HerrDr

I'd taken my C4 to Autobahn Performance in Peabody, MA for a suspension noise I'd been hearing. They diagnosed it to front control arms and that seems to have solved the problem, but they then made two recommendations:

They said the serpentine belt was old and cracked and would need replacing to the tune of $168, but would be okay to drive for a little while.

They also said that my spark plug tubes were cracked and leaking and would need to be replaced.

The belt is easy so I ordered a new one and replaced it myself only to find it looked EXACTLY the same (not dry, no cracking). Looking through my records it was no more than a year or two old. What gives?

The spark plug tubes are a known occasional issue with this series (996), but I've seen no oil leaks, no low oil pressure.

I wanted to trust this shop for reasons of convenience and based on their reputation, but this concerns me.

What are people's thoughts? Anyone in the Boston area have bad experiences with them and/or have a shop they'd recommend in the Boston area? Auto Engineering in Lexington is closer to me, but has a worse reputation in recent years.

Thanks!

Matt(inMA)

Sorry to hear that. I've taken all my Porsche's to Eurotech in Framingham. Bill Pfister has been fixing Porsches for a long time, is a great, honest guy you can trust

Matt

thin_concrete

Sorry to hear that as well. I've taken my C4S to North Shore Motorwerks and James is fantastic.

TheBlau

Agreed. Bill Pfister is definitely the one I would trust most. He isn't cheap (well, I don't know any Porsche mechanic that is) but he works on all of the cars himself and has been since the 80s. He's got a great attitude and can go into detail on what caused a part failure and what should be replaced to not make other parts fail...he's developed a lot of his own templates and tools for measuring things to ensure they're in spec, too.

As for Auto Engineering - Justin Becker left last year to start his own shop - South Shore Autoworks in Kingston, MA. He was their long time Porsche tech before that. Haven't had any experience with the new shop. I had one repair at AE on my Audi - they estimated a few hundred less than dealer, then ended up coming back with a price ~$300 more than the dealer would have charged for the work.

German Performance Service in Brighton also has a good reputation - I haven't had my car in there, but know a handful of people who have.

SSAutoworks

If you were going to Peabody for work already, you should give James a call at North Shore Motor Werks. I worked with James for many years at AE, he is a skilled and honest mechanic. You will not be disappointed.

mickfluff

I have used Bill for years... high marks.

grc0456

Ut oh. Autobahn recently told me the serpentine belt "showed slight signs of fraying" on my 986. I bought the car in Sept. 2015 with a completely rebuilt engine, so I thought that seemed odd. I don't do much DIY mechanically, but now I think I should take a look myself.

paa502

I live in Peabody. All the work on my 964 is done by EPE in Natick.