Whew - well thanks for the detailed response @campb292! I agree with your assessment there. I imagine they’ve already taken a look at the injectors because I mentioned it at the original intake and they wrote it down. I also checked with them on what the approx tax and shop fees are and they said the shop fees would not total more than $20.

I would think about trading it in but I think the cost of upgrading (plus any potential problems with a new used car) is still more than the cost of these repairs. Oh and it does have CEL lights unfortunately. It’s got about 40,000 miles on it so with any luck it’s still got decent life left.

 

Don't the injectors have to be removed when cover is removed. Dealer will replace all the O rings, seals and gaskets with new and that will bump up the parts tab also.

 

$1818 is pretty average for dealer replacement of the camshaft cover. The under warranty labor is 4.7 hours plus 1.8 cover $863.30 (catalog price). Misc parts, seals, and gaskets bump that up to about $948. Even if they give the 4.7 warranty labor rate (which they don't have to since it is OOW) that is a typical 180/hour labor. The O2 sensor replacement price is absurd. The catalog price is 81 or 69 depending on which they use. The hO2 is cataloged at .6 hour to replace. The air filter is pretty much catalog price. The throttle body and manifold cleaning is a question mark. I would want to know if that includes physical cleaning on the intake valves. If it is only the throttle body, that is also a bad price. Cleaning the intake valves is probably a good idea - if the PCV gunked up it is a decent bet those ports have decent buildup too.

Looking at the other discussion, a tech wrote there was a problem with injectors? If they find those damaged, that bumps the price more. Plus I see tax and shop fees aren't included in that estimate. I don't mean to be a downer here, but I also see you have only seen minimal drivability issues. I don't see a mileage either. If this car is over 80k or so... and you don't have CEL lights, I'd also weigh what you could trade it for.

 

Curiosity got the best of me and I checked rockauto. A replacement genuine GM valve cover assembly is ~$452.

I can't get over that shop quote though. I know things are expensive these days, but good grief.

 

Awesome, thanks will take a look

 

This is a common problem with many 4 cylinder ecotec engines and a new valve cover [with PCV valve] is an expensive solution. There might be an alternative. I don't know if this applies to your vehicle but it may be worth looking into. If you watch the attached video there is a kit to replace the valve and solve some other problems as well. The video pertains to a 1.4 ecotec but they may make a kit for your car.