Dealer charge for valve adjust

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Local Honda dealer (Montgomeryville cycle, PA) estimated labor: 2.5hr for valve adjust and 1 hr for coolant flush.
When I argued that since fairing is off for valves, the coolant job (drain, fill, and burp) job is 10 minute procedure, I was told that they made a mistake and should have estimated 4.5 hrs for the valve adjust, therefore no budge on the coolant job labor.
Seems fishy. Please check in with dealer labor costs incurred for these procedures. It would be helpful to identify the dealer, too. Thanks!
 
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Estimating 2.5 hours seems ridiculously low for a NT700V valve job. I would have to wonder if they know what a valve job entails if they estimated 2.5 hours. Searching this site shows that most people were charged ~4 hours of labor.

If a shop estimated 5 hours for a NT700V for valve and coolant job.... that would seem reasonable.
 

Woodaddict

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my valve checks have been around $220 - $280 for that. can't tell exactly cause have had other minor things done at same time. don't know the amount of actual hrs. they don't take off fairing sides either
 
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I believe we are aving two different siscussions her.First we are looking at a dealer shop that has a average A tech who maybe see;s a nt700 once a yar and has to refere to book for every move, who has not pulled Tupperware off a NT often enough to know what he is doing and even the shop manual leaves some gaps on how to.Same tech doesn't know what tools to have laid out to do the entire job in advance and he is playing hunt and peck in his tool box, etc. At the dealership that maintained my NT the SAME tech that did the pre service to the bike,& installed all farkles etc and was the only one who worked onit for 50,ooo mi was allowed too touch it per my instructions!Iwould drop bike st vlosing time with only about a gallon of fuel in tankand tech would know I was coming, He met me at door to shop and as I steped of bike he steped on and rode it onto his lift and parked itI would go to service desk a nd sign service orderand usurally shop owner would tell me to hsng loosw for a few minuts and he would ive me a ride home!

next morning bike is cold when teck comes to work. as soon as he punvhes in on clock tool box comes open and he quicl;y pulls ALL tools out and places them on lift platform, zip zip zip tuperware is off and fuel tank completely remove ona on bench along side of seat I had heli risir si much easuer to pul fuel tank rather than fuss around trying to tyr it up out of way.Then he would disconnect the plug NS P;ywire hRNWAEA WHICH ALLOWS ACCESS TO VALVE COVERS, hE WOULD REMOVE SPARKPLUGS AND STUFF CLEANS RAGS IN HOLES, AND REMOVE THE INJUCTE BODIES SYSTEM SI IT WAS OUT OF HIS WAY AND COVER AL PORTDDDOFF WITH VALVE COVERS AND BRING ENGINE TO PROPER SETTING POSITION FOR FIST PORTION OF VALVE AND DO INSPECTION , IF NOT SPOT ON DEAD CENTE HE WOULD ADJUST AND GO TO NEXT ETC. INSTAL NEW PLUGSAND AIR CLEANER nd back togather againin less that 2 hours. Yes he had service manual on bench so he could refer to specs as needed . He would normally have had drain pan unde engine with oil draining NS WOULD CHANGE FILTER AND PUT INNEW OIL ALL IN THE SAME MOTIONS. if THERE WERE OOTHER THINGS DUE SUCH AS COOLANT AND HYDRAULIC FLUIS THEY ALSO WERE DONE WITH THIS SAME EFFICIENCY. I WAS ON A EXTENDED SERICE PLAN THAT I PURCHJASED WHEN I BOUGHT THE BIKE. I lao was in the service area while work was being accomplished, thus I knew how much time was expanded etc.The reason I was in service bay is that I have a running QUAINTENCE WITHOWNER OF SHOPGOING BACK TO 1960 BEFORE HE EVER WENT INTO BUISNESS, AND UP UNTIL ABOUT A YEAR AGOi KNEW ALL THETECHS IN SHOP AS WELL AS SERVICE MANAGER,''lol HIS GRANFATHER AND I WERE RIDING BUDDIES IN THE 60'S.

nOW THERE HAS BEEN A MAJOR CHANMGE OF SHOP TECHS, only SERVICE MAGR IS LEFT , MY PRIMARY TECH GOT A REAL JOB WITHCITY OF pORTLAND , OREGON WITH MUCH BETTER MEDICAL, RETIREMENT, VACATION ETC. BUT HE STILL HAS HIS OWN PLATFORM LIFT IN HIS GARAGE AND HIS TOOLS, AND STILL WORKS ON MY TOYS FOR MUCH LESS THAN Honda DEALER SHOP RATE. tHE ONLYPROBLEM WITH ALL OF THATIS THATi Hve not been able to add any mileson any of htebikes in about 14 months as of now.

so to sum it all up I feel thaht 5 hours for complete valve adjustment ND COOLANT FLUSH IS A BIT ON TH HIGH SIDE, Mybe 3 .5 or a max of 4 hours might not be too bad , IFF you can TRUST the tech knows what he is doingand is doing everything he is saying he did! Why doI say it that way? there is a practice refered to A PENCIL WHIPING ITEMS IF NO ONE IS WATCHING THEM GET DONE nd there are still some unscrupleuas dealers etc out there.

There are also shortcuts that knowledgable techs can use to beat the flat rate system that are learned through tiem of scraped and bloodied knuckles that don't generly get shared wih the general public, thease are refered to A TRICKS OD HE TRADE. bEEN THERE DONE SOME BACK IN THE DAY.


Eldon
 
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my valve checks have been around $220 - $280 for that. can't tell exactly cause have had other minor things done at same time. don't know the amount of actual hrs. they don't take off fairing sides either
I THINK YOU ARE PRETTY CLOSE TO FAI AND REASONABLE, I m not sure of the shoplabor rate there but your $$ figures lok lie 2- 3 hour times which are not bad, I would think not pulling Tupperware would be quite trdious for getting into everything.

Eldon
 

Phil Tarman

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I've been charged 3-3.5 hours for labor for valve adjustments at Sun Honda in Denver. Gotta' get Chuck Henderson to show me how to do it the next time I need it.
 
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Don't know what the dealer charge is in my area. I did it myself during the winter lay up. I did not stay at the job from start to finish because I could not ride until March or April. It would be worth all of 3.5 to 4 hours to do this. I will continue to do this myself every winter during the down time. I will only do it once per year, regardless of the miles.
 

mikesim

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Having done it myself, 4.5 hours does not seem unreasonable. Eldon indicated that "experienced" techs have learned short cuts that enable them to save them time. Sadly, the NT and the associated Tupperware makes shortcuts nigh impossible.

Mike
 
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I did mine about a year ago and I will never do that again, what a PITA. I will either have them done or most probably, just let them go since I ride so few miles annually.
John
 
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Mike , I was not in referanceto NT valves as far as shortcut are concernedI was thinking more in realm of Valve stem seale replacements on Cheverolets of 60 & 70 era and of doing spark plug thread repairs with Time-Serts etc on Knucle headand panheasa in particular. among others. with the NT it is a mater of the tech KNOWING exactly what he is going to do before he ever gets started on the job , hAVING ll tools laid out and ready , and then getting with it uninterrupted from start to finish. iN MANY CASES IF A TRCH HAS TO MAKE A TRIP TO BATHROOM IN MANY CASES THE TIMC CLOCK CONTINUES TO TICK, nd the customer is paying for that time unless the job is being billed stricltly by the flat rate book!

For Phil, The adjustment is very similar to that on the C10 , screw and locknut, or old 6 cylinder cherolets for that matter except the bikes are don cold and engine shut off.Worst part of it is tuperware and other junk that has to be removed and in my current situation being able to see what your doing wouldsure help out.

Eldon.
 
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mikesim

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I understood what you were saying, Eldon. A good tech learns these "tricks" and uses them to his advantage. The advent of air tools were a big boon to the working tech. Sadly, the Tupperware on the NT renders these tricks moot.

Mike
 
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mIKE,

I WAS PRETTY SURE THAT WITH YOURLINE OF WORK YOU KNEW WHERE I WAS COMING FROM.

seriously SPEAKING , mY TECH WAS EXTREAMLY GOOD AND QUICL. HE WOULD HAVE THE TUPPEREARE , SEAT nd tNK OFF BIKE AND ON WORKBENCH lmoat by linking his eye and teitching his ear. I never stood over him as he made his moves but I was within 10-29 fett of him . I never spoke to him to break his concentration as he was working on it unless he ask me a specific question.ThT IS ONE REASON I WAS A WELCOME PERSON IN HE WORK BAY AREA.

ELDON
 

Warren

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I believe Honda has the valve adjust at 4 hours. If your dealer charges $80/hr like mine does then you are at $320 which is what I was charged the last time I had it done. I was charged $74 labor for a coolant change so it must have been just shy of an hour.
 
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I've been charged 3-3.5 hours for labor for valve adjustments at Sun Honda in Denver. Gotta' get Chuck Henderson to show me how to do it the next time I need it.
I am a bit rusty as it has been over two years since I even looked at a NT700 let alone stripped her down for a Valve check/adjust. I will give you a hand but it will be in your garage as the motor needs to be cold the tupperware needs to be removed and stored during the procedure. It is also a good time to change/bleed brake fluid. Replace brake pads if needed. Oil change and if one gets ambitious one could pull the forks and do a fork fluid change. And with the mileage on your bike might even thing about rebuilding the brake calipers. Gee I am not sure you can afford me Phil.:rolleyes::smile:
 
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Phil Tarman

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I got new brake pads at my last service (less than 1000 miles ago) and new brake fluid last fall. The forks were flushed about 10,000 miles ago, after I get back from the "How the West Was Won" rally and the Three-Flags Classic, I think all I really need will be an oil/filter change and final drive lube change, plus valve adjustment check. Whether I can afford you or not is a whole other question! :)
 

DirtFlier

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[...I will continue to do this myself every winter during the down time....]

The beauty of doing it at home during winter is that you're in no rush so the job can be broken into segments. :)
 
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I got new brake pads at my last service (less than 1000 miles ago) and new brake fluid last fall. The forks were flushed about 10,000 miles ago, after I get back from the "How the West Was Won" rally and the Three-Flags Classic, I think all I really need will be an oil/filter change and final drive lube change, plus valve adjustment check. Whether I can afford you or not is a whole other question! :)
Phil, if you aaree going to gee into doing things at home for Dudlwy ro even hhis possible repLxwmwnrans you don't decide to do as Chuck has done and go for a HF lift platform, you might consider a HF front wheel locking holder, that is not prope name as it escapes me aat the moment, but it is a deise that you place your front wheel into and it will hold your bike upright and staationaary. it is wide wenooough that it is stabil. I have one I got to use to allow me to rotate rear wheel when lubing chains on those nasty chain driven things I still have in my fleet.I don't know if this type tool would be of help to you , but it seems that it is well under 100.00. I imaaagine Chudk will comww in and say if it would be of help or not for your projects.

I have RROLLER PLAATFORM THAT THE BACCK WWHEEEL SETS ON AND THE FRONT SUPPORT HOLDS THE CCHAIN DRIVEN BEASTS UPRIGHT AS THEY DO NOT HAVE A CENTER STAAND ON THEM...I WOULD HAVE A PLAATFORM HOIST, BUT IT WOULD HAAVE TO SET ON OPEN PATIO/ CAAAR PORT AND INSPITE OF ITS WIEGHT MIGHT WAALK AWAY AT NIIGHT AS SCRp meetaal if nothing else unless I lag bolted it in place!

eldon
 
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