Hello All,

I am new to the forum here as I just had my 1st major repair after owning my car for less than a year. I purchased my 911 C4S with high mileage (115,000) and I did have a pre inspection on the car. Anyways the AOS went earlier this week causing issues. For the veterans or experts on here can someone possibly let me know about the list below -

Labor -
Check and Replace AOS unit. R/R and clean out oil from intake manifold, repl. hose and seals repl. coolent connector pipe and bleed system.
Repl. starter motor (my request as I knew it was on the way out)
Drill out and remove broken bolts from exhaust manifold, retap and install thread insert, remove broken studs and repl. with new hardware (he told me with steel plates to make it stronger since stock eventually wears out from fusion of metal and aluminum)
Oil change, repl. oil filter and install mobil 1 engine oil.
Repl. Oxygen sensor bank one -sensor 1.

Oil -
9 quarts synthetic oil

Parts Replaced -
Oil Filter
OX Sensor
Oil Seperator
Hose
2 Gaskets
Hose Connector
Starter 46-4S
6 Spark Plugs

For all this it cost me $2,900 which sounded off the charts to me and hurt my pocket real bad.
Labor came out to $1,995 and Parts were $600 then tax another $230
I can break down the labor more if need be but let me know what you think and thank you for all the input eventually.

 

Dealership or indie?


I'm guessing they dropped the engine to gain access to the AOS (in theory you can do with the engine in place, but *I've* never seen it done). That's the bulk of your labor cost and then there will be other labor time associated to the starter, plugs and other work. The cost on parts seems to be about right (eyeballing it at any rate)

It's seems to be in the right range.....

 

Indie which I found on AngiesList with some decent reviews (Mercedes is his specialty it seems). They did drop the engine to do the work which needed a cleanup due to the bad AOS. Guess it is good to know from one person so far that this is about right thnx. Was worried when handing over my debit card!

 

Sounds about right.

People often get excited about the cost of entry into a 996 model but often overlook the potential cost of ownership.

 

I had only my AOS replaced a few months back by my indy. The indy I go to, I have been going to him for while with other performance cars that I have owned over the years. He's very fair with pricing and does quality work. I paid $1,400. for a new AOS and associated clean up and misc parts replaced. I can tell you if I would have had the additional work done that you had, the price would have been the same or a little more. These cars are not inexpensive as working on a Toyota or a Ford, especially if you have to have something done that requires having the engine dropped. My 04 C4S has 109,000. Welcome to the P-car club. You'll enjoy your car, but you gotta pay to play. My C4S has been great as a DD since doing some deferred maintenance items. Tires $1,000. Water pump $500.00 etc. However there are some things I do myself such as oil changes, plugs, belt, etc. Enjoy your car and post some pics and details when you get a chance.

 

R&R tranny is about 1k depending on shop/where you live...

 

Think the price you payed sonds about right. Its a pita to change the aos, and a lot of work!


Anyway, welcome to the forum, feel free to post a pic of your car

 

^^^this. Congrats and sorry to hear heartache. I was also excited to get into a Porsche at a nice entry price but prior to purchase, the forum did warn me that it is still a $100k maintenance type of car. As Magnus Walker would say, you expect the worst but hope for the best when you buy older cars. Hope you can get this sorted quickly and get back to enjoying your car!

Btw, where in NY? You have a good selection of Porsche indies around you. The 996 turbo guys come to my neck of the woods or TimNYC in long island for major work done.

 

This is why I had my shop do the "might as wells" when my transmission was out for the RMS replacement. That's a big job and a good opportunity to get the IMS and AOS replaced for minimal extra labor versus having to do another transmission drop if you did those fixes separately.

 

Appreciate all the input everyone and I will definitely need to learn how to do the easy work myself for sure. Have to save somewhere right! Moved to Long Island so the shop was out in Mineola that I ended up using.

My previous car I just sold to get this was a Nissan 350Z which I loved (launch model with the sunset orange color). Having the 911 is a new experience and I am sure will be better than any previous car I have owned. Will post some pics soon and thanks all.

The next fix on my list is rear shocks, saving up for that now

 

 

Absolutely stunning. Love the black. Are you going to leave it stock?

 

I did not have any ideas to make changes. Any recommendations? Interior and dash, while in perfect condition basically, is not that nice imo. I do have the NAV unit that came with the car and bose speakers.

 

Well, I'm a believer in all stock. Just kinda old fashioned that way. I've kept my 04 all stock. I think it also helps with resell if you plan one day to part with it.

 

Even in great condition, the 996's interior is "dated" at best. You can find some aftermarket trim pieces to jazz it up a little, such as different colored instrument faces, carbon fiber accent pieces, etc. Personally, I'm just living with mine being "period correct" and hopefully installing the in-dash cup holder some day (or doing a double-din conversion for an aftermarket nav/radio).