Quote
Roger987
I'm lost. You wrote 'I will hold it against the dealer'.
Is your exposure limited to $198, and the dealer is going to eat the cost of fixing the problem?
Oh, God. That's what I get for staying up late. And failing to proof read before I posted. And this site not supporting editing after a message has been posted.
Anyhow, thanks for catching the mistake.
What I meant to write was: "Assured him I would *NOT* hold it against the dealer."
The agreement between the dealer service department and myself is I am to pay $198 for the basic diagnosis of the problem. Among other things this is the tech reading the error code and other data from the car's DME. A bit pricy for this I think given the service advisor told me yesterday with the older cars there's not much extra info to be had. 'course, I knew that already but I didn't want to interfere with what I hoped to be a successful diagnosis and repair of this problem.
Then because the error probably (but this isn't 100%) an intake air leak which could be a leaking intake manifold (o-rings, or even a hairline crack), vacuum hose, hose fitting, AOS, oil filler tube cap, oil filler tube, dipstick or dipstick tube. Regardless even though the diagnosis had not been made -- and still hasn't been made -- I was told the cost to fix this was $990. When I asked for details the SA said the price included labor to identify the leak and to fix it and included any parts, hose, fitting, intake o-ring. At the time I got the impression the thinking was this was just another run of the mill leak that would be found and fixed in 5 minutes with a few dollars' worth of vacuum hose.
As an aside, while "air leak" is at the top of the list of possible faults the problem can be due to insufficient fuel pressure or supply or bad injectors. Based on what I know about what the tech's doing it appears he is focused on this being an intake leak. Now maybe he has eliminated fuel supply and pressure from the list? He's a top notch tech and I would have to believe he's done this and thus is moving forward knowing the problem is an intake leak and not a fuel pressure regulator problem. The injectors are original and I don't think are dirty, contaminated or bad (weak or ?). The engine runs just fine even up to red line. Never misfires. I think the injectors are ok. I think this kind of takes the fuel pressure regulator off the suspected fault cause list along with the fuel supply.
To my question to the SA if this included the $198 "diagnostic" charge the SA said "no". That was not lumped in with the $990 charge but added to it. So the total cost would $1188 not including tax. The SA assured me the problem would be fixed for this sum of money.
So if the dealer calls me next week and says the car is not fixed come pick up the car all I'm out is the $198. If the dealer says the car is fixed I drive up in my car -- not the loaner -- and drive the Boxster home. If the light stays off then I park the Boxster at home and return to the dealer in the loaner.
If the light comes on I return to the dealer with the Boxster. Either the dealer takes the car back in for another round or the dealer "gives up" and I get my money back. Then I drive home in the Boxster and pick up the loaner and take it back then grab my car and go home. The Boxster is gone regardless if it gets fixed or not. Frankly though with the high miles even though the car is still in good condition albeit with some cosmetic issues -- mostly the clear coat is peeling in places, like on the front bumper cover and outside mirror tops, but OTOH the soft top is just a year or so old, has good tires, good brakes, and all services up to date -- the car is worth the same with the CEL off or on.
In hindsight I should not have taken the car in for another (3rd) round of trying to get to the bottom of the P1128 error. I should have come to the conclusion it was time to move on and saved the $198 and possibly $1188. (I am kind of hoping the dealer is unsuccessful in fixing this and gives up so I at least save the $990.)