HELP with Dealership diagnosis...sounds fishy to me.

[ShockTherapy]

The owner of the car I was going to fly out and pick up tomorrow called me today. He was driving it and the Check Engine light came on. He took it to the dealership, and they gave him an odd diagnosis. They told him that the intake manifold runners were burned out. How they got that from a CEL I'll never know, but they are ordering an intake that won't be in until Friday, so I won't be going after the car this weekend. Anybody have any experiences with any dealerships in the St. Petersburg, FL area? I am going to call them tomorrow and see if they can explain their diagnosis to me.

 

[Psychostang]

See if you can find out what codes they came up with. What year/type vehicle we talking about?

 

[ShockTherapy]

98 Mark VIII LSC. I'm going to see what codes they came up with when I call them in the morning.

 

[Grifter]

sounds like they are just stuck shut/open.. they will probably try to sell the guy a whole new IMRC box and IMRC's if they see an easy target..
it will throw a code if they stick though.

 

[Dominus]

Yeap, they're gonna take him to the cleaners for sure.

 

[ShockTherapy]

Thanks guys. The way he was describing it I'm pretty sure you guys are right.

You think it might be worth me getting the car as-is, and having him drop the price of the car by how much they were going to charge him to fix it, then repairing it myself? Especially if they were going to charge him a large amount to fix it.

 

[Grifter]

if thats all it is, stuck IMRC's.. ABSOLUTELY!
its an easy fix.. you might be able to do it w/o taking anything apart.. just reach behind and give each of the IMRC's a twist.. free them up..then do teh seafoam trick..

 

[KainDTE]

How much does he want for it? I work in St. Pete I'll race you when you get it :-D

 

[ShockTherapy]

You'll have to race me out of town...I'll be on the long haul back to Arkansas.

 

[rmac694203]

If the IMRC's are stuck does it always throw a code? My top end seems to be lacking sometimes and thought maybe the IMRC's were getting stuck, but have had no CEL.

 

[Grifter]

yours might not be stuck, just might have a ton of carbon built up in them constricting the secondaries.. the primaries get washed out by the fuel injector, where as the secondaries get nothing but air to try to clear them out..

 

[ShockTherapy]

Just got off the phone with the service advisor at the dealership the car is at in Seminole, FL. He said they are replacing the IMRC runners AND the IMRC control box. I don't know how much those pieces cost, much less the labor, but it can't be too cheap. They are putting the bad parts in a box in the trunk so I'll have some spares anyway. At least the guy I'm getting the car from isn't trying to pass the cost on to me.