I have a 98 Chevy Malibu which was recently diagnosed with a coolant leak. I took it into the shop and was told i needed to replace the intake and timing cover gasket. I was given an estimate of 1100 for the repairs. Do you think this is a fair price?
Because of an overabundance of emissions stuff in the way, the intake gasket job takes 6 hours plus the gasket kit.($660 CDN)
I couldn’t tell you about the timing belt
it is essentially all labor and most mechanics are capable of doing this … depends on the hourly rates.
[b]What you have to ask yourself is, "How long was there coolant leaking into the engine? Because what happened is the intake manifold/gasket failed on your GM engine. Which is a chronic problem on this vintage of GM engines.
I’ve replaced many GM intake manifolds/gaskets on these engines. And what I tell people is, “You have a chance that the lower end of the engine was damaged. Depending on how much and long coolant leaked into the engine. You have a 50/50 chance that once this repair is made, that somewhere down the road, the lower end of the engine is going to fail. Because the coolant that leaked into the engine washed the bearings clean of oil!”
So, if you’re willing to take that chance, and if that price includes parts, that’s about right.
Tester[/b]
Oops. Not belt but cover.
Thank you for your advice! I’m a gambler by nature, so 50/50 chance sounds good! So you’re sayin there’s a chance?!