'03 Buick Century intake gasket

loriann wrote:

> Now the intake gasket is leaking and my mechanic is estimating it at
> 836.88 with taxes to do the job.

Sounds reasonable depending on what your labour rate is.
Our labour rate is 106 and that would be right in the ball
park.

Make sure he changes the oil after the repair.

Ian
 >> Stay informed about: '03 Buick Century intake gasket 

On Jan 30, 7:45 pm, "Steve Mackie" wrote:
> > Now the intake gasket is leaking and my mechanic is estimating it at
> > 836.88 with taxes to do the job.
>
> > Does that sound about right for my car?
>
> Doesn't sound too far off. Depends on where you are though. Where I'm at,
> the dealer rates are around $90/hr.
>
> Say, $100 for the parts and 7 hours labour. That comes to $839.50 tax in
> here.
>
> Ian should know more.
>
> Steve

Sounds right for Canada.
I have a Dealer parts quote in front of me and the parts alone with
taxes are $383.42.
So I asked the Dealer what they charged for the job and it was over
$800.00.
$86.60 plus tax just for the bolts! Get real. I picked a set up from
ebay for $30.00.
$80.00 dollars for valve cover gaskets? Get real! Use the old one's as
per Ian's most excellent instructions that were posted awhile back.
Thanks Ian.
 >> Stay informed about: '03 Buick Century intake gasket 

Thanks, but you are saying if rates are 90 - 105... his rates are $70. He's charging a hundred for a "updated gasket kit."

spoke with a friend of mine and he is suggesting I call insurance again because this car had NO problems before the accident. Do you think I have a chance in hell getting it covered?
 >> Stay informed about: '03 Buick Century intake gasket 

Sounds a little high in my laymen's opinion, was told it was "about a $700
repair" roughly a year ago. Due to GM goodwill, I paid $300 for intake
manifold gasket repair an a new blower resistor on my 2001. Contact GM
directly, your dealer can't offer the "Goodwill" without GM's say so.


"loriann" wrote in message

> OK, ON 12/24/06 I was in a front end collision. (The guy backed out
> in front of me, he was ticketed.) I had to have the bumper, the hood,
> the right quarter panel and headlamp replaced.
>
> Since then I've run into several problems including fuses blowing and
> the mechanic can't seem to fix it.
>
> Now the intake gasket is leaking and my mechanic is estimating it at
> 836.88 with taxes to do the job.
>
> Does that sound about right for my car?
>
> Thanks,
> Lori
>
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 >> Stay informed about: '03 Buick Century intake gasket 

doane_nut wrote:

> $700 repair" roughly a year ago. Due to GM goodwill, I paid $300 for
> intake manifold gasket repair an a new blower resistor on my 2001.
> Contact GM directly, your dealer can't offer the "Goodwill" without
> GM's say so.

We can in Canada! Our dealership authorizes and does goodwill
warranty on these manifold gaskets practically every day!

Ian
 >> Stay informed about: '03 Buick Century intake gasket 

loriann wrote:

> Thanks, but you are saying if rates are 90 - 105... his rates are
> $70. He's charging a hundred for a "updated gasket kit."

What he charges per hour makes little difference. Mechanics
will often charge all sorts of different amounts of "time" to do
the same job. So let's say I quote a customer 5.5 hrs to do
an intake at 100 dollars an hour..550. The other guy says "I only
charge 70 dollars an hour, your intake labour will be 560"
Doesn't make sense...other then the fact that he might decide that
the job is worth 8 hrs labour.

As far as the price of the gasket, that's cheap! And there is more
then one gasket involved, at least....if you are doing the job right.

> spoke with a friend of mine and he is suggesting I call insurance
> again because this car had NO problems before the accident. Do you
> think I have a chance in hell getting it covered?

No, unless your insurance adjuster is a total idiot! If it's an 03 with
a reasonable amount of mileage....you should be able to get GM to
pay for it, or go 50/50 with you.

Ian
 >> Stay informed about: '03 Buick Century intake gasket 

THANKS GUYS, I WILL contact GM. However, I am not the original owner of the car. This was a "program" car that I purchased. I purchased it in '04 at 26,000 miles. It is now at 93,000. Is that still acceptable for the "goodwill" program?

I have appointment on Monday for this repair so will be watching this thread!

Thanks all for your help!

Makes a lady feel better knowing she's not getting "snowed" on a repair!
 >> Stay informed about: '03 Buick Century intake gasket 

loriann wrote:

> THANKS GUYS, I WILL contact GM. However, I am not the original owner
> of the car. This was a "program" car that I purchased. I purchased
> it in '04 at 26,000 miles. It is now at 93,000. Is that still
> acceptable for the "goodwill" program?

Original owner doesn't matter. But that mileage is quite high...you
may just be lucky to get a 50/50 split.

Ian
 >> Stay informed about: '03 Buick Century intake gasket 

"loriann" wrote in message

> Thanks, but you are saying if rates are 90 - 105... his rates are
> $70. He’s charging a hundred for a "updated gasket kit."
>
> spoke with a friend of mine and he is suggesting I call insurance
> again because this car had NO problems before the accident. Do you
> think I have a chance in hell getting it covered?
>

What your insurance carrier is going to tell you is that everyone says their
car had no problems before an accident, and then suddenly unrelated issues
get claimed against the accident. I would not expect any insurance carrier
to cover the gaskets. It's just not likely, and even not possible for it to
be accident related.

The car actually has had that problem before the accident, but you likely
did not notice it. The intake gasket problem with GM engines is widely
known and documented, and it starts out rather insipidly and develops into a
significant problem over time. If you knew where to look, you would have
been able to see the signs of the problem miles and miles and miles ago.

I'd say good luck in getting an insurance carrier to cover that repair.
Your friend is probably well intended, but in this case the friend's advice
is not very sound.

--

-Mike-
mmarlowREMOVE.TakeThisOut@alltel.net
 >> Stay informed about: '03 Buick Century intake gasket 

Thanks guys... knowing that it is likely that the leak probably was there (just didn't know it) makes one feel a little better about soaking that kind of money into it.

I also asked them to do a tune-up whiile they had it. I figured since they had it it wouldn't be much more to do one. Considering I bought it three years ago at 26K miles, and it was now 93K... it was due for one.

Car drives a LOT smoother!
 >> Stay informed about: '03 Buick Century intake gasket