repairs

[kellertb]

i just had my 2005 390 sundancer with 8.1 HO's worked on. it cost me $1900 for the 100 hour service (it has 168 hrs on it) and another $600 to replace one of the rams that lift the engine hatch and to repair an exhaust hose that had been chafed by something. how tough is it to do your own 100 hour service and how much would i save? i decided not to touch the trans that was rotating even in neutral at idle.

 

[tbirdvet]

What all did they do for that cost?

 

[tobnpr]

Was this only the required 100 hour service for the engines, or were there other repairs/maintenance that a five-year old boat would need done?

 

[kellertb]

just the 100 hour service on the engines, generator and transmission. Oil and trans fluid change, plugs, cap and rotor, impellors. also cleaned the bilge. i can't remember if there was anything else big. maybe some lubrication.

 

[skolbe]

That sounds high - plugs, cap and rotor was early for changing out - unless you changed due to time - in lieu of hours.

 

[Dave S]

The generic "xxx hours" service should be avoided in my opinion if you can. It is not difficult to make your own check list of normal maintenance items that you want taken care of. When you let the dealer make that choice for you, you inevitably wind up paying for things you may not need. It sounds like the plugs cap and rotors were an overkill.

 

[wetpaint]

Keller...Sounds like you got lubed.......As I always say, we are all getting f___ed, but are we happy

 

[my3sons]

Even when you do it yourself, it's not cheap...but it is a lot cheaper.
Mains
5 gallons 25-40 merc oil and 2 filters...<$150
16 plugs at a discount auto store...$110 +/-
2 spin on fuel/water seperating filters...$20+/-
2 inline fuel filters...$80 online incl. shipping
2 impellers...<$70, but the joy of installation is worth it!
no caps and rotors
You may have been able to skip the plugs, but I would have changed them if they were original
Gen
2 plugs,1 fuel/water sep filter,1 inline filter,couple quarts of oil, oil filter, anode, impeller...call it $100...a little more if you want to do the ignition parts, assuming you have ignition parts (you mention caps and rotors) you didn't say how many hrs were on the gen
Trannys
9 quarts of oil, and 2 filters...< $150, but there are instructions on this site to clean and reuse your old filters, so call it...$50, and that includes the mineral spirit wash.
If you are not set up to do the oil changes..you would need a pump to pump it out of the dipstick tubes. It also works to pump out of the trannys.
So..$600 +/- in parts and fluids..if I haven't forgot something (and I probably did)
You ask how difficult to do it....not very (except the impellers on the mains) and they are very doable

The bad news is... you could have saved ...maybe $1300 on the 100 hour service portion :smt021
The good news is there is always next time, and everything you need to know on how to do it is in the manuals or even better yet...right here on CSR :thumbsup:

 

[mawyatt]

just the 100 hour service on the engines, generator and transmission. Oil and trans fluid change, plugs, cap and rotor, impellors. also cleaned the bilge. i can't remember if there was anything else big. maybe some lubrication.

Was this done by MarineMax Clearwater?

 

[kellertb]

yes, done by marinemax clearwater. the generator had over 500 hours on it.

 

[tobnpr]

Didn't they give you an itemized billing?

 

[kellertb]

i got an itemized bill that listed the parts but they didnt have a cost on each part nor a total of parts vs labor. i looked again and it was $1838 not $1900. it sounds like i could save about $1000 doing it myself. it took the mechanic about 8 hours to get the job done. that means it would probably take me two days. i will probably try it myself next time.

 

[skolbe]

I usually spread the work out over a few weekends. For example the transmissions one weekend and the engines another weekend and the generator another. The transmission filters have come down in price. I have a set that I rotate out - so I can clean one set and speed up the process and not wait for the dirty transmission filters to dry. My dad hires out his service and the disappointing part of that is they always overfill the oil. The good news is you should be in good shape boating for awhile. I think those of us that do our own service forget how quickly the labor bill adds up.