Reply to Gut check re: car repair for 2004 Subaru

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[quote=Anonymous]Spark plugs are normally very easy.  It's slightly more complicated one Subaru because of the flat 4 engine design, but you should not get charged for more than a half hour or hour of a mechanics time (it'll take them 20 mins tops).  Spark plugs themselves cost maybe 10 apiece on the high end.

Your timing belt needs to be changed, and while they are at it most people also change the water pump. This is because it's trivially easy to do once you are already removing the timing belt. I think it's different on subarus, again because of the different engine.  But my understanding is that timing belt changes are usually easier on subarus than other mass market cars.

Changing filters is trivial, but a decent test of how much a shop is trying to rip you off.  It's a 5 minute job, so if they are trying to bill you for an hour or something then walk away

Fwiw I found stockman's Subaru in Tyson to be a great dealership service shop.  Repair costs are pretty reasonable and I just have them do some work if I can't be bothered.

It's worth spending just 20 minutes on YouTube watching videos of what you need done.  They might be simple DIY jobs, and even if you don't do them you will still get a good idea of what an honest price is.  For example, one mechanic once wanted 200 to replace a broken engine mount on my Toyota.  I fixed it in five minutes with a 15 buck part.  I could have purchased an OEM part from a dealership for 60 or 70 and still not have had to pay for a billable hour from a mechanic to loosen literally just two bolts[/quote]

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