I'd say the intake gaskets failing is due to normal driving, not necessarily crazy driving. At 70k miles my intake gaskets were so bad that they must have started going bad when the car was new. You had several failures because each gasket change was probably done with GM gaskets (BAD!). The Felpro and Victor gaskets have a different material O ring around each port and are reputed to be of much better durability than the factory gaskets (I hope so. I installed Fel Pros on my Buick and Victors on my friends 97 Bonne SE)

I wish I'd known this before the work was done. Yes, both intake manifold gasket changes were done by GM dealers using GM gaskets, but if I had supplied something different, they would have put that in instead.

So this is sort of the opposite of the transmission pan gasket. For that, the warrenty refused to pay for the GM gasket, the warrenty would only provide an aftermarket gasket. The GM gasket is rubber with ridges for extra sealing and anti-crush sleeves at each bolt hole, here it retails for $67 cdn. The aftermarket gasket is cork and retails for $15 cdn. Dealer strongly advised that I go with the GM gasket, so I had to make up the price difference.

so it'* about 2 weeks since the rear main seal was replaced, pull out of the carport yesterday, there'* a large green puddle directly below where the engine would be, passenger side, open hood, coolant expansion tank is almost empty, sure enough - water pump

I just got back from picking it up from the dealer, soon as I total up this bill I will post how much this cost the warrenty company

Cost to fix, in Canadian $

Intake Manifold - Labour - 2.8 hours 266.00
Parts - 88891743 (?) 25.10
88901247 x 2 8.80
12353086 74.75
24500321 1.65
24503160 1.50
993089 15.50

Vavle Covers - Labour - 1.4 hours 133.00
Parts - 25532619 x 2 45.50

Oil Pan - Labour - 1.5 hours 142.50
Parts - 729856 7.20
env50 0.50
a728595 x 5 15.50
env10 x 5 0.50
12587964 79.25
12581570 2.60

Tran Cooler Rubber Hose - Labour - 0.6 hours 57.00
Parts - 1648216 x 4 13.00
88901247 4.40

Lower Trans Cooler Pipe - Labour - 0.4 hours 41.65
Parts - 25660782 31.62

Trans Pan Gasket & Filter - Labour - 0.8 hours 76.00
Parts - ss 7.60
24227477 26.61
24204624 57.46

Rear Main Seal & Bearing Side Seals - Labour - 5.8 hours 555.50
Parts - 25534760 28.90
24500058 x 2 29.70
Rental Car - 35.09

Oil Level Sensor - Labour - N/A
Parts - 25609555 71.36
25531045 10.40

Water Pump - Labour - 4.3 hours 408.50
Parts - 31026501 138.55
993089 15.50

--------
2,428.70
GST & PST 14% 340.00
----------
2,768.70

Extended Warrenty - 2,089.12

My Cost - 679.58
------------
2,768.70

yeah so what else is required on the L67 series one in addtion to what is already required on the L27 by lifting the engine and what not? Why is it a 4.3 hour job?

those are canadian hours, so they're actually only about 75% of an american hour

Seriously, I wonder about that myself, it took longer (4.3 hours) to replace a water pump than to replace the intake manifold gaskets (2.8 hours) that just doesn't seem right, also I took the car in to the dealer at about 8:15 in the morning, and they phoned at 12:30 to say it was ready, so to spend 4.3 hours they would have had to start work on it the instant I left it there, and worked non-stop until 12:30 when they phoned me, I guess it'* possible.

I think with the warrenty, the warrenty company has records of similar repairs to similar vehicles, so they should know what a typical time for this kind of repair is, also I think GM has a repair guide that has the standard time for common repairs, and the warrenty company probably has this info. And I know what'* supposed to happen is the dealer sends the warrenty company a quote for the repair, and then the warrenty company checks it and only approves it if it is reasonable.

I know this cause there'* a couple things they haven't approved, for example on a previous repair with the trans pan gasket, the dealer quoted a GM gasket, at a cost of $67, the warrenty company rejected that, would only approve an aftermarket cork gasket, at a cost of $17 (so I paid the difference to get GM gasket)

and on this repair, the warrenty company would not approve new coolant, the warrenty company approved the new water pump, and the labour to install it, but they said the coolant could be drained, saved and re-used, so I had to pay $15 for new coolant to be used.

I just purchased a labour time guide for my car, I'll check when it arrives

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...tem=6522887447

I've got a buddy who worked at dealerships for over 10 years. Here'* the labor deal:

Warranty work is in one book and each type of job is specified in hours. For example the valve cover gaskets in the book is 1.5 hours. It doesn't matter how much time it takes the mechanic...he is paid for 1.5 hours period. If the mechanic is good he does it in 1 hour and gets paid for the other half hour anyway. If he is slow or whatever and it takes him 3 hours..he still gets paid only 1.5 hours.

Non Warranty work is a whole different book also with each type of job laid out in hours and is much more expensive because it'* direct from your pocket. That same valve cover job pays 3 hours in this book and any freaking sloth could make money.

This is the reason why in some cases you wish you didn't have the warranty covering it. The mechanic is moving his fastest and would cover something up if it'* going to cost him time.