Valve cover leak -- repair estimate

[tgb1974]

Dealer found a very minor valve cover leak in my M4. SA (who is a good guy and always looking to save me money) said it was not an immediate problem, and recommended that I deal with it if/when I can smell burning oil. Quote for the work was about $3,400, which struck me as absurd. Questions:

1. Is that quote absurdly high?
2. Could a competent indy do this work, or should I have a dealer do it?

Thanks in advance.

[Busa1]

Originally Posted by tgb1974

Dealer found a very minor valve cover leak in my M4. SA (who is a good guy and always looking to save me money) said it was not an immediate problem, and recommended that I deal with it if/when I can smell burning oil. Quote for the work was about $3,400, which struck me as absurd. Questions:

1. Is that quote absurdly high?
2. Could a competent indy do this work, or should I have a dealer do it?

Thanks in advance.

1. They are raping you at that price
2. That’s a simple job for an Indy to do

I suggest you post a question (unless you already did) in the Regional Forums for your area looking for a recommendation for a good Indy mechanic. Good luck

[MaxOctane]

Holy moly, just for the valve cover gasket, that's nuts. At first I was thinking you were replacing the valve cover which runs about $600 and commonly done when the PCV valve is borked. It's not a terribly involved job, it is a decent amount of work, but $3,400 is ridiculous.

[Danlnyc88]

just do a PCV delete instead of replacing it with the exact same thing that will fail again.

[Jbrown7403]

Lots of good DIY videos for this on YouTube. Looks pretty straightforward with a bit of time and patience.

[N1rve]

Originally Posted by tgb1974

Dealer found a very minor valve cover leak in my M4. SA (who is a good guy and always looking to save me money) said it was not an immediate problem, and recommended that I deal with it if/when I can smell burning oil. Quote for the work was about $3,400, which struck me as absurd. Questions:

1. Is that quote absurdly high?
2. Could a competent indy do this work, or should I have a dealer do it?

Thanks in advance.

My dealer only charged me like 2000 and this included a new valve cover. And this is a dealership in Los Angeles. My Indy shop quoted me like 1600. For the extra 400 from the dealership I get a loaner car plus 2 years unlimited mileage warranty.

You can buy one off FCPEURO and have your Indy shop install it. Now you’ll just have to pay labor for it in the future. This is a part that goes bad more often than it should. I’ve already seen a few posts for this part and I experienced the replacement this year as well. Seems like old car problems.

[NSX2M4]

Is that Canadian dollars or Chicagoland dollars?

[jsplayin]

Any competent mechanic can do this repair, it’s not at all difficult, but it is somewhat time consuming. I was quoted 2,300 from indy including spark plugs and oem valve cover. I ended up getting parts from FCP and DIY. I would suggest fixing this sooner than later. It’s not fun when oil drips on the exhaust and creates smoke.

[TractionControlDelete]

Just to give some context to that estimate, the dealership is likely including the spark plugs and well as the coils. I’ve been down this road before, and their rationale is that some oil may have leaked down so it is their procedure to replace it all

[codys21]

I just did this myself (and the spark plugs and air filters while I was there). I got quotes from 4 different places. 2 BMW dealers each quoted about $3000 for parts and labor for valve cover and spark plugs. Two indy shops quoted about $2500 and $2900 for the same. All in central-ish Iowa. I did it with $800 of parts and several hours. (I did run into a couple issues that extended the labor time quite a bit.)

[saint80]

I had just about the same quoted to me in west palm beach. $3200 to replace the value cover gasket. I am not sure what these guys are thinking, but that's insane!

[tgb1974]

Originally Posted by saint80

I had just about the same quoted to me in west palm beach. $3200 to replace the value cover gasket. I am not sure what these guys are thinking, but that's insane!

Thanks for this. To my surprise, a small but very capable service station quoted me almost the same amount as the dealer to do this work. Couldn't believe it.

[headstart101]

I’ll do it for $900. J/k.

Anything over 3 hours of labor is insane. Took me less than 3 hours to remove and install the valve cover in my garage. That’s with repeatedly stopping following ISTA

[DocL]

Originally Posted by saint80

I had just about the same quoted to me in west palm beach. $3200 to replace the value cover gasket. I am not sure what these guys are thinking, but that's insane!

I had mine done last month at Delray BMW. Fortunately my 3rd party service contract covered it for $3200.

[saint80]

in west palm, I was just quoted $2300 for the replacement. Still seems high, especially when they want to charge me an additional $700 to drop the new plugs and coils in, which were coming out anyway and which I already purchased new from FCP. Wish I could find a good indy somewhere around here who actually knows more about the M3. I'm not sure how much these guys do on M cars.

[Busa1]

Originally Posted by saint80

in west palm, I was just quoted $2300 for the replacement. Still seems high, especially when they want to charge me an additional $700 to drop the new plugs and coils in, which were coming out anyway and which I already purchased new from FCP. Wish I could find a good indy somewhere around here who actually knows more about the M3. I'm not sure how much these guys do on M cars.

Have you tried posting a question in the Regional Forum for your area looking for a recommendation of a good Indy shop?

Back Jan of 2021 I had the Indy I go to replace the valve cover gasket on my 435 AWD as well as front & rear differential fluid changed. I just supplied the plugs to him. I payed $1000 cash for the labor and misc parts needed. He supplied everything else.