I am the owner of a 1998 Buick Century 3.1L V6 with approx 170, xxx miles.
My family recently went to Texas for a week to visit my sister and my car sat in the garage. When I came back, I noticed a small puddle of coolant (maybe the size of a pancake) under the front end.
The next day I took it to our local mechanic. He informed me that it needed a new intake manifold gasket, and it would cost $600.
I bought this car about 3 years ago from my parents for $1500. It had a new headgasket put in a year later for $1200. I was under the impression that that would be the last big repair this car would need, and it would at least last me through college (2 more years). Well now im hit with this problem, which when added to the head gasket repair cost would be $300 more than I paid for the car.
I'm curious if you guys think it would be worth paying for the $600 repair, or just trying to do the repairs myself.
Right now, I'm leaning towards trying to repair it myself, as pretty much all my money goes towards college (electrical engineering undergraduate) and I don't have $600 to spend on this.
My next question is how difficult a job it is to replace the intake manifold gasket. I have some experience with repairs but no project of this scale. I have a haynes repair manual. I also don't know exactly what part to get or where to get it from, as I've looked at multiple auto part websites, typed in my car and what part I need, and 5 or 6 different results come up for "intake manifold gasket".
I really appreciate any help I get with this, as I'm kind of in a bind here. Thanks in advance.
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Friday, June 3rd, 2011 AT 4:23 AM