Spring is coming, and a young man's heart turns to Driving Events.

As I am getting my 996 ready for the next season, i stopped by my dealer to get some prices on their service.

here goes:

oil change $180 Plus oil (9x $10)
change engine air filter $90 (with my filter)
change cabin air filter $40.

Now, the oil change consists of lifting the car up, opening up 3 bolts, letting the oil drain and filling the tank with oil. This takes 2 hrs of labor?


So, why do we go to the dealer for service?

JB

 

We don't - that's why we are here.

 

Wow!
If you are in Miami, I would do all that for $100! LOL!
I can even do my own brakes. These cars are stupid easy to work on.

 

These guys (who we would all pledge our alliegance to in a perfect world) are the techs who make their living based on formulas that are raised to the highest next numeral by the dealers who have us all by the short and curlies. Yes- we want our cars to be looked after by the guys who purport to be the only ones who will nurture our babies through adolescence and beyond, but in reality are beholden to the dealerships who pay them their wages to keep them quiet. Not that I am against all Porsche dealer mechanics, but how often do you get to talk to the guy who is turning the wrench as opposed to guy who is sitting at the desk telling you how much it is going to cost to change a spark plug?

 

It's just a car and as you get to know it, the intimidation of working on it decreases. This place has a wealth of information on maintenance and repairs.

 

to give you another data point:

transmission flush + break flush + final drive flush is $1650 at my dealer... I will let my indy do it ( a little over 1/2 price from dealer. )

Last oil change cost me $50 with my supplied oil and filter.

 

looks like i will be investing in tools.
i have been looking at DIY on several boards, and these cars seem really easy to work on.

i guess a duramatic is in my future.

any other suggestions for special tools?

JB

 

Any idea on where I can find some porsche shop times for repairs? I feel like I have been getting over charged lately and would like to have something to compare it to.

 

Changing the air filter is maybe a 15 minute job. The cabin air filter maybe 10 minutes. An oil change can easily be done in 30 minutes, even in my driveway. I know that dealers/mechanics have to make a profit, but that is why the dealers are paying the mechanics $30-$0/hr. or so, and then charging them out at $100-$175/hr. But the "shop time" from the books is often outrageous.

 

Where can you find the book time? I'd love to have that as a reference. I am picking my car up next week. They have me down for 2 hours to do a brake bleed. This is the dealer...

 

Always took mine to the dealer because I know the mechanic and it is pricey. Decided to go to my local indy porsche shop. Get the car back and there is coolant leaking. They tell me they replaced the radiator cap because old one was leaking and now maybe the bottle is cracked. Had to go back 3 times until they gave me a new cap. The new cap they put on was defective.

Was cheaper but my time...

Now I need 15000 mile service and not sure where I'm going to get it done.

2003 996 C2

 

+1 on easy... Oil change about $90 (9 qts @ $9/qt) and not quite $10 for the filter (I bought the spin-on oil filter adapter, so I can get off-the shelf K&N filters...) air filter: piece of cake as is the cabin filter... it took me longer to jack up the car and remove the wheels, than to change the brake pads - that was stupid easy too... What's left? Brake lines are easy with the right equipment... I'm getting ready to take on the plugs and maybe even the coils in a little bit here, but with all the DIYs running around, that shouldn't be too bad either...

Rudy