Anyone know how many hours flat rate is on replacing a motor on a 93 bonneville?

The bonneville I bought had an oil pump out, although the guy selling it guaranteed me it was just the sending unit. I got oil pressure intermittently so I assumed that was true. Anyways, it wasn't, which I discovered after driving it home and then driving it a second time 3 days later. I went a couple miles down the highway before hearing the oh so pleasant sound of rod knock. I towed it back to the shop I bought it from, but they refused to refund me my purchase price. Instead he said he would replace the motor, and charged me $1000 for it, which included a $450 salvage yard motor. What can I say, it is winter here, it was very cold out, and I dont have a garage to do it myself in. Anyways, I paid because I only had one other running vehicle, my truck, and my wife desperately needed this car so she could drive around with our 3 kids.

So, I got the car back after paying the guy $1060 assuming everything was fine. The engine ran fine, but shuddered a bit at idle and hesitated when you hit the throttle. I didnt want to deal with the guy anymore and saw a broken vacuum line and assumed that was the prob. I drove it home, and didnt touch it till today when I replaced one of the door latches. Then I popped the hood and replaced a couple vacuum lines and noticed the engine was quite oily, and that there was a puddle of coolant on the transmission. I started it up after replacing the vacuum lines and the shudder didnt go away nor did the hesitation.

Needless to say I was dumbfounded. I called the guy up and asked him what the deal is. He asked me if I cleaned the MAF, I told him MAF was fine when I brought it to you and voltage is good on it. He told me that he didnt replace any sensors or gaskets on the engine, so he wanted me to bring it back to him to look at. I gave him the big FU, I live 45 miles away from him, told him to send me the old MAP, MAF, and injectors.


Now, sorry about the ramble, here is the important part. Labor in my area averages from 40-60 an hour. The engine in my SSE is the standard 3800, not the supercharged. Looking at the motor, I figure between 6-7.5 hours to swap it working at a reasonable pace. Especially if I am just swapping the motor straight out and not replacing any gaskets, dont have to pull off the TB or anything else.

Back to the original subject, can an anyone tell me what flat rate is on replacing one of these motors? Because, aside from the fact that he ripped me off in the first place, it seems to me he is charging me far more than he should be, especially since he didnt do anything else one would normally do for an engine swap. This was literally swapping motors with all the sensors TB manifold straight over, doing an oil change and refilling the coolant. Only new fluids that were put in that engine was the oil so.... it seems to me there is probably a $200 discrepancy there.


Once again, sorry about the long post.

My only question right now is...is he a registered car dealership?
if so once you find out...you have protection against this kind of crap!

Hey no worries about the long post. It helps us better having a full background.

I don't know what the flat hourly rate is, but I have had my engine out in about 4.5 hours in my driveway.

http://autopedia.com/html/LemonLaw/SD_lemonlaw.html

http://www.bbb.org/us/south-dakota-lemon-law/

http://autopedia.com/html/LemonLaw/SD_lemonlaw2.html

When did you buy it?

Bought the car on the 31st of december, called the guy on the 2nd when I found there was no oil pressure. Towed it to his shop on monday the 4th I am checking into whether the shop has a dealers license. I just got the car back from him on wednesday the 13th.

The guy keeps insisting I was buying from a private party, but as I recall, the title and bill of sale listed the shop as the seller, All Tune and Lube from Sioux Falls, SD.

So far, the only thing I have thought about doing is putting a stop payment on the thousand dollar check I wrote for the motor. Good idea, bad idea? I paid cash for the car, so I didnt have that option when I was demanding my money back.

make sure you cover all areas of the law.
http://www.bbb.org/us/Storage/16/Doc...-LLsummary.pdf

Don't get me wrong...we want you as a BonnevilleForum member. But we also want the best interests for you.

I would try to get a copy of the tittle, if you already don't have it. There is a time constraint here as to what you can do to get justice.

Keep us up to date as you can!

Did you sign any document that states "AS-is" or "No warranty implied or expressed" ?

Here is a more great info on used car lemon laws for SD

Other Laws that Cover Used Cars

Sorry to beat this to death. But I feel for you big time! This has happened to me on both ends of the spectrum.