The Joy of Intake Manifold Gasket Replacement

[MiSaturn]

Took the car in on Thursday (Sat. of Toledo) for the IMG replacement that this site correctly identified. Was halfway to the hospital when the service writer had called and confirmed the diagnosis I gave him.

Car was done about 3 hours later, bill was for 2.3hr. labor, $44 for gasket and $15 for coolant - $313 in all, before tax - slightly less than their original estimate.

Car runs incredibly well - idle is nearly perfect (about as perfect as a Saturn can be), appears to accelerate much more strongly, and don't have enough miles on it to gauge the fuel consumption.

Only downside was I don't think they routed the ECU wires back neatly (look like they've pulled the wire loom down about 3 inches) and the nicely washed my car and parked it in the 10 degree weather outside.

This is the only second repair (control arm at 90k) in 120k miles, and my first visit to a Saturn dealer for service in 6 years.