Bad idle : told it is my inlet manifold $400-$600 to fix

[aussieghostrider]

I was gonna sell my car but it shit me to no end to find out what the idle problem was and after alot of stuffing around ..

1.spark plugs and leads
2.fuel pump
3.balancer
4.fuel filter
5.injector clean
6.new oil and filter
7.spray half can nulon bottle cleaner into throttle body lot of dark fluid comes out

after all that idle did improve but had a slight miss

coil pack and dfi are original from factory and I said this to an auto electrician who said nar wont be that I bet you didnt gap spark plugs which I replied mate they ngk I asked for them for a vn and the are all pre gapped to 1.5 which is what a vn v6 is.

My brakes rotors were warped ( getting the wobble on steering wheel when braking) so took to a brake place got new rotors and pads repacked wheel bearings etc $412

I asked them to find what idle and miss problem is to have them say 100% its inlet manifold but they said $400 to fix including coolant etc ...

but he said if manifold rusted and needs welding cost extra $100 and if manifold rooted then have to get a good one from the wreckers ..

The brakes I not to fussed about .. $400 is fair to me ... but how much really should any mechanic charge to replace inlet manifold gasket and or replace with a good 2nd hand inlet manifold ???

he said $400 -$600

I live in sydney in sutherland shire ... aussie mechanics I can trust but I no longer trust ethnic mechanics as have been ripped off big time ... seems because Im from the shire so that automatically means im racist so excuses them ripping me off ..

Thanks in advance for your replies ..

[pow3rslave]

a wreckers probably wouldn't even cost $100 for a newie.
but'd i'd say that if the problem is the inlet manifold it'll be the gasket seal around the base of it. there's a howto on the other commodore site about doing the inlet manifold gasket.

[Bz Kn33z]

4-600 is pretty expensive, do it yourself, its not hard at all. manifold gasket is like 30-40bucks coolent $10, if you feel inspired do it yourself or get a mate to help ya that knows abit about cars.

[pow3rslave]

i never had a quote done for something like this, but the howto thread i mentioned said it could cost "$400 +" professionally. i guess it depends how long they take to do it tho. labours the kicker

[vn calais manual]

unless your car has been run on straight water its whole life, or just has a deformed manifold, i doubt it will need welding, or replacing, the gaskets justabout always leak!, go aorund and check all your bolts are tight, if not try tighteneing them up, might get lucky, but i doubt it. change the gaskets yourself. isnt hard at all.

[hemi01]

My VN V6 had a very similar problem. Rough Idle and annoying miss under acceleration.

Just changed the coil pack and mounting and fixed the fault. If you've got a spare it's worth a shot.

[aussieghostrider]

^^^

yeah I was told by someone else my coil pack and dfi module as there are original from the factory ...

I was told to upgrade to VP coil pack ...

I will ring the wreckers see how much they want ..

[goldvn05]

aussieghostrider -
so what was the problem with yours? inlet manifold gasket ? or coil pack ?

pow3rslave or others.
anyone know were this is ? instruction on how to replace inlet manifold gasket
"howto on the other commodore site about doing the inlet manifold gasket. "

If only have basic knowledge and experience mechanically( not an expert) would you attempt ? or is ot too hard/risky ?

[greenfoam]

It will be on f o r u m . s t r e e t c o m m o d o r e s . c o m . a u
but they have recently had a JC style server failure so most of the pictures and files are gone, this thread might have been lucky

[PaRaDoX]

lol $600 to change inlet manifold gaskets,

i did it once after a few beers and took me 1.5 hours to do.. i wish i got paid $400 per hour...

[Matt_vp]

$50 for the inlet gasket and as paradox said 1.5 hours. Do the math. I would look at it this way for $600 you could buy some tools and a gregorys manual and learn something.
Have a go.
Matt

[needwork2-4fillhabbit]

I just got a series two vp manifold for 5.50 of ebay complete with throttlebody and all the sensors!!

[aussieghostrider]

aussieghostrider -
so what was the problem with yours? inlet manifold gasket ? or coil pack ?

pow3rslave or others.
anyone know were this is ? instruction on how to replace inlet manifold gasket
"howto on the other commodore site about doing the inlet manifold gasket. "

If only have basic knowledge and experience mechanically( not an expert) would you attempt ? or is ot too hard/risky ?

Inlet manifold gasket is stuffed , thew car went from developing a miss at low revs and vibration at traffic lights that got worse and worse that the vibration went away but car started to stall ...when that happened I bought a few bottles of this stuff called CARGO .. its glass and copper fillings or some crap ... anyhow I flush radiator and put 2 bottles of that stuff in .. .. and filled up the bottle ... and let car idle a while to get air out of system .. put cap on then went for a 30minute drive on the freeway with the heater turned on to let the stuff work its way through ... left it in for a few more days of driving then pulled hoses off and drained again ..and let the engine/radiator sit empty for 12 hours so the stuff will go hard ... now fill back up with coolant and see how you go ... it worked for me ... but just to make sure I then flushed radiator and filled back with with coolant and a bottle of Bars stop leak ... it lubricates waterpump and gaskets and stops further leaks ... you leave that stuff in for good ...

my coil pack even though original is not the problem ... inlet manifold gaskets go on them at 200,000 km mark usually .. I called around and got a quote of $300 to replace gasket so that works out $50 for gasket, $50 coolant and $200 for labour.

but some of you said 1.5 hours to do the job so I might make a few more phone calls ..

anyone having bad idle and your car uses a little coolant then inlet manifold gasket for sure , was told headgaskets on the vn-vp are like steel and dont blow very easy ..

[greenfoam]

I think the beer made time seem to go faster than it really did for paradox, it's more than a 1.5 hour job for the first and second times at least. But you will do it in either a morning or an afternoon. I would however expect a full time mechanic to do it in 1.5 hours or less but the chances are the 1st year aprentice will be doing that kind of job and in that case you are better off doing it yourself since it's the same thing. Except you will be more carefull and do a better job