New guy having some problems

Thanks again to everyone for their responses.

In my 40 point checklist the tech put the intake leak under the "needs attention" category as opposed to the "needs immediate attention" category. Hopefully I can sit on this for a bit. I'll go to the dealer and get an officiail detailed writeup of the problem with an estimate to repair. Once I get the $800 shock I'm gonna call up GM and try and goodwill some of the cost through them. If they say no then I'll go and visit my private mechanic. Which brings me to my question.

My private mechanic is a good guy. He did a lot of work on our older 1988 cutlass ciera when we had it. Is the Alero more/too technologically complex for a private mechanic?? He doesn't have any diagnostic equipment that I know of. He usually goes with his gut, experience, and the sounds he hears. He's pretty good at it though. But I don't wanna be cheap with labour only to get a poor job in return. If this is a dealer only thing, then I'll go there and just get it done.

Thanks guys!