i get the other part i believe its called a shift interupter? i think it was called ESA? that it should be more smoother? just told me on in the mean time to be easy with it until i get that esa fixed. does that ring any bells with ya?

 

[gmajorabm]

another sidenote. something i think you guys would get a kick out of. launched the boat today only to find tons of watee in my engine compartment and ski locker.....you guyys can get what happend! lol had to jump in the damn cold ass water and screw the drain plug in! something i told myself it would never happen to me! lol i know i know what a damn noob haha.

 

[oldjeep]

that was something that i had brought up when i had first brought the boat in. upon picking it up he did say my idle was a little high. at 1000 rpm. he said he was able to get it down to 800. which i believe so because when i was testing it today that was something i paid attention to. seems to be idling around the 800 rpm mark. since the rpm gauge starts at 1000 and the needle was under it. so im assumming it looked around 800 rpm give or take. he also mention that once i get the other part i believe its called a shift interupter? i think it was called ESA? that it should be more smoother? just told me on in the mean time to be easy with it until i get that esa fixed. does that ring any bells with ya?

The esa basically messes with the ignition causing the engine to misfire enough so that the drive can shift. It is supposed to knock the engine down to around 500RPM - at too high an RPM the drive won't shift and just makes the gears grind.

 

[redneck joe]

Attache the plug to the boat key. Btwnif anyone here tells you they havent dont stupid boating event xx the are probably lying to you.

take care of your mechanic and he will take care of you, especially one that knows Cobra


only issue i have on bill is charging for inspection when you in fact do have them complete the work.