Rx 300 expensive meds

[Witsend]

Lexus sat for close to a week waiting for upstream Air Fuel ratio sensors to come from Rock Auto. It initially came in with a problem only with Bank 1 upstream AF sensor, These things are so pricey at about $200 a pop, so I swapped the 2 AF ratio sensors side to side and the code P01130 became P01150 . Customer wanted both sides done and ordered online from Rock Auto and saved himself $60 a piece not including tax. In the mean time the weather turned bitterly cold. I put the 2 new Denso air fuel ratio sensors in and drive it and now the Bank 2 AF code P01150 and P0136 for downstream o2 is pending and 0v with no activity is seen with the down stream o2 sensor out of the blue . Inspection of the downstream o2 shows it is going to be a costly headache to remedy because I need to fill my torch tanks . Another Rx $300 probably

[Crusty]

You think 200 smackers is "pricey"-?? LMAO-!!
Up here most run 250 to 350 and some over 600....
Since the owners wants to play in the sandbox with the other "upscale" vehicles, he'd better get used to it.....
Just funny. Saved 60 bananas..... The insult to injury is YOU didn't get any parts margin either.
Hope you charge for every minute you spend checking, testing, double checking, triple checking.....
There is no need for you to 'subsidize" the "upscale" vehicle owner.

[Witsend]

There is no need for you to 'subsidize" the "upscale" vehicle owner.
Reply With Quote

Sorry Forgot to mention it is a 2000 Lexus Rx300, Usually ,The owner of an old 16 year old Lexus RX300 isn't necessarily more affluent than the average owner of a 12 year old 2005 Ford Taurus.
I generally make them take the vehicle and come back another day with any internet ordered parts.I don't generally mark up any parts over my own cost but don't like to have any body storing a car here more than 24 hours, so I used the vehicle to run for parts when I had to complete monitors and haul my filthy empty acetylene and oxygen tanks in her rear seat area to swap them out so I could do the Sh@t torch work required to change out that rear o2 sensor Cost me over $200 to get the 2 empty tanks swapped out today/ Usually just Oxegen runs out. Got RX300 through the test lane for a pass before 5pm and even bought the license sticker for gal while I was over there, seems like her Boy friend is still footing a bill no BJ could cover. LOL

[Crusty]

I guess more to the point is, there is no reason for you to subsidize ANY vehicle owner, but especially someone who bought a used 'upscale" vehicle which was usually purchased for the "status". Everyone KNOWS the "upscale" vehicles are more costly to maintain or repair. It's not just technology. It's the normal "supply & demand" that fewer parts for upscale vehicles are produced and mass production can't lower the manufacturers costs.

As for not marking up parts, the labour needs to be raised to cover the overheads, such as the cost of oxy/acetelyne tanks. Up here we have to pay to "rent" tanks, then we pay for the actual contents. Did you charge the owner for the time to properly operate the vehicle so the monitors completed-?? Most people won't drive them in a manner that completes the monitors until a couple of weeks have gone by. The vehicle then has more time to flag a borderline result, then set a code, then the whole process starts again WITHOUT getting their emissions pass. You've still performed a service. It's of no concern of theirs that you doubled up and took your tanks with you as long as you didn't dirty up their vehicle.

Doing the work "cheap" and "on the side" just lowers the expected standards the public sees for the cost of owning an automobile.
If you're doing it to subsidize your regular day-job, have you ever thought of your employer not paying you enough because the publics perception that operating a proper shop and charging accordingly is a "rip-off"-??
You're perpetuating your own demise while you cut the throat of legitimate shops with proper facilities, waste disposal practices, insurances, rent, heat, etc. etc.

[Witsend]

I agree with you Crusty but, it's a Dog eat Dog world , some of my customers are one paycheck away from disaster close to Holidays , so I saved her $60ea x2 plus tax,(Lowly 3.0 Toyota Camry takes same damn pricey AF ratio sensors), that equates to $120 plus $36 tax, a whopping $156 extra they would pay getting from auto parts store for the same parts. Her Boyfriend ordered from Amazon Prime with guaranteed 2 day delivery and Amazon dropped the ball and got credited an additional $60, so, it was like getting 2 for one. He saved enough buying the parts online on their own to be able to pay me my labor for me to install the parts .It just blew my mind that her downstream o2 sensor decided to quit working after I swapped the 2 upstream airflow ratio sensors.

[Matt]

No good deed goes unpunished.

Wit, I have killed my fair share of O2s doing unrelated exhaust work ie. beating on old mufflers and replacing exhaust manifold bolts. I wonder if shock of impact or hammer sends high mileage O2s to the promised-land? Did the pre-cat O2s (AF sensors) require beating/hammering to remove???