1996 Nissan Repair Question

[gmac01]

I took my car in to confirm I needed a new intake manifold gasket. The NIssan svc mgr said yes and that I also need a new dist. assy. That part would cost $574.00! He said that oil is leaking in the unit too. The total cost is $1,900. I just want to confirm this is not out of line. Any advice? Thanks.

[IvoryJ30t]

damn, thats quite a bill for a stupid problem.

i would say get a distributor from a junkyard, and have a gas station fix it.

that will cost a hell of alot less than $1,900

[IvoryJ30t]

that price is rediculous for an intake gasket and a distrib.

[NISTECH]

unfortunitly the oring that goes bad in the dist. is not servicable thats why they recommend the dist. have done many of them in altimas. the Intake gasket is also another common problem with the altima. I dont recommend going to a gas station for that repair as I have seen even the best nissan techs hose that job up. It is a very difficult and tedious job. If you do get it done make sure to replace the oring in the water jacket coming straight down off the intake on the passenger side[It is very common to leak coolant from it and only takes to seconds to do once the manifold is out of the car. what that pipe feeds into has a plastic vaccum switch and its ports tend to get broken by inexperianced techs doing the job. This is one of the reasons I dont recommend the gas station as well.

[IvoryJ30t]

WOW!!! it is actually that difficult to do a distrib/intake mani gasket on that car!!

[NISTECH]

no the distributor is gravy. its the price of the part that hammers that bill. the manifold is labor intensive. I think its like 8 hrs flat rate time.

[IvoryJ30t]

that does it. i figured it would be like a 4 hr job + distrib.

[Hank]

NISTECH is correct. Tightening sequence for intake manifold does take time and perform in steps. Notice that the gasket is like metal shim molded with rubber and not that thick I'd imagine once used it is recommended to replace with new one. I would prefer to do this job myself because I don't have to hurry up and make money no offend to all mechanics out there but we all know what is like to have a full lot. The only hard for the distributor is to line it and tighten it. Good luck!