Intake gasket leak

SANJAYV

MEMBER
NISSAN ALTIMA

I own a Nissan Altima 01 with 30k miles on it.
Recently, I noticed some issue with the car when it started jumping between the gears and pulling forward when I pushed accelerator a little bit.
Went to check at local auto store, they said it was an intake gasket leaking. The part for that costs only 10-12 dollars but labor is around 600 dollars. I could not believe it? Is that true? Can it be so cumbersome just to change a gasket?
Secondly, I want to know if it is pretty unusual for a car with that low mileage to have a gasket leak (damage) just within 30k miles (~5 yrs old).

thanks in advance,
sanjay.

4 Replies

MVANNESSJR

MECHANIC
223 POSTS

It's unusual, but not unheard of. The intake gasket replacement requires disassembling the intake manifold or intake header depending on which one has failed. I would call around for a few more estimates, but they may use a flat labor rate based on manufacturer recommended labor hours.

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Monday, February 13th, 2006 AT 7:24 AM

FISHERMAN

MECHANIC
937 POSTS

How sure they are that the problem its that gasket?

Do you still having warranty on your car?

Ask for a second opinion, probably its just a vacuum leak or something else.

(600 reasons to look around :D )

Manuel.

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Tuesday, February 14th, 2006 AT 9:05 AM

ASH2001

MEMBER
1 POST

I had the same problem and I went for 90000 miles service and was told that intake manifold gasket needs to be replaced and they charged me $720 for labour for 8 hours and part was only for $24. Does it really take that long.

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Tuesday, February 14th, 2006 AT 7:16 PM

FISHERMAN