Hello everyone
I live in Mackay North QLD and have a 03 TL magna auto. I recently got it serviced (140000km) at my local mitsubishi dealer. They said it had quiet a few leaks and would require the following:
cam o'ring
distributor o'ring
crank seal
cam seal x 2
tube seals x 6
and $1200 labour
My question is, would this be a reasonable price? It seems like everything is this town is more because of the surrounding mines. I degreased the engine bay and to me it looks like it is leaking on the right side of the engine on top of the gear box.
Any help would be appreciated :)
Cheers
Shaun

At 140,000 km the engine should still be pretty oil tight. They are guessing which one is leaking, so they want to charge you for replacing every seal they can think of. Give it a degrease, run it, find out where the leak actually is, and just get that fixed.

You could always download the manual, and do it yourself?

cheers for the fast response. I should have said at 100000km the head started leaking and was taken off and skimmed. It cost me about $3500 to get that done. It sort of looks like its the same area. Do you have a link to the manual? I have been looking for it with no luck at the moment

i don't think that price is too bad, check with one of the locals in the QLD section. they might know a good mechanic that will do a good job at a reasonable price

Can't beat North Queensland prices - I had 20 years up there and know all about it. If you feel confident and have a set of sockets, screwdrivers etc changing rocker cover gaskets will just take you a few hours and cost just a fraction of what the dealers charge. My TL is at the same K's and is starting to leak from rocker cover gaskets. Try doing a search on "rocker cover gasket" and see what turns up. I think the link to the manual has 'disappeared'...legal reasons?....however if you get stuck PM me and I can email you the relevant PDF file.
Oil leaks are really only a problem if they cause secondary problems like smoking when it gets on the exhaust manifold. Cars like Jaguars are designed to leak oil otherwise they just rust away.

thanks guys. PM sent Hako. I have been looking for information. Could it be the dizzy o ring if there is a leak ontop of the gearbox on the right side of the motor?

I'd be degreasing and checking myself first. Regardless of price. Take one of your upper timing belt covers off and check the belt for oil contamination, I have a TJ with just under 160,000km on it and its not leaking in that area (yet).

I've done the rocker cover gaskets, sparkplug tube seal and both o-rings before myself. Quite easy if you take your time. Haven't done the cam/crank seals myself though - not that skilled. DIY is an option for the others though.

I'm in Mackay also, you're hard pressed to find a decent mechanic. Have you tried Torrissi's Garage? He's honest and he does good work, avoid Camilleri's near harbour road. And avoid Hansen's Tyre and Mechanical like the plague. TFD in Sydney street isn't too bad either, his prices are good... but he can get busy and may take a little longer.

Sorry mate I think you have been ripped big time, paying $3500 for a head to be done when you could have had the engine replaced with another with the same mileage for far less than that. Add to this, was your head gasket leaking oil or water, if oil is a common mistake to be made.

As for the dealer, again is not your rear crank seal if that is what they are stating, the oil from the dist and the thrust cap (front cam end) will run down over the bell housing, some will seep inside and run out of the bottom drain hole, looks like a rear main seal but is often not. I am yet to see a Magna with only 130k have a rear main seal leaking let alone a head gasket unless the car has been very badly abused.

Also, how long ago was this head gasket doen, if there is any warranty on the job still, all of these seals would have been done when the head gasket was done, can not see why after such a short time they would leak again

+1 on that, unless they did a serious dodgy when they did the head gasket and reused them, there should be no leaks from any of the head oil seals.

unfortunately here in mackay a "serious dodgy" is almost the norm. most mechanics here dont want to know you anymore, let alone do any work at all on a front wheel drive car, been told that directly from 1 mechanic before. i do all my work myself now, i used to be a mechanic in the mid-late 90s till a car fly swatted me on my motor bike. if you like i can have a gander at it, just send through a pm

all of these seals would have been done when the head gasket was done, can not see why after such a short time they would leak againGood point, to take the head off the (for starters) rocker covers would have had to come off, so rocker cover gaskets and tube seals should have been replaced then; 30K for tube seals to go bad doesn't seem possible, unless they didn't do them. And unless they screwed up the gasket installation, there shouldn't be leaks there either.

The $1200, was that everything including parts and labour, or just the labour? If they did all that, and timing belt, and platinum spark plugs, THEN maybe it sounds about average from Mits.

RE: tube seals, take out one or more of the spark plug leads, if there's oil on the stem thing then yeah your tube seals are gone. Which as I said, most likely indicates they weren't replaced last time.