Lambda sensor - cost of part

[Ayrton]

Can someone please advise a ball park UK cost of the following part for a 2001 IS200:

"Lambda sensor (Bank 1, Sensor 1)"

My garage is charging what I believe to be an inordinate amount. I think I have seen the part for half, possibly even a third, of what they are asking, but I'm not sufficiently expert to be sure I'm looking at the right thing, so I don't want to bandy numbers with them without some corroboration (though I am fairly sure I've got the right one). I appreciate there will be a mark up for getting the part same or next day but nevertheless I think what they have asked for is extortion.

[Dean1309]

Hi,

 

Do not pay silly garage prices, this is a easy diy job and costs about £60, unscrew from manifold and unplug, screw in and plug back in. disconnect Battery for 30 mins and this should reset the engine management light or plug in a code reader if you have one.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DENSO-Lambda-Oxygen-Sensor-DOX-0205-/361351354404?hash=item5422381824:g:ldkAAOSwd0BVt38v

[Ayrton]

There's more to this than I've said. The job is already done. They quoted £170 for the part and fitting. I did do a search on the part before I committed, and suspected they were overcharging or not sourcing the cheapest, but I am a bit of a spanner with a spanner in my hand, and I was willing enough to go along with it for the convenience of getting it done.

There were complications on the job. The boss 'disintegrated', apparently; happens a lot on cars of this age, apparently; and they said they'd need 'a little extra' in labour to rectify it. Now glad I hadn't undertaken it myself, I told them to go ahead. They'd quoted for about half an hour labour, I reckon, and I thought 'a little extra' would be another half hour. 

The bill came in at £360 with 3.5 hours labour on it. At no point was I advised 'a little extra' was 'a lot extra'.

I've paid them £200 and told them to whistle for the rest. I can do this as I have the car back. If they want to fight me they can - it is good to have the overpriced part thing in my back pocket in case I need it.

Incidentally does anyone have a view on 'disintegrating bosses'? Is that a thing? Is there any chance they broke it?

 

[Dean1309]

Oh my god, that is extortionate, I have always been a firm believer in not handing my hard earned money over to garages if i don't have to. I'm truly shocked by that for a lambda sensor.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'The boss disintegrated. I think you was fed a line with that one. there isn't anything to brake.

The lambda sensors screw in, if they are stubborn you may need to heat the metal to get it to expand but then it will release.

I replaced mine on my old IS200 couple years back, it took me no longer than 20 minutes. The engine light was showing, i code read it using a £15 eBay code reader and gave code P0420, bank 1 sensor 1. I had a friend of mine cross reference the denso part number and came back with DOX-0205.

I didn't have a socket or anything to hand, so used a pair of mole grips on the sensor and it unscrewed, i unplugged it and screwed the new one in and replaced the connector, have to unbolt the heat shield on the exhaust manifold before unscrewing the sensor.

[Ayrton]

Another nugget for the back pocket, should they squeal. 

I thought it was a lot, but it is the wife's car primarily and we needed it back on the road so I was willing to go along with their estimate. We agreed to £170; then we agreed to a little more than; and I am keen to honour what I agreed to, so I have chosen a figure of £200 to make sure I am on the right side of reasonable.

I doubt they'll come back to me. 

I know I'm not going back to them.

[Dean1309]

That job should have cost you no more than £60 for a OEM Denso sensor and 20 minutes of your time, I feel for you.

I always check this site before committing to take my car to a garage. One classic reason i do not take my car to a garage. I fitted new drilled and grooved brake discs to my old car, I also replaced the caliper as it had a sticky piston at the same time. I done all the hard work, and replaced the lot BUT ran out of time that day.

I still had to bleed the brakes as i replaced the caliper, I didn't have the time and took it to my local garage and was charged £90 to pump the brake pedal till it goes hard and release the bleed screw to let any air out.

That is just me though, i refuse to pay it when diy is so easy, costs much less and gets it done quicker than waiting for a garage.

[Ayrton]

Well they have come back to me, and it looks like it might turn nasty. Bring it on, I say.

[is200 Newbie]

Jeeez - that's extortionate !!!!!!

£160 for a PAIR on mine when I done them on the 250 - ok, they were from the states and I had to wait a few days for them to arrive and its a different car but £350 is a ridiculous price. Took me around an hour to do both on mine and I am no mechanic !!

Even at £200 that's steep - if they do pursue this ask them to produce the parts they replaced so you can have a sense of what work was done - do you have pictures of the work they done?

The "boss" could be the raised nut that the sensor is screwed into (if there is one) I suppose if they are not careful on a 15 year old car and with it being a first replacement of the sensor (if it is) then there could be a chance its seized in the "boss". Any decent garage should inform you if the cost of the repair is going to be more than quoted...

Give the garage a call to ask them to keep the part they replaced and to hold onto the "broken" part so they can prove they replaced it before they state they have thrown them away.

[Ayrton]

Any views on these pictures? They are telling me the thread must have been stripped on the way in because you can't strip threads on the way out. The additional cost is presumably based around the welding in of a new nut in picture 2. We've been through a conciliation service, he offered to take £55 off the bill, I'm still not happy, but the time for pragmatism might be nigh. Court is aggravation and the time it would take is more than the money we are fighting over. 

The thing that pees me off is that the car was driven into their garage, and before I knew any more about it, it was a non-runner, with the nut having 'disintegrated', 'shattered', whatever. I get no option to ask myself if the car is worth it, maybe sell it on (as a runner). I just don't think that is right.

Don't tell me what you think I want to hear about this, I don't want punches pulled. Tell me straight. Fight on, or pay up?