Dealer wants over $600 to replace oxygen sensor in 2015 forester xt?

[LeggyBlonde]

2015 Turbo Forester, 100,000 miles, has been losing power on acceleration, hesitation/surge on HW and at lower speeds, for past couple of years, intermittent at first, but gradually getting worse. Had it checked a few times, starting a couple of years ago, once at dealer, once at local mechanic, was told by both they could not recreate the problem so could not fix. We did some research, cleaned the MAF sensor, seemed to help for a couple of months. Then starts up again, becoming more consistent within past year. Couple of months ago, at dealership, they replaced transmission fluid and flushed system, seemed to help for a couple of weeks before problem comes back worse than ever.
Finally, this week a check engine light comes on (actually the whole dashboard lit up, went into safe mode). Take it to dealership who says it's a bad oxygen sensor (did not specify if rear or MAF). Quoted 02 replacement charge of $620. Does this seem reasonable, considering the part should cost around $200-$240 and average labor for this service is 0.9-1.1 hours? (I may be off on the labor time, but this is what I found online from a couple of different sources.)
Does anyone know a typical hourly labor rate for a Subaru dealership? The quote for labor was $340 for 1.8 hours of labor, which would be around $190/hour. (BTW, the time between 1st call with the diagnosis, and the 2nd call saying it was fixed and ready to pick it up, was under one hour.)

 

[sjmdesigns]

I forgot what sensor we had to replace in our 2001 Outback, but it was around $450.00 (installed price) back around 2005. Those sensors are very expensive.

 

[GuyS1]

Well it is a bit of a “crap shoot” buying O2 sensors. My first sensor went at the “historical average” of around 60,000 miles. The first time, I changed it myself (believe or not, pretty simple, but I admit not everyone can or, want to do their own mechanical work). It lasted ….60K, a Bosch I believe. Then at another 60K, the Bosch failed. I then bought a Walker O2 sensor and it’s only got 10 K on it,…. and it has popped the infamous code for a failed O2 sensor. Consider that the OEM’s are going to be good, sadly unfortunately the most expensive option. Dealers use the better ones. That said there might even be another company like Bosch or something, building their parts! And by the way understand I’m not endorsing Bosch per se. My point is there is cheap stuff and good stuff. And remember if you’re paying someone’s labor to do the work, you don’t want to pay twice too often!

 

[bmart]

Bosch is the way to go for O2 sensors. The others seem to be built to clear the code(s) and sell the car.

 

[Dick Foster]

Just remeber that car makers aka OEMs, make very little if anything that their cars are made from. Sometimes they don't even assemble the car itself, farming even that out to a third party.
I've seen it myself. Two competing makes and models being produced on the same assembly line at the same time, only differing in the badging. The plant belonging to yet another entity altogether.
The parts are all made by global enterprises like Bosch, Siemens, Delphi, Valeo etc, in plants placed in the far flung four corners of our earth.
Nor do they produce oil, filters, etc. although they may sell some with their name on the can. That's all just marketing and sales crap to help part you from your money.