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The 3800 Series II has been known for intake problems. It's a shame - the Buick 3.8 is a bulletproof motor. GM screwed it up with their plastic intakes and junk intake gaskets. What happens, is, the intake manifolds warp. They are made of plastic and cannot handle the heat of the EGR valve. They warp and leak and allow coolant to enter the combustion chambers. Some of them hydrolock and require motor replacement (more economical to get a Goodwrench motor than to rebuild in shop). Some of them can get away with just manifold replacement. A very few get by with just intake gasket replacement. Our dealership just did intakes on two of these cars within the past two weeks. The first one was a very well maintained, low mileage car owned by an elderly gentleman. He decided to trade it rather than fix it.
So, we know there are issues and your mother experienced them and paid the price. She should have been good for a while. There is something wrong with the fact it needs repair again so soon. There is either a defective part involved, or the shop did a poor job on the labor. Either way, there should be some sort of guarantee and she should not have to pay for a 2nd repair. GM warranty on replacement parts is 12 months or 12,000 miles. If this was done at a GM shop, the whole job should be covered by defective part warranty. Period. If it was done at an independent jobber things are going to get sticky. As far as I know, over the counter, GM will only replace the parts. They will not pay for labor to install them. This is not an unusual practive, but it is unfortunate, as most of the cost of the repair was most likely the labor. If it was not a defective part, then it falls on the shop not doing the job properly. I don't know how you are going to deal with that.
I think I would start by having the shop tell you which dealership the parts were obtained from. Then, with proof of purchase (which the shop most likely isn't going to give you, because they don't want you to know how much profit they made on the parts), you can contact the Service Manager or Fixed Operations Director at the dealership and explain your situation to them and ask them for assistance. Don't expect a whole lot of sympathy, because they are not going to be pleased by the fact that you took the job somewhere else and are now on their doorstep for assistance. More than likely they will want to blame the other shop for improper installation. There is no Oldsmobile Division to contact for assistance. Welcome to the world of orphans. There is probably somewhere else in GM that you could go with this, but I don't know where.
Your other alternative would be to contact the local Better Business Bureau.
I am assuming at this point that the installing shop is claiming not fault on their part.
Paul
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