jebia

A local mechanic quoted me a price of $350 for replacing my crank seal. Its leaking from that area, best I could tell by looking underneath.

Is this a fair price? I intend to have the belts replaced at the same time (they now have 20k miles on them).

thanks in advance,

Jon
Albuquerque

Dmitry S.

That is on the higher end of the spectrum, but is a fair price if this is a Porsche specialized shop that has lots of experience.

If you shop around, you might find someone to do it for under $300, but for me, I would pay more for a reputable mechanic to do the job.

Legoland951

A crank seal is basically a PS belt, AC belt, timing/balance shaft belt, and only 6 or 7 bolts less than a water pump. I think its fair since most people won't even do the timing belt for that amount.

Porsche-O-Phile

DIY. Then you can have the fun of it leaking after replacing it three times like me.

Granite 944

Are you saying, that they want to charge an additional $350.00 for changing that seal WHILE they are in there, doing a belt change "at the same time"? If so, YES, that IS WAY to much extra to pay for changing that seal.

If, all they are doing is JUST the seal, than I'd say.........yeah, thats about right right. 20K miles on belts? Why are we replacing? AGE? More info, please.

Leaking from the front? It COULD be something OTHER than the crankseal also.


"fair price"..........s**t.........who knows.........without a WHOLE lot more and clearer info, than what you've given, so far..........really. Are they "Porsche familiar/experienced" ? I know LOTS of local mechanics, I wouldn't let get NEAR the engine of any of my cars. Cars are way to specialized, these and now. Hope your not trusting just any local mechanic.

jebia

Thanks for the feedback.

The $350 charge is to replace the leaking seal only (not additional to doing other work).

Since it will take removal of the belts to do the seal replacement I thought about replacing the belts with new ones at the same time (my idea, not the mechanics). I know the belts still have life (only 20k on them, and 3 years), but I figure for the cost of the belts ($20 - $30), I would be good to go for another 40k miles (or 4 years).

I had the water pump done about 10Kmiles ago, so I'm not going to do that.

The shop is a specialized porsche shop (actually porsche and mercedes, its not the dealer).

I'm a fairly handy mechanic (I built a harley from the frame up), but after doing a forum search on doing this seal, I understand that it can be tricky (leaking shortly after install). Thats why I'd rather just shop it out.

It may turn out to be leaking from a little higher up on the engine, but after cleaning, and driving the leak seems to be running down from the seal.

Jon

austin944

If you're sure it's the crank seal, I would probably have the balance shaft seals and the cam seals (e.g. all the front seals) replaced. You got to figure if one seal is leaking, it won't be long before the others start leaking as well. And it's just a little more labor/parts to replace them.

I don't think the seal is prone to leaking after an install. There have been a few people who've had bad luck, but I replaced it successfully and I'm an average to beginner mechanic. I made some mistakes along the way, but nothing that was not easily fixable afterwards.

Granite 944

Jon, sounds like ya got a decent handle on this then.

My only concern here is that if one goes in there, and only does one specific thing like WP (and nothing else) or belts (and nothing else), then, ya know, it can get a little dicey as to what may or may not be next to go Thats why I think, a lot of these guys (myself included) say its probably a good idea to do belts/rollers/ALL front seals/WP when your in there, and just be done with it. Sometimes, going back in there for misc. items, one at a time, can just help to speed up things like that crank seal/O-ring failure, or.......at the very least, just make the individual replacement mileage replacement intervals, a nightmare to keep track of. Just a thought. I don't know, or maybe you don't even know for sure, when all the front seals were done last on this car. The WP sounds like it should have lots of life in it (was it a "new" pump, or rebuilt, when installed....something else to consider here), and the belts.........maybe still good.........depending on oil intrusion and such.

Why don't ya just do it yourself? The whole nine yards? $350.00 should get ya all brand new parts (except the WP), and then you'll KNOW for sure, where your at with it all, and can go from a fresh start. I myself, like to get everything up front there, to a fresh start, beggining point, so maintenance interval is gonna be predictable.....somewhat. To each their own, I suppose. Costs, time, and your individual requirements/expectations, is whats at hand here too. Your call.

$350.00 for having a shop replace just the front crankseal replacement ONLY, doesn't sound like that bad a price.............by itself.

Good luck!

jebia

Thanks for your perspective. You make a lot of sense (doing every thing at one shot).

Jon

H2

DIY is what I did and it worked. But I wouldn't do anyone else's car for $350. I don't have time, I work slow and meticulously, and I wouldn't want to hassle with a redo if I were to happen to do something wrong. Mine's working great but you have to be careful taking the old seal out that you don't score the fitting surface...and that you have the correct size replacement seal..that you don't put parts on backwards,...etc. etc.

$350 is not a bad price up in this neck of the woods (literally it is woods). We have to go to the big city to get the work done anyway...so more incentive for DIY. Plus, it's fun.

Harvey

H2

However, if the mechanic already has the front of your engine off....I'd think to just go the extra little bit to replace the crank seal wouldn't be that much. $350 would be too much unless he replaced a lot of parts in the process (there may be more than a seal that needs to be replaced).

Harvey