Auto Insurance Claims: undiscovered damage, 2006 toyota corolla, toyota corolla

Question
I have a 2006 toyota corolla that was involved in an accident . Our corolla rear ended another vehicle. The corolla was 6 months old and had 3700 miles on it. Part of the repair included replacing the plastic intake manifold that had cracked. 3.5 years later the car has 45,000 miles on it and has lost compression in the number 1 cyclinder. The dealer found a large piece of plastic that is the the same material as the intake manifold wedged under the intake valve. They claim this has been in the intake port since the accident. Is my insurance company obligated to take care of this since it wasn't discovered during the initial repair?

Answer
Probably.  Call your insurer nd ask them to cover it.  It will depend on whether you can prove the current problem would not have happened if not for the original accident.  There may also be some liability on the part of the shop that did the original repairs, so you should also place them on notice now.

The time delay is not really relevant, except that it becomes harder to prove.