Talk about expensive!

Woody said:
I'm buffing and waxing mine right now. I don't know how the winter went by without it being already done. I've got the blue hull looking really nice but it's killing me. I'm trying to find help with the rest of the boat. This time is it, I'm never going to do it again.
Click to expand...
Every time I look at a black or blue hull I think really nice looking but no freakin way, white all the way.
 
I love working on boats and cars and do most of the service myself. I am a problem solver by nature, half the fun is figuring out the problem. fixing it, and then teaching someone else, like we do on here. I just finished tuning my BMW 335i for no other reason than to learn and say "I did it" and I saved about $1000 doing it myself. I have the money, but it's fun saving it. I did give the valve cover/gasket replacement labor to the shop after seeing how complicated it was to do in a few YouTube videos. I purchased the part myself online though and saved a few $$$.

We did not have money growing up so my dad fixed everything, and what he did not know he taught himself. I hated it as a kid because I was his little helper. Now though I am grateful for what he taught me. For example, using a match stick cover to set points :)

As I have gotten older though I do give some of the work to the mechanic, especially if my boat is far from home. I'd rather spend my weekend time on the boat, boating versus turning wrenches. And at 6' 3" with bad knees and a rickety back it's becoming more difficult to get in/out of the engine compartment.

I think all boat owners should learn their way around an engine compartment though, especially to do an on water emergency repair.
 
mrsrobinson said:
I just finished tuning my BMW 335i for no other reason than to learn and say "I did it" and I saved about $1000 doing it myself.
Click to expand...

And THAT is why I will never own another BMW! I can't afford to save that much!
Well, I can, but I refuse to.
 
This weekend was the first time I had a chance to do a complete wash down on the boat from the top down. Half way through I said to myself "what were you thinking giving up the 44"! I will be enlisting some labor to do the polish and wax. Some day I will measure the total surface area. The 506 with the hard top and glass adds several hundred feet of surface area to care for.
Carpe Deim
 
Carpe,
Ironiccally reading through this thread I enjoyed seeing there are others out there like me who use "Boat Accounts". On my 460 DA I put $2500/mo in for the slip, fuel, maintenance, and payments as well. Eventually the now, EX-Wife got pissed about spending that money on a boat vs lavish vacations. I sold the boat and divorced her. :)
I will be back on the water again soon....
Carpe Diem!
 
Carpedmman said:
Carpe,
Ironiccally reading through this thread I enjoyed seeing there are others out there like me who use "Boat Accounts". On my 460 DA I put $2500/mo in for the slip, fuel, maintenance, and payments as well. Eventually the now, EX-Wife got pissed about spending that money on a boat vs lavish vacations. I sold the boat and divorced her. :)
I will be back on the water again soon....
Carpe Diem!
Click to expand...
I do count myself lucky as my wife and I having taken several lavish vacations, absolutely agree that the boat money is justified. Not to say we won’t do another expensive vacation but we both enjoy the boat.
 
Creekwood said:
And THAT is why I will never own another BMW! I can't afford to save that much!
Well, I can, but I refuse to.
Click to expand...

I do the work myself as it's not hard. I bought my wife an X3 and when it comes to BMW, I've never seen a company that makes it harder to get basic info to do your own repairs. I'll never own another BMW. I could devote an entire thread to BMW ripoffs :D
 
This is why I will never own another one. From my last stealership visit for an X5 I was too stupid to get rid of. It was 6 years old at the time.
9DD5611F-0636-4E61-A660-5E67CC7E0076.jpeg
 
Creekwood said:
This is why I will never own another one. From my last stealership visit for an X5 I was too stupid to get rid of. It was 6 years old at the time.
Click to expand...

Yikes! Well if it makes you feel any better, I took it in near the end because I was ready to trade it in but the trans was throwing error codes. They quoted me 15K to fix the trans plus other things like the valve cover which you had too. I said to them, why would I spend 15k when it's worth 7 tops as a trade-in??? It would be cheaper to just roll it off a cliff. They just laughed. Good luck trying to find any manuals or tech info!

I was amazed at how much tech info, schematics, wiring diagrams etc that Sea Ray provides for the older boats.
 
Creekwood said:
This is why I will never own another one. From my last stealership visit for an X5 I was too stupid to get rid of. It was 6 years old at the time. View attachment 105477
Click to expand...
I could have saved you $5K ;-)

Most of those repairs are straight forward. I was intimidated at first but after watching a lot of excellent You Tube videos I did the plugs, coils, PCV, Dual Cone Intakes, new charge pipe and a few other ones myself. I got 3 labor only quotes for the valve cover/gasket and front struts and rear shocks. I bought them online myself and paid the shop for labor. I also did a MHD Stage 1 tune for the cost of the software and the wifi dongle, saving myself about $500 on the labor, which is just sitting in the car really. What's nice is I can now check my own error codes with the MHD software.

I love that you deferred 80% of the work the dealer recommended. I did as well, and went and did it myself. They are good, they give you nice pictures and get you all scared. Much to my surprise when I asked them for a labor only quote they gave me one, and it wasn't too bad.
 
Last edited:
One interesting thing about BMW, when I talked to the tech. They are "not authorized to repair, only replace." In my case there was a valve that went bad inside the trans, but he said their only course of action was to replace the entire thing.

Now when it comes to Ferrari, even if you do the work yourself which I did when I had one, the parts prices will absolutely kill you :D

Getting into this Sea Ray, yes it has complicated systems but it's very straightforward and we have access to so many good diagrams, charts etc. And awesome people on this board willing to help!
 
mrsrobinson said:
I could have saved you $5K ;-)

Most of those repairs are straight forward. I was intimidated at first but after watching a lot of excellent You Tube videos I did the plugs, coils, PCV, Dual Cone Intakes, new charge pipe and a few other ones myself. I got 3 labor only quotes for the valve cover/gasket and front struts and rear shocks. I bought them online myself and paid the shop for labor. I also did a MHD Stage 1 tune for the cost of the software and the wifi dongle, saving myself about $500 on the labor, which is just sitting in the car really. What's nice is I can now check my own error codes with the MHD software.

I love that you deferred 80% of the work the dealer recommended. I did as well, and went and did it myself. They are good, they give you nice pictures and get you all scared. Much to my surprise when I asked them for a labor only quote they gave me one, and it wasn't too bad.
Click to expand...
They think you are an idiot and flag things as "deferred" to make you feel like you are somehow neglecting the service on this wonderful piece of precision equipment. Including things like oil leaks that I was complaining about while it was still under warranty, but magically made the list after the warranty expired as "deferred" maintenance. I think they actually decided it was time to spook me into getting a new one.

Here is what was also on the "list":

Replace engine bulkhead $400 (plastic that had cracked and I had complained about while under warranty)
Windshield washer nozzle aim fault ($225 to diagnose and repair - they were nice enough to find this and suggest a fix LOL)
Replace thrust bushings $950
Replace hatch lid lamp assembly ($463) Not just a bulb. On an X5 all the rear "bulbs" require replacement of the entire lighting units (there are 4) and they fail because of corrosion on the wiring and LEDs. The bulbs don't fail, the whole unit does. I had replaced 2 of them already by this point (the left and right brake units. This was the lighting on the hatch itself)
Self level suspension light on, hissing noise diagnose ($150)
Diagnose open circuit for R/R ride height sensor ($299)
(Note that I had gone through 2 air bag suspension replacements by this time, first under warranty, and the 2nd we "shared" the cost. I thought his was going to be the 3rd one.)
Diagnose oil leak ($150)
Replace valve cover gasket ($780) - laughable. I had been telling them about the valve cover leak for years. While under warranty it was "within tolerances"
Replace oil filter housing gasket ($600) - I would love to see what this gasket looks like. Must be German platinum, over-engineered so it won't leak. Wait a minute........!
Spark plugs (6) $434 - They had already been done by me, but they told me that they needed to be replaced anyway.
Replace rear wiper blade ($33). Yes it was on the list twice. Must think I would have passed out by the time I got to the 3rd page.
Oil change $150 - No big deal
2 tires $700 - OK that is normal stuff
4 wheel alignment $200

Keep in mind that this X5 was in the dealership at least 5 or 6 times a year. This was the last time. I sold it to a guy that shipped it to Beirut, Lebanon. It probably found its "purpose in life" over there. Something I only dreamed about while I owned it LOL.
 
Just a story, always wanted one, UNTIL, a buddy bought his, in shop 7 times in first 5 months, he traded in after the 5 months on a Lexus. Told me best decision he ever made. Cured me on German Engineering. Asian only for me.
 
Sorry to the original thread starter but this is turning into a BMW b1tch thread :D

I had battery issues so I contacted BMW to see about replacing the battery. They said it would be $1000. Me being stubborn, I say no way I'm paying $1000 for a battery on principal.

Their rationale was, you can't just swap out a battery, the ultimate driving machine requires custom re-programing to accept the new battery.

Figuring that was BS, I put in a new parts store battery for under $200 and it was fine until I traded it in 3 years later.
 
In September I was backing out of spot at grocery store. SUVs both sides, not see shit. Car coming down aisle, ya I crunched her 2 doors tore off my bumper cover. They gave me a 530 loaner. A frickin $60k car, ya it was top line. Said my credit good so got upgraded. I spent the the next 10 days trying how to make the radio work!
 
Don't feel bad. My wife has had her 535i for 7 years and we still can't work out BMW's insane interface. That alone has made us decide to not buy another one.
 
Phil S said:
Sorry to the original thread starter but this is turning into a BMW b1tch thread :D

I had battery issues so I contacted BMW to see about replacing the battery. They said it would be $1000. Me being stubborn, I say no way I'm paying $1000 for a battery on principal.

Their rationale was, you can't just swap out a battery, the ultimate driving machine requires custom re-programing to accept the new battery.

Figuring that was BS, I put in a new parts store battery for under $200 and it was fine until I traded it in 3 years later.
Click to expand...
Funny, I have a 2012 BMW now with 90000 miles and really runs like a top. The dealer installed a new short block in it just prior to running out of the pre-owned warranty. I took it in to have them do a final included service and they pulled the engine to replace a timing chain cover that had a minor oil leak. Upon inspection they found an anomaly on the block so got the factory to replace it. That was 40,000 miles ago. I've done the routine service each year. I posted a snarky poke at the "stealerships" on a BMW forum once and was excoriated for it and told that I should expect to spend at least $6,000 a year on service to keep that fine piece of German engineering road worthy. I spend about $150 a year.
No offense taken on the thread Hijack:cool:
Carpe Diem
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,154
Messages
1,427,396
Members
61,061
Latest member
Rod01
Back
Top