My truck is leaking coolant from the top of the timing cover. Mechanic said it is a big job requiring 17-20 hours of labor at $100 an hour. He said they have to remove the engine. This is my first diesel so Zi am looking for help to see if there is another way to fix this problem. Thanks.

 

Find a diff mechanic. I would deff. be calling around for a cheaper labor rate. Where are you located?

 

I live on Cape Cod. Labor rates here are pretty high.

 

Man that sucks. Do you have anyone up there very very experienced with powerstrokes? Seems to me a shop that does alot of work on strokes could do the labor quick enough that they wouldnt charge you full book time for an R&I engine

 

are you sure it is coming from the timing cover? not very common!

 

Two mechanics looked at it and agreed. I am going to get a couple more opinions for sure before going ahead with the fix. Some say it isn't a common problem,but when I have done a search on it seems that it is pretty common. I talked with another shop yesterday and they came back and said they might be able to get it done in 17-20 hours. Then they said oh by the way while the engine is out why don't you do the pan and a few other things.

 

i guess it would be more likely if it had tap water in it as coolant or if someone has messed with it. i work on 5 or so of these trucks everyday for the past 13 years and i think it is uncommon

 

The truck has always had the right coolant in the two years I have owned it. Have you seen one leak from the timing cover ? This is my first diesel so I am learning on the fly.

 

water pump, t-stat, oil cooler gaskets are common leak areas, 1 timing cover i can think of and it was corroded around the gasket due to improper coolant and the VC-8 addidtives were not used

 

I found a guy here who does a lot of diesels and said he figured 17-20 hours at $80 an hour. I figured while it is out the pan should be changed too . Hoping to keep this job at no more than $2500.