Seeing a photo of the engine and the crowded engine bay, I'd at least looked closely and felt for oil leaks around the valve covers. Then I'd decided whether to change them and called the owner first. After all, now I see how much time and work it will be to get to the valve covers......... which were already acccessable, to do the intake. It's not like it was Jim's Shadetree Auto Parts. It's a dealership where MAK has often been. No matter what, I blame the extra expense and work on the mechanic.
If before they did any work, they gave you something that said 'valve cover' but did the intake, they have made an error and are liable for it. Now, as a mechanic and diagnostic, I'll tell you the catch: did they actually do the intake and charge you more? Or did they do the intake and charged you the estimate for the valve covers? You need to look at that before taking any action. The first would indicate a ripoff, the second would be a stupid (but innocent) mistake. Find that out first. Then go talk to the service writer who handled your car's diagnosis. Don't talk to the one who took your car in.
First off let me make one thing PERFECTLY CLEAR bud! I do NOT do ANY work without the OK of the owner! EVER! I do however suggest it after observing the condition of parts! AND SHOW the reason it is needed. I don't work at firestone, midas, Monroe or anywhere else of the like! And never have, places like that make me sick. As do a LOT of dealerships. Second off if it HAD the plenum (no year was given) I would suggest it ANYHOW simply because it is a VERY common problem with these engines and if THEY start spewing oil in 2000-5000 miles what do you have? A pissed off customer! Because you just fixed one oil leak and now they have another.
Car is a 1985 Colony Park LS Ford Windsor V-8 302 (5.0-Liter) Engine type: Spark-ignition 4-stroke Fuel system: indirect injection Charge system: naturally aspirated Throttle-body injection TBI EEC-IV everyone, If the dealer could do the intake without removing the valve covers , ok I can accept that - if the leak was present at that time, should they have told me - absolutely. Car still has only 58000 miles on it and in the last 2 months I put 1400 of those on it, in its prior 32 year old life the averaged 1900 a year, so do I think its possible that I pushed years of sitting around to max - absolutely Wanted to push the car almost to the limits to find out what breaks and get it fixed. again its not the money its the principle that if the leak was there in March - they should said something - is it possible that it wasn't - yes didn't notice and oil on the driveway until late July If I won the lotto(got to play 1st) I'd take the car and have total restored and rebuilt regardless of cost. Traded in my Navy 89 Colony park in 1996 - and have wanted another since - that's 22 years - so now I'm done and this it - will fix whatever needs to be done - but I have to have somebody else do it - mechanical ability of a Nat remember Have found local repair shop that is cheaper and has good reputation with "older" car owners - so that where its going next. done with dealer - not because I think they are dishonest in anyway but there markup on parts is outrageous, and as a retailer I can't live with it.
Since yours is an '85 with CFI (Ford's version of TBI), only the air cleaner and the TAB-TAD solenoids for the Thermactor system should've been touched, just to do the valve covers. And Wagonkiller has the right attitude--you do right by the customer, you'll have a return customer, sometimes even for life. My last shop, about 45% of our customer base is women, and that's because Dave is a trustworthy owner, and only hires trustable mechanic/technicians. It's the reason Vincent's been his second-in-command even before Dave bought the shop from the previous owner.
My mother and sister traveled to horse shows for years and MANY miles. When they broke down it made me SICK knowing the screw job they got from people(because they were women). I refuse to treat ANYONE like that.
It's why my former boss ensured female customers were taken care of--that happened to his mom, him and his siblings. So when he became a mechanic, he ensured women were not ripped off.
