You are right but my sister does not have a Syncro. She has a stock
diesel Vanagon. I have pulled the starter from these many times in far
less than 15 minutes so I was being slightly generous. No lift is
needed, it can be done from the engine compartment on those. They
charged her 2 hours labor for what any driveway hack could do in 1/4 the
time. Then they broke the hose nipple off the brake vacuum pump so she
had to wait for that part to be shipped in.....

Syncro shop labor costs are in another realm. My point was that you
can't use one over-priced repair shop as an excuse to trash the vehicle
cost of ownership.

Mark

Dennis Haynes wrote:

>2 hours labor the R+R a starter on a Syncro is not unreasonable. Especially if it has a Diff Lock. $450 to rebuild it is! If you can drive a Syncro into a shop, safely set it up on the lift, disconect the battery, remove the starter which may also require removing the diff lock Actuator, then get it all back together, tested properly and driveable in 30 minutes, you are a lot better than many. Don't forget replacing the starter bushing. If it was me, I would be push starting the van until I could get the starter replaced on more reasonable terms.
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>Dennis
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