Well, the verdict is in from the shop...


My 2.5 year old Crank Position Sensor went bad. Apparently "half of it was not giving signal." I guess that'* what I get for buying the cheap one from Napa instead of the GM one...

I just got off the phone with my friend who helped me do the crank sensor the last time it was done. He said that the explanation I received was reasonable, and that the quote i got seems relatively fair.

$327 for diagnostics parts & labor, another $60 for the tow to the shop.

damn near $400 to repair my $700 car... my *** kinda hurts...

The sensor is indeed two sensors in one. One side is for the 3x ring, the other is for the 18x ring. If you look at the back of your harmonic balancer, you'll see what I mean by this. One has 3 notches, the other ring has 18. This is how the PCM knows where TDC is for injector and spark timing.

I've actually done the sensor before, so I know exactly what you mean, but I'm kinda surprised at how much it costs. It wasn't that bad a job, and I didn't even know what I was doing...

So this is rich... Anybody ever gotten this one before?

I almost punched the guy. I was like "I'VE DONE THIS JOB BEFORE. NAME ONE REASON WHY."

both guys behind the counter were like "uhh, err, what?" The guy holding the receipt started flipping through the sheets like he was lookin for something. I was like "Whatever, just charge it." Paid and left.

I called the place when I got home and talked to another tech and explained that the guys were jerkin me around, and he apologized profusely and said, "I'll make damn sure this gets taken care of tomorrow, and I'll make sure you get somethin out of it."

we'll see about that, i'm not even fishing for a refund, but it pissed me off pretty bad...


Here'* the part...

It makes no difference whatsoever that it'* supercharged. Removal of the Harmonic Balancer (crank pulley) and Crank Sensor are identical for both applications.

Sounds like you're on the right track. By my estimates, their labor charge was double what it should have been.

i'd let the labor charge slide, because I did bring it there unsure of the root of the problem. here'* the breakdown though:

$ 58.85 - Tow to shop
$ 56.00 - 0.8 hours of Diagnostic
$ 60.83 - Cost of part
$ 196.00 - 2.8 Hours Labor
And just to be ********...
$ 10.00 - Shop Supply / Hazardous material disposal

$ 386.64 Total. yep, my *** hurts.

I've got the old sensor on my desk, what other disposal can there possibly be? No supplies are needed, except hopefully some di-electric grease, but not ten bucks worth.

those guys looked panicked when i refuted that BS. in hindsight, if i only would have uttered "...Better Business Bureau..."

No coolant or oil would have been spilled. 2.8 hours is a lot.

Glad to hear it'* running. Hopefully you'll get at least an hours labor & that bogus $10 fee back.

That'd make me a very happy man. Something tells me they're gonna try to scam me some more though. I'll throw around some Better Business Bureau and some "aren't there laws requiring approval prior to repairs" kinda stuff and see what happens if i need to...

lets see, my reference shows it takes a bit over an hour to do the job. that is for an L36 and a 2003 model but they are very similar. They both require the harmonic balancer to be removed, taking what was said already in this topic by willwren it makes no difference. The removal of a second belt is no big time consuming deal. the diagnosing is about right, if you have the equipment the average shop has.

Shop Supply is not going to be something to argue.

Part pricing sounds right for a dealer part, if they purchased it at autozone or napa they are around $30.

The labor charge is flat out unfair.