Servicing costs - 140hp Suzy

[suzygs1000]

My 140 Suzy is now two years old, has just 100 hours on it, and has had one only service, at about 25 hours.

I decided to have the service done at Xmas, and enquired from one of the dealers here as to cost.

I was advised that it would be around $400-500 without impeller, and $600-700 with impeller.

The mechanic from the Suzuki dealership left there some months ago here, and is now working as a mobile mechanic.

I phoned him a week or so before xmas, and he told me that it would be after xmas before he could do it, as he was pretty busy. (you will see why).

Anyhow, he came around a week or so after xmas, and performed the service in my shed, while I and a mate chatted to him. The service took him about 1-3/4 hours, and included new impeller.

He subsequently sent me an account which I promptly paid.

I have attached a copy of it. It may be a bit hard to read, but total cost was $257.00. Individual items were:

4 stroke oil... $36.50
Oil filter... 18.40
Impeller... 34.50
Oil bung washer.. .85
Bung washers... 2.20
Gear oils... 14.00
Compounds... 5.00
travel... 10.50
Labour... 112.50
GST... 23.45

Total... $257.90.

Ok, I understand that he doesn't have the overheads that dealers have, but he has a new Cruiser ute all fitted out with aluminium flap tool boxes, oil containers and everything else he needs. He also has running costs and travelling time.

My first 25 hour service cost me more than this.

What are other Suzy owners paying for their servicing?

Dave.[http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff235/suzygs1000/IMGSmall.jpg

[tropicrows]

Can you pm me his details, I need to get my suzy 140 serviced as well. Thats one hell of a price difference.

[backlash08]

what general area are you in?

[tropicrows]

Redlands, Brisbane

[Mindi]

Way to go.... more than anything it reflects the very small margins on boat/motor sales and the need for dealers to get revenue from service....and overcharge for the purpose..

[brute898]

Thats is one great price. That would be great if he was in victoria I would get mine motor serviced for sure at that price

[mirage]

That's a great price. I just had 100 hour service on 2 x Suzi 140's done by a mobile mechanic at nearly $450 each. Impeller price was $82 each, oil filters $32 each, significantly higher than you were charged. Can they get non genuine parts for these new outboards?? Other parts and labour were similar except labour was a LOT more.

I'll send you a PM to get this guys details.

[Skusto]

thats great does he do yamaha as well

[sempre]

Mate thats cheap , i paided nearly double that for my 115's .

[skipalong]

thats a great price mate

[LoungeLizard]

What kind of guarantee do you get? Just wondering if the motor blows whether he'll just pull up his shoulders and walk away.

I'm not trying to defend dealers here (god knows I've been reamed many times by them), but they do have a lot of overheads a one-man-band doesn't need to worry about

[FNQCairns]

My 140 Suzy is now two years old, has just 100 hours on it, and has had one only service, at about 25 hours.

I decided to have the service done at Xmas, and enquired from one of the dealers here as to cost.

I was advised that it would be around $400-500 without impeller, and $600-700 with impeller.

The mechanic from the Suzuki dealership left there some months ago here, and is now working as a mobile mechanic.

I phoned him a week or so before xmas, and he told me that it would be after xmas before he could do it, as he was pretty busy. (you will see why).

Anyhow, he came around a week or so after xmas, and performed the service in my shed, while I and a mate chatted to him. The service took him about 1-3/4 hours, and included new impeller.

He subsequently sent me an account which I promptly paid.

I have attached a copy of it. It may be a bit hard to read, but total cost was $257.00. Individual items were:

4 stroke oil... $36.50
Oil filter... 18.40
Impeller... 34.50
Oil bung washer.. .85
Bung washers... 2.20
Gear oils... 14.00
Compounds... 5.00
travel... 10.50
Labour... 112.50
GST... 23.45

Total... $257.90.

Ok, I understand that he doesn't have the overheads that dealers have, but he has a new Cruiser ute all fitted out with aluminium flap tool boxes, oil containers and everything else he needs. He also has running costs and travelling time.

My first 25 hour service cost me more than this.

What are other Suzy owners paying for their servicing?

Dave.[http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff235/suzygs1000/IMGSmall.jpg

This has nothing to do with overheads, is gouging nothing less, no competent excuse available except the sheeple will pay it because they see no other option.

Do the sums, roughly the dealer is charging $515 labour for what is less than 2 hours work! and none of it is strictly skilled either.

Also given that sooooooooo many places overlap labour time so dramaticly, one can see where this number comes from, known as fraud too I suspect but it's par for business course. Who you going to ring?

cheers fnq

[sleepygreg]

Not doubting his skills one bit, but did he give you a print out of the engines performance history....ie what hours at what rpm, etc?

Greg

[Smithy]

My last one with a mobile guy on the Sunny Coast was $172 for a 140 as well. That was with $25 travel in it. Not worth me gearing up to do it myself for that much.

[White Pointer]

G'day,

I'll start by declaring interest.

I am in favour of dealer servicing in these days of the ECU because the diagnostic systems can tell you of emerging faults. Dealers have a responsibility to make sure it will get to the next service. I am not in favour of price gouging and this can happen when manufacturers only provide access to diagnostic tools to franchised dealers.

I am in favour of independent repairers who set up as a business. They keep the dealers honest but if a dealer has paid for the apprenticeship and the factory has provided the specialised training, should the independent pay a royalty?

That should get you going!

White Pointer

[PADDLES]

good points white pointer, but no. an apprenticeship is a 2 way street, whilst the employer is paying for a young bloke to learn, he is also getting chargeable work out of them and at the same time paying them f#ck all.

if you actually have a fault with your motor then interrogating the ECU is an invaluable tool to find out what's going on, if there isn't a fault however then there's no need to talk to it. it just does it's job and runs the engine. it will tell you via the lights on the dash if it has a problem.

top price for the service, he has cut the lunch of just about every mechanic in brissy. i couldn't get my regular guy for my last service for my 140 so used another bloke in the caboolture area. my service was similar but included a large fuel filter and a set of spark plugs, he charged me almost $700 for the pleasure and didn't show me anywhere near the marine expertise of my regular guy, needless to say it'll be the first and last time i'll use him, back to wade this year.

[disorderly]

I am in favour of dealer servicing in these days of the ECU because the diagnostic systems can tell you of emerging faults.
White Pointer

Can you give examples of what emerging faults will be shown by reading the ECU..?




if you actually have a fault with your motor then interrogating the ECU is an invaluable tool to find out what's going on, if there isn't a fault however then there's no need to talk to it. it just does it's job and runs the engine. it will tell you via the lights on the dash if it has a problem.



I also assumed this was the case...that hooking up the laptop basically gave readings of the history of the motor and unless there was some new programming updates to upload or an actual problem with the motor then it gives information that is nice to know but otherwise relatively unimportant when it comes to performing a basic service.

Scott

[1lastcast]

So from what i can gather unless your motor has a particular problem with it that you need looked at then a general service from a mobile guy is all thats required then ?

How often do you really think your actually getting more from your dealer than what your mobile guy is doing anyway ?

[backlash08]

So from what i can gather unless your motor has a particular problem with it that you need looked at then a general service from a mobile guy is all thats required then ?

How often do you really think your actually getting more from your dealer than what your mobile guy is doing anyway ?

all depends on the quality of the dealer and the mobile bloke I guess, there are some great dealers and some rotten ones likewize mobile guys I would think, in the end the quality of the work depends on the skills and attitiude of the guy with the spanner in his hand, and that is what makes it so tough when running workshops
regards - Craig

[bennyboy]

Are you a gambleing man?
You can get the servicing done on time at a Suzuki dealer and keep your warranty.

A 140hp isn't a cheep motor to take that gamble on

From the sounds of it though you haven't had the servicing done on time anyway so your warranty is no longer valid.

1 3/4 hrs is very quick though, why didn't he change your plugs and fuel filter?

Dealers have much bigger overheads and generally aren't ripping you off

[PADDLES]

agreed benny, mine's out of warranty so it doesn't matter but for anyone who's still in their warranty period you'd be mad to sacrifice the warranty.

[honda900]

No need to gamble at all,

I had a well known mobile guy do my engine a month ago, $380 all up for the 100 hr service, plugs, filter, oil, 1 anode, I also asked him to check all the shims as well, 3 hours labour to do the job.

He is a fully qualified Zuke mechanic, apparantly does a lot of work for haines themselves, Stamped my book, gave me the engine data, great bloke, good price.

I have no worries that haines will honour the 4 remaining years of my warranty.

Regards
Honda

[Angla]

He may learn after a while that he is not making enough money to cover the little things like his retirement.

As good as it sounds, I predict that his prices will eventually go upwards and his markup on goods will increase to more inline with the shops.

Having personally started a business with no business skills but excellent trade qualifications is a frustrating thing if you do all this good work and do not charge enough.
Firstly this may hurt him in the hip pocket until he realises his mistake.
Secondly it hurts the industry as discontent happens with the thoughts that the industry is overcharging, as much as they may be to a certain extent.

Has anyone been charged more for a service of some sort or even goods delivered due to the excessive fuel price increases. Have you seen these excesses taken off or reduced now that fuel is a more acceptable value?
I suppose that would be taking advantage of consumers too.

This is not as cut and dried as we would like to think and I would not like to give this mechanic too much service at this price. I would prefer to see him increase his prices to a more realistic value so that he may be able to stay in the industry for a long time giving his good quality servicing.

I have just had a 300 hour log book service completed on my 135 Optimax which was extensive and included checks to the battery condition and external fuel supply filters as well as the full log book checking. We also spoke of the Alarms log on the ECU and the Smart Gauge System. They also mentioned other points that were inspected and cleaned. I felt happy @$662.00

Chris

[FNQCairns]

Has anyone ever worked for someone then did exactly the same job but for themselves??

This bloke the mobile mechanic is at around $60 per hour making an absolute fortune in more ways than one relative to working for any dealer, he is now providing x 2 his retirement......

Do the basic math, this bloke is now on easy street, knocking back his choice of jobs, working when he wants, planing for vacation time, fitting family/recreation to within his job and unless he decides to work only 2.0 days a week the income with all of those perks is above anything he would be paid otherwise.

he does have room to move though as it looks like he would still be undercutting some dealers even at $200 per hour!!!!...is there a doctor in the house????;D;D:P:o

Cheers fnq

[bennyboy]

This bloke the mobile mechanic is at around $60 per hour making an absolute fortune in more ways than one relative to working for any dealer, he is now providing x 2 his retirement......


Cheers fnq

$60 per hour, then you take out income protection insurance, vehicle payments, Oil disposal fees (or is he dumping it) time to run around and pick up or order parts, Tools, advertising, time to complete accounting and BAS statements, take out downtime when he doesn't have work, pay his own super, and put money aside for the occasional sick day, not get paid for holidays.

Don't get my wrong it's great to see someone doing it for themselves, but making a fortune? I don't think so

[1lastcast]

Im just happy to own a suzuki df140 happy days !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D

Buy the way you dont have to have a suzuki mechanic service your engine to keep your warranty as long as they are a qualified outboard mechanic they have to honour warranty claims !!

[FNQCairns]

$60 per hour, then you take out income protection insurance, vehicle payments, Oil disposal fees (or is he dumping it) time to run around and pick up or order parts, Tools, advertising, time to complete accounting and BAS statements, take out downtime when he doesn't have work, pay his own super, and put money aside for the occasional sick day, not get paid for holidays.

Don't get my wrong it's great to see someone doing it for themselves, but making a fortune? I don't think so

I didnt actually say a fortune in the context you put it, (lets just say as a part, even the ability to 'live a life' aspect could be the fortune??? compared to working for the dealer) but we cannot forget, all the tax deductibles, his cruiser + fuel etc, house expenses, phones...so many perks, crikey the whole business is a tax perk....even if at the end of each financial he only grosses near 2.0 what he netted on a wage, now it will be for less hours tools in hand, gross freedom of choice, not to mention every single huge advantage associated with working life and being family friendly - the good life.

I do think he is too cheap $80.00 an hour is fair in the face of all the others gouging.

Regardless the wicket he is on at $60 is so vastly superior to anything he would be on working for the man, i do have a fair idea of the wage, it's struggle street and effectively 2 wages needed to start living.

cheers fnq

[1lastcast]

fnq i think thats spot on all the pirks and tax advantages of operating a mobile service unit , not to mention he is building up a SALABLE BUSINESS that he can sell later for who knows what it may very well be a small fortune if things go well for him that is something you never normaly have the chance of when you are working for the man , you have to rely on super alone

good luck to him

[Izzey!]

smithy, if you don't mine where did you get it done.I have a 90 due for 1st service and was thinking i would have to go to redcliff to find a dealera as the one in caloundra is goooooone?

[Smithy]

PM sent Izzey.

[suzygs1000]

Ok, I would like to clear up a few points..

The low pressure fuel filter on the 140 is not due for change at the 100 hour service, altho it should be done at two years, however, I had major dramas with the fuel system in early 2008 (whichi was repaired at the dealers, and which Haines would not warranty, stating the cause to be crook fuel, and costing me over $700..), and the low pressure filter was replaced at that stage. The big Racor on the back of the boat was renewed by me shortly before the service, as the element was pretty rusty, hence there was no need for the mechanic to change it. I check all battery fittings, and keep my batteries topped up myself at very regular intervals, and do not require the mechanic to look at them, or my hydraulic steering either, as far as that goes. These are jobs that I have always taken care of myself.

Changing the impeller is simplicity in itself on this motor. There are no gear change linkages to worry about, and the water lines slipped straight in. I would say that half an hour to change an impeller is not unreasonable, but I guess a few dealers will argue with this. The impeller was an aftermarket one, but I have been informed by a guy that worked at a dealership for 4 years up until recently that it is common for dealers to use aftermarket impellers...correct me if I am wrong.

It has got me stuffed how anyone could take 4 hours to service on of these engines, even if they checked the shims, which I am sure they don't, unless requested.

I live in North Queensland, and I believe that as long as the service is carried out by qualified personnel, warrant should not be an issue. As far as that goes, I am pretty sure that, even if you service your motor yourself, warranty must still be honored unless the failure can be attributed to your self servicing.

Look, I'm not having a go at you dealers.

I and my wife are both pensioners, and believe me, I would be doing all the servicing myself, but this boat comprises a great part of my total assets, and having a proper service history enhances it's value.

I also did not have $600 to fork out for a service that soon after xmas, even with the generous handout from Kevin07.

I agree that Guando is undercharging for his labour, but his cheap servicing costs are not a result of this - even at $100 per hour, the bill would only have been about $50 more.

But let's face it, if he is doing the service in front of you, he can really only charge you for the time it takes, not for all the phone calls he answers while servicing your engine, or talking to other customers who wander in and enquire about their boats!

He also does not have someone demanding that he book out a certain number of hours each week!

Fire away, guys...
Dave

[frank100]

suzygs100,
I agree about the ease of servicing. I have a df140 03, never given me any probs.(except the oil cooler corroding) I do the servicing myself (to the extent of buying spares from the US when the dollar was up) & have done since warranty expired.

Frank

[1lastcast]

suzygs100,
I agree about the ease of servicing. I have a df140 03, never given me any probs.(except the oil cooler corroding) I do the servicing myself (to the extent of buying spares from the US when the dollar was up) & have done since warranty expired.

Frank

Sorry to get of the original topic fellas
Frank i remember a thread on the oil coolers a while back can you or anybody else refresh my mind on the prevention of the corrosion my last engine (df140) was only 125hours old when i sold it and it was flushed after every use ( is that alone sufficient ?) and im getting another fitted to my new boat next week any info on preventing the corrosion would be great .

[frank100]

Monostrecho,
Can't really give you any tips on prevention. Whay I have done is to ensure I flush for at least 10mins (I used to think 5 was OK). I also use MACS after every outing. I used to think these products were 'snake oil' but after hearing about a mates experiments with it - clearing the pee hole with just one flush & later boiling off a sample from the pee hole ( with & without the use of MACS ) to assess how much salt was in the system he did note no salt after the MACS flush & salt without. I was convinced that it may have some merit.
Personally I was amazed to find salt residue in the cooler after a trip & flush with water, on that occassion I had returned up the Russel which at the ramp is basically fresh.
I can't be more definitive since I have not pulled the cooler apart since using MACS, that will happen when the oil filter is due next.
Frank

[FNQCairns]

An entirely zuk untested opinion here but it makes sense on any other engine and usually an engine is just an engine.

4strokes run hot as do all modern cars, this promotes and largely is lean burn technology, the oil circulates internals and runs hotter than any surface directly bathed in pumped water, the oil cooler may be circulating at cruising speeds 90-100deg c oil.

If an outboard could run without heat it would never block gallerys, there is no passive way to rid the engine of the white substance that forms on a surface due to operating temperature.

Table salt will every time dissolve straight away (fast) with nothing but fresh water but the corrosion (calcium carbonate i suspect) will not as it was formed under and due to heat and is now a mineral deposit (rock).

Sounds to me that the cooler is a weak link worth keeping an eye on as the physics of it all makes total sense...in exactly the same way all outboard aluminium exhaust covers will often deposit first as will the heads due to the heat involved at operating temperature.

cheers fnq

[jon80]

As an outboard mechanic , I would not be using non genuine parts in these engines, price charged for oil filter this is non genuine as is impeller. I think any warranty claim would be void if you looked into it. Did your mechanic check all anodes in this service ?

Also just wondering who asks or knows if there own mechanic is qualified ?????

[jigsnreels]

My last experience with a dealer was over a yammie F115 i bought interstate. It just wouldn't run right , would cut out at low revs, hard to start sometimes and would sometimes smoke. So I took it to yammie dealer who rang back and said he'd had the motor on the computer and there were huge problems, open codes galore and would be round $2500 to fix and even then they wouldnt guarantee it would be right.

I left pretty cranky, then someone said to try the new mobile mechanic. I took it there, explained the problem. Righto he says, let's have a look. Took off the cowling and said staright away wtf is this? The interstate guys had left an extra piece of loom in attached to the main loom. He removed it, all problems solved.

Mmmm.. so who ya gonna call?

[frank100]

Tropicrows,
M8 tried to send you a reply to the pm but apparently your inbox is full !!
Basically the answer to your q's are . Yep manual from O/S as well as parts. 'brownspoint marine' do a google. A very good site for Suzi related bits & spares.

Hope that helps
Frank