I'm curious, and at the moment I don't have the time to do a good search of the archives, so please forgive me.  :)

I've got my van in for a head gasket job - I'm not confident enough to do it myself, though I thought about it.  The mechanic called me today and told me that it would cost about $1500 Canadian to do the gaskets.  Sounded a little steep to me, so I thought I'd check it out.  ($1500 Canadian, BTW, works out to be approximately $1000 USD)

Mechanic says he can do them with the engine in the van.  Costs on the gaskets are $195 ($130USD) per side from his supplier, but he will use gaskets that I provide, though he recomends german gaskets.  Even when you take out the $400 ($260USD) for the gaskets, $1100 ($730USD) seems a bit steep for the labour charge to me.  

I was expecting to pay about $1100 to fix my van this time, including buying the exhaust parts that I need from one of the list vendors.  Having to spend $1500 on just the head gasket repairs alone has shot my budget all to hell.  I'm just a poor student, after all.

Any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated.  Am I getting fleeced here or was the wool over my eyes when I drew up my budget?

Thanks all,
Karl.

Karl Dawe
'84 Vanagon Passenger Van [as yet unnamed]