PF-Racing

My question is as follow. How much time does it take to change all four coils on an RX-8?

1. For a person who have never done it before

2. For a mechanic working at a Mazda dealership

My dealership justed billed my for over 3 hours of work for justing changing the coils. They also billed me $1000 for the parts (4 coils). They didn`t ask me before they did this, so tomorrow I`m gonna phone them and use my "outdoor voice".

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

#@)$*!Q@#$)*!Q@#$)*

1000 !?!?!?!??!

WOOT !

3 HOURS ? Was it changed by some handicapped people ?

Dude, I assume everything your car is stock. to change the coil. I need to takek the airbox out(actually dont really need to, lets just follow shop manual), then you have direct access to the coils. Hmm. For "Experienced" Mazda Tech (or me) I will say 1/2 Hour the MOST. Trust me its REALLY simple

and coils, if u get them online THRU Mazda dealers, its about 28 bux each. u need 4. so yeah u do the math

1 hour labor + 4 coils @ 28 each maybe 10 bux shipping.

Even you never did it before, 1 hour is more than enough time.

Tell them to fuxk themselves and take off whatever they did to your car. Cuz you never authorized them to do so.

If you cant get them cheap at Norway, some vendors here might be able to sell you some. If they can't, I go get u some, just send me back the cost + shipping. I aint making a cent. This dealership is just ridiculous.

dozer

iTrader: (3)

^exactly!

dillsrotary

I did mine in under 30 mins. I would def investigate this.

Razz1

3 hours sounds about right.

Come on guys stop bull shitting. I'm sick and tired of this crap.

Go by the dealership labor rate book. 3 hours book rate seems right.

They should never charge more than 100 bucks per coil and some dealers are more reasonable on the price.

A person that never did it can take 3 hours. Really the question is too vague as each persons mechanical ability is different, experience is different and tools on hand is different.

cjkim

i would think even the most inexperienced person could change out coils in 45 minutes tops. 3 hours is ridiculous

dondo

iTrader: (7)

yep. under an hour even if you've never done it before.

Aseras

First time I did it it took me about 45 minutes. It depends on how many time you drop the nuts taking them off and especially putting them back on. I have tiny hands too. If you have larger hands, you are in trouble, it is very tight in there.

You really got ripped off. The coils are cheaper than oem spark plugs.

PF-Racing

It makes me feel good what you guys are saying. This is excatly the same as I thought. Therefor I bought myself a set of new coils from a Mazda dealership in USA. It ended up with $120 for four coils. Got them today from UPS here in Norway.

Basicly the coil change should cost $120 + 1 hour work. And then go out trying to bill me around $1400 for a coil change, including parts, it`s amazing. It`s like they are living in a fantasy world.

I`m very pissed right now, so sorry guys. Just had to get it out.

ndhoffma

Amount of time, its crazy that they would change something they are charging that much for without consulting you; If they dont fix the price/work immediately, Id see if you can talk to authorities higher up at Mazda

did you get anything worked out with the dealer?

Socket7

You're the one full of **** razz, and it makes me wonder how many boat payments your dealership has made from scamming you.

I installed my BHR coil kit in about an hour and a half, and that included removing the airbox. removing the front wheel, putting the car up on jackstands to remove said wheel, I changed the spark plugs, AND called up Charles to ask why I couldn't fit my plug wires into the wire loom.

I'd never done a coil swap before, and I would have been done considerably faster if it was just OEM coils as that would not require changing wires and plugs or attaching a grounding wire.

If a shade tree mechanic like myself can do a coil upgrade in half the time they billed for, then a certified mazda tech should be able to do an OEM swap in far less then that.

1 hour labor is correct.
2 hours is acceptable (maybe it takes an hour and 15 minutes, that would count as 2 hours)
3 hours is a scam.

Charging a thousand dollars for repacement coils, and not asking the customer if he would like the work done is also wrong to the point of being illegal I believe.

dmazda

I tried to ge them at Nappa. I was told they are 22 dollars each but there is a nation wide back log on them.


Dmazda

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

onlinemazdaparts.com

or

finishlineperformance.com

or

PM anybody works at BHR.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

Unless the person is disabled, or really too retarded to hold a ratchet. No way it takes more than 2 hours.

and what about dealership ? 3 hours for coil change ?

come on. it just doesnt make sense.

He got ripped, big time.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

They're required by law to advise you of the work/cost before performing it, you don't have to pay

maybe an hour if you had never done it before, but had all of the tools and information how

I could swap out a set of OE coils in under 15 minutes if I had to, 30 minutes taking a very leisurely pace

tell them it wasn't authorized and you want the original system put back in at no charge, then call BHR ...

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

^^^ x1000 to what Team said.
In the US they must get your authorization before performing the work, surely in Norway there are similar rules / laws.

Disregard Razz's post, it's worthless.

Either they take out the parts free of charge, or they agree to charge you 1 hour labor (MAX) for what they did. Either way, you should not be paying anything remotely close to the $1000 they want.

Mazurfer

Them damn Norse.........ya never know with them! Bend over and smile cause they are trying to "F" you up the @ss.
No way that price is right.......even in Norway!

teknics

dealership warranty time is 0.4 hours, that's 24 minutes, *total* for either any or all of the coils.

The theoretical conversion factor used at a dealer for warranty->cash labor is a factor of 1.4 or 1.5 typically. Meaning .4 would become .6hrs. Most techs won't work for under 1.0hrs per job tho so they round to 1hr for any job that falls below that limit.

i know the sarcasm but i was just adding in the actual book time and the way it is converted.

kevin.

ms70616

wow three hours???? i changed out my coils last week, very first time i have ever done it it took me 30 minutes for all four

PF-Racing

Time for a little update!

Called my Mazda dealer today. After several calls we got to an agreement. They will replace the coils they changed with my new coils, and I only pay for two hours work. I think that was a fair deal. I got the impression that they used just a little bit over one our. I think about 1 hour 20 min, and I feel like I`m done arguing. When I first called today it didn`t seem like they were gonna let me off so easily. But after I refer to the laws and everything that happened, I think the deal was good.

For me this was good. It picked up my car today and didn`t pay anything. I`m gonna come back maybe next week so they can change to my new coils, and then I`m paying for two hours work.

Two hours of work is about 2400 norwegian kroner ($600).

RX-8 is a very rare car here in Norway. You almost never see anyone on the road, so when I meet people they ask me what kind of car is that. They don`t know. I called 7 Mazda dealers this week, and none of them had ever had an RX-8 for coil change. They had replaced some plugs, but never coils. Some of them had never seen an RX-8. Norway no longer sells RX-8, because it`s too expensive here. It cost about $130.000 for a brand new RX-8 in 2008.

shazy

WTF. Seriously tell them to **** off and do it yourself man. It's really easy and I don't know why you would go through so much trouble. I'd just get the coils and install it myself.

Texak

If you are willing to consider 2 hours labor a "fair deal," then fine. If you wish to save A TON OF MONEY, spend a little time on these boards first and learn how to work on the car yourself. I'm not just talking about you but to all those that fork over huge fees to the stealership because they are uninformed. It really makes me worry about the care someone puts into their car when something as simple a a coil/ plug change is handed over to the dealership.

In your case, because the car is so rare in Norway, I wouldn't trust the dealership to know how to correctly service and discover issues with your car. If you have some time, this site is an extremely valuable resource. With the wealth of knowledge shared here, you'll know much more about your car than most technicians at a dealership. GL to you.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

@!#)(*!#)*!~@)*

130 K FOR a BRAND NEW RX-8 !!!!

whoa ! WTF !?!

Is it Norway's government putting like 200% taxes on imports or something ! holy crap !!!!!

2 Hours of labor ... well compare to over 1 K. I guess yea ... but cant' you just do it yourself ? ... Its real easy trust me .. and I believe buying some ratchets and a 10 mm socket and an extension bar is MUCH cheaper than 2 hours of labor ...

I should do a DIY of changing coils ... with pictures of course ...