Cost of new Engine ECU + fitting

[caraudiaye3]

Hi gents,


I have had the dreaded PRNDS flashing problem and it was diagnosed by a specialist as the Engine ECU an not the mechatronics/ gearbox ECU.

The car has been at the garage a few of weeks during this diagnosis whilst they stripped back wiring and tried to get to the bottom of it. Eventually they decided it was the ECU and required fixing.

I have just got off the phone to them and they say the car is fixed and ready at a cost of about £800.

This is broken down to £450 for fixing the ECU + then £350 for labour as they spent a lot of time apparantly diagnosing the problem.

Was just wondering if this seems too much as I'm pretty gobsmacked at the price.


Any input appreciated

 

[Mikemc]

Well not being funny here but, they should of contacted you saying it will be x amount to be fixed would you like us to go ahead?

 

[caraudiaye3]

I made it fairly clear I wanted it fixed when I took the car to them.

I'm just after whether this is a fair amount or not?

 

[MrLapou]

Try asking these guys for cost to repair ECU on your car.

BBA reman. ABS, ecu's, throttle bodies, air mass meters, and catalytic converters

ECU Testing and ECU Repairs

 

[jimojameso]

5 hours labour at roughly £70 an hour. Doesnt sound far out mate.

 

[Artimus]

If you had asked them to fix the ECU, they would have ordered the part, swapped it out and reprogrammed it for your car - a couple of hours at most & £800 might be considered excessive! But you didn't know what the issue was, diagnosis is a very large part of electrical problems & you told them to fix it without knowing what might have failed! So in this respect, I think you got off fairly lightly as they could easily have said £1200 due to diagnosis, labour & parts costs.

Seems to me they've been pretty straight with you when they could have been shady.

 

[Chillout]

Get the old parts have them tested

 

[MrLapou]

Worth a try unless they had the original repaired, or exchanged. So I do not see them having parts to give the guy.

Get the old parts have them tested

 

[NHN]

Get the old parts have them tested

Oh come now, what a complete waste of time, effort & money seriously, £800 to fix that issue when the 99% chance of flashing dis is mechatronics which is £2k straight of the bat, this is just being silly & pedantic.

£800 is way short of what it may have cost you, stop being so suspicious of a rip off & just accept they probably saved you £2k anyway, as long as they warranty the work & the problems fixed, I would be very grateful its that low.

I know from experience how long it can take to diagnose problems of this nature, given I've had the same issue, mine has turned out to be a dodgy microswitch in my gear unit & that alone is £450 rrp, let alone labour to diagnose, removal, refit, etc & even at a very reasonable £50 an hour for an indy, it still would take hours to do all this.

Be thankful its working again & IMHO a low cost, I doubt they would have parts to show you anyway at £800, they did you a big favour IMHO.

 

[caraudiaye3]

Cheers for the input all.

I think it's only natural, especially if you're not in the car industry yourself, to want to know if a price is fair and that you're not being taken for a ride. You do hear some horror stories after all.

Many thanks

 

[NHN]

Fair point & respected POV

 

[Brodster]

I think you got away with the deal of the century there mate. £800 for just the ECU for an A4 2.0TDI, plus the recoding of it for the immobilizer codes which was £180 plus the remap which was £350 and thats not including any labour costs whatsoever so your £800......I would of cut his hand off with a rusty axe.