I authorized the repair / preplacement of 2 items: 1) Intake manifold plenum gasket. Now it'* in the shop and I was allowed to see it, it is fine, could have been a slight leak in the past from being slightly over-full of oil. 2) intake is so clean, the cleaning is cancelled by the mechanic!! I use a recipe-mix of Fuel Power and Schaeffer'* Neutra with every tank. Also have been using 94 octane ethanol-blend super premium, mainly in hopes the additive package might have saved me from the $150 BG cleaning. One or both of these ideas obviously worked!) BTW those filament wires are too fine and short and awkwardly spaced to be touched by a Q-tip, they need something far smaller. But I saw mine and they sure looked clean to me! But I wouldn't want to touch those filaments, even sneeze at them.

BUT (the new problem they found) the brake fluid is dirtier than my dipstick (then again I am SO stuffy about my oil being A+ ...meet me in summer and have a look at my dipstick. Last changed in June of '05 which was 12,000 KM ago) ...the bleeder screws are rusted shut, so if they break in the attempt to open them, that means I buy a new $300 caliper, per broken bleed screw. Mind you there are no calipers (per se) on the REAR brakes but if I recall my automotive info right, drums have bleeder screws too.
Is anyone to blame for this? The dealership that sold it to me? Is this common for a '96 that was made in Sept '95? Is this no-one'* fault at all? In a way I kinda hope they break: You can only have so much faith in 10-year-old brake parts, y'know? Besides, they can be painted a nice red in a heat-resistant paint before installation! I can't see that adding much cost to the job, not with $300 for the part, and then labour....ouch this one is going to hurt. I'm a bit hazey on what sort of leak is going on with the trans pans (plural) which I thought was dealt with a few weeks ago...I'll keep ya posted.
Advice or suggestions?
THANKS
Rob ('96 SE with engine from '01 or '02 LeSabre)

THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS?!? for a brake caliper?????? calipers for my car are $10 each from autozone. if you pay three hundred dollars for a caliper youre getting bent over and raped with no lube man

and the bleeder screws have never broken on my cars and they all had orig parts, i replaced the calipers on the bonne cuz they were getting old and hard to press.

"bent over and raped with no lube" Hahahahaha, that'* how I feel sometimes but not today. The car is back and I am a pretty happy camper actually.
Perhaps the mechanic was thinking of after the labour and everything, or maybe I mis-understood. Anyway, no new calipers and no broken bleed screws. Brake system was flushed, so was the rad, new serpentine belt, new plugs (wires were deemed OK) and a few other things.
Thanks again!
Rob

Uh oh. If it starts missing and throws codes, check the wires first.