Ford Repair: Waterpump Replacement 92 Taurus, wheel drive car, ford taurus

Question
Thanks for your time Steve,
My elderly mother has a 92 Ford Taurus and lives out of town. Her water pump went out, and I spoke with the mechanic (dealership). She had the work done, waterpump, thermostat and hoses for 325$ parts(all cool) - but $700 labor???? Something about the difficulty working on the transverse engine. I'm a mechanical engineer and question this. What should be the time required to R&R these parts?? Thanks again!

Answer
Bruce-

  It depends a lot on what the dealership charges for labor and where they set their prices for those particular jobs.  Since it's a dealership, I'm willing to bet those costs are pretty high.  To be fair, it is a lot harder to do those jobs on a front wheel drive car because there's almost literally no room to work on the side of the motor.  I'd say $700 is probably on the high side of normal for a job like the one you're describing.  I would expect to pay a little less, but not much.  I know this probably isn't what you wanted to hear and trust me, I know it sucks.  Sometimes paying for the safety of a front wheel drive car bites you back when you need to fix things.  Hope this helps.

Steve