Q: After numerous no-starts on rainy days I've decided to replace the distributor cap, rotor, sparkplugs & wires.

asked by on December 13, 2016

Regarding my 2001 CHEVY ASTRO VAN: I'm new in town, and I'm a woman. The local mechanic wants to charge me over $600 for parts and labor. I've found parts (distr. cap, distr. rotor, sparkplugs, sparkplug wires) at a fraction of the cost that I was quoted at partsavatar.ca and am thinking of ordering the parts myself and then having the mechanic do the work.
But I was told by the local mechanic that it would take 3 hours to do the work of replacing these parts.

All I want to know (for now) is whether this time estimate (3 hours) is reasonable? I'm happy to pay for what's fair, but I'm just so woefully ignorant about mechanical issues.

My car has 180000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.

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