OK, I just took my car to the dealer for a 15K checkup -- my car now has 75 K miles on it. They checked it out and said that I have an oil leak in the gront and rear engine gasket, and that they estimate $1800 to fix it. From the other postings on this site, it seems that this is a known problem, so I feel a little better. But how can I tell how serious tnhis is right now? Are they just trying to pull one over on me because I am a female? Do I have to do this now? If not now, how long can I put it off? Is this dangerous? Am I just putting off the inevitable?

Are there any questions I should ask when I go back to the dealer? Should I look for an independent shop to perform the work? Is this cost reasonable? The service consultant said it was high because it is a very manual effort to fix -- they have to take the whole thing apart. If I do this now, will I have to deal with this again? How do I make sure it dosn't hapen again?


Help! Any advice for me and next steps would be helpful.