Valve Adjustment/Inspection II
 

Where do you guys go? Cheapest places to use for labour? Just had a valve adjustment done and it was $800 after tax but my car needed a lot of shims.

Looking for reasons to take more trips out to Vancouver/area!

I would say most of the BMW shops are on par when it comes to labour. Most shops float at around $85 to $100 per hour.

The topic of BMW shops come up VERY often, almost once a month in this forum itself and the Vancouver Auto Chat section. A quick search or browse through this forum alone will have what you're looking for.

insp II on an m3, assume its an e46 because get they rid of the insp intervals now

I did my own valve inspection a few years back and it was one of my favorite experiences with this car. Taking apart that S54 and seeing all of it's interior sexiness was completely worth the risk*

From time to time you'll see shim kits being passed around on M3Forum and you basically pay a standard $200 fee or whatever it is, use it, replace the shims you took out of it, then sell it on the forum again for the same price you paid. At the end of it you'll only be out of pocket for the exact shims your car required. This is far, far less expensive than a dealer or shop will charge. Most of the shim kits I've seen also have the feeler gauge passed along with it.

*there's not much risk at all as long as you take your time and are very thorough. Took me an entire afternoon/evening to open the engine up, change the shims, and close it all up again. I also replaced some things with the Vanos as well while I was in there.

In my experience when doing your own work, especially if it's a project you're doing for the first time, you should always budget money and time for mistakes because you will make mistakes. You should always have a second car handy as well in case you need to make a trip to the dealer or other parts supplier for a bolt or part you break, lose, etc.

To some, their time (and sanity) is more important than the frustration that comes with doing your own work (no matter how thorough you are and no matter how many times you've read the Bentley or watched YouTube videos).
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I had mine done at nixon in burnaby. Great guys. Good deals. I highly recommend them.