Hi everyone,

I'm extremely distraught tonight. I just recently bought a '99 Porsche Carrera 996 with only 40k miles on it after a lifetime of saving. Only after 500 miles I noticed a burning smell (kind of like plastic, no smoke or oil) while driving lightly and had it towed to a shop that specializes in Porsches here in Manhattan Beach, Ca. I have never beaten on the car and only take it for gentle drives on the weekend.

Today the shop calls me back and says it might cost up to $4,000 due to a clutch (original) that needs replacement and a possibly damaged flywheel! Is this an accurate price? The shop comes highly recommended online and unfortunately I don't really know much about cars. I had a mechanic do a PPI before I bought the car but they couldn't have spotted this before without dropping the engine entirely.

Can anyone help or offer words of advice? Does anyone have similar prices paid or experiences you can share? Thank you kindly for your help.

Can anyone PM me any shops local to the Los Angeles area that you recommend?

 

Labor from most indys are around 1K for clutch job

 

Way to much in my opinion and I have changed the clutch on my 99 and twice on a 2004 on the garage floor.
OEM Flywheel is about $850 to $1000 depending where you buy it
OEM Pressure Plate, Clutch Disc, Release Bearing $450 to $550 depending where you buy it

That is a rough total (on the high side) of $1550 for parts. Labor should not be $2500. Way to much. PM me if you want some recommendations like getting quotes somewhere else and having your car towed there. You would still be saving..

 

go to indy please!! around 2k for parts and labor

 

Freind had, clutch, IMS and RMS at indy and was about $2100 parts and labor $4k is WAY too high.

 

I had my clutch and throw out bearing replaced at the dealership about 8 months ago and it was ~2k.

 

go to a diffrent shop, should be even cheaper at the Dealer.

Clutch is $450 at Suncoast or Sonnen Porsche. Labour should be about $800 at the most. New Flywheel replecement is highly unlikely, unless its been heavly heavely abused would just need to be Refinished and not replaced... Al in all you are looking at no more than $1500 at the most. Inspect your RMS and IMS while you are in there.

Go to a diffrent shop... this shop is taking you for a ride!

 

agreed with the others.
I spent 5k at a local shop and got clutch, flywheel, AOS, (and some other bit in there I forget) and new front and rear bumpers painted and installed.

 

@PMKazz
Thanks buddy, PM sent!

@Duuder
The quote I got was from an indy shop.

@Zookie
I'm on the phone with those shops now.

Guys, thank you all so much for the help! I truly appreciate this community and the responses I've gotten.

 

Tony is very smart and manages a capable team. He is in Torrance, not far from Manhattan Beach.

I only used his shop when I lived in your area, now that I am out of the LA area, I have to go elsewhere but I would definitely call them. Ask for Tony or Tom.

 

Since you are in LA you might as well take it to Sonnen Porsche, cant be too far off from you

 

Clutch on the NA books at about 8 hours. That is motor in/tranny out. The flywheels can be machined without a problem. I have done 100's. If for some reason the Dual mass flywheel is out of spec in regards to coming apart, a new flywheel last I checked is about 800 bucks. If I was going to have to replace the flywheel though, I'd go lightweight flywheel and a matching clutch.

OAS should DEFINITELY be done while the tranny is out, figure 200 bucks tops for that, and maybe an additional hour of labor.

 

Excuse my ignorance Doc, but what is the OAS? Couldn't find anything in Google.

 

Zookie,

The only Sonnen Porsche I see is in San Francisco. I can't find anything about one in L.A., in which case I'm better off going with a shop in Orange County.

 

I am thinking he meant the Air Oil Separator (AOS)...