I took the car away from Annapolis Benz and their $2K estimate and took it to Dwayne Crawford at Family Auto in Owings, Md. He agreed with the intake manifold seal and injector seal and guide diagnosis, but also discovered a leaking fuel distributor that had some rust. He did the work, including replacing the fuel distributor with a reman unit for $2200 total. The dealership was charging me $2K for the intake manifold and injector work alone, but now I have a working, non leaking fuel distributor. The intake seal leak caused the car to idle high (unregulated air in the combustion mix) and the high idle hid what would have been an even rougher idle caused by the faulty fuel distributor. The dealer would have done the intake maniford seal for $2K, the idle would have still been rough, then the dealer would have said "now we're certain that it's the fuel distributor". They would want to charge me list price $2300 for the part. They don't do reman units. I would be ready to sue!

Keep in mind that dealer diagnoses tend to be experimental and tentative until they get into the engine to see what's really going on. The independents do not charge as many hours to the customer for diagnostic time and they tend to give more educated diagnoses as a result.

The car idles baby butt smoothly now. It just goes to show the difference in pricing between dealers and the independents. Sometimes I think the dealers have a preprinted $1,000 invoice waiting for us when we get there.

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1991 560SEL (254K miles)
1980 Lincoln Mark VI - Givenchy
1979 Lincoln Mark V Collector's Series
1979 Lincoln Town Car Collector's Series
1979 Ford "Effie" Pickup (in gradual transformation to a show/street truck)
1969 Lincoln Mark III (waiting for "Overhaulin" to call)
1989 Lincoln Towncar
2001 Lexus GS300 (spousal unit's daily driver)