greenshoes3

Just curious, I have done all of my own maitenance so far and hope to keep it that way, but will a porsche dealership work on 80's cars anymore?

moronputz

My local Porsche dealership is quite happy to work on older cars. Whilst mine has not been there yet I know of another 1990 944 that is serviced there and I have seen older 944s, 928s and 911s there as well.

Eyal 951

the ones around here hate 944's, and will sometimes even turn them away (if the tech has anything to say about it)

89magic98

The main problem is that their 944 "expert" (if one exists at the dealership) doesn't see enough of these cars anymore to have a clue about the typical problems that come with the age of the car.

ELLSSUU

New Orleans dealer has several techs that own/race 944's. They'll take them anytime.

PuttingThePoorBackInPorsche

I've never gotten any attitude at all bringing a 944 to a dealership and frankly I'd tell them to shove any such snooty attitude right up their ***** if I did. There are a lot of people out there that ended up getting "indoctrinated" into the world of P-cars because of the 944 that later went on to spend thousands on 911s or other "higher end" vehicles. The 944 saved Porsche during a time when it was floundering. . . Any $10-an-hour tech grunt that ever tried giving me attitude about it would find him/her self getting an embarassing on-the-spot history lesson and probably in front of their manager as well. . .

I agree with the "do your own maintenance" thing though. You'd be surprised how often a stealership will "take in" the car for maintenance, charge a premium for it, and then simply outsource it to a local specialist/garage that does the work for them. I know for a fact the dealership near me does this. A few hours after you leave, your car gets put on a flatbed and shipped to a local guy that knows 944s - it simply isn't practical to keep the techs trained to support every model ever produced and all the associated special tools & equipment on-hand.

I'm fairly certain my local dealership even outsources ALL carbureted cars, including 911s, simply because their techs can't tune carbs properly.

jgporsche

i'm sure if i showed up at a porsche dealership with either of my 944s, they would tell me to go down the street to the VW dealership

dmjames

The one in my area (Tom Wood) will take them, but that doesn't mean they should. I'm convinced that their techs (at least the peon techs) have barely seen a 944, much less ever really wrenched on one.

I'd say you'd best ask how many 944s the shop in question deals with. If it's a small number, keep looking.

Bill Lucas

"Any $10-an-hour tech grunt that ever tried giving me attitude about it would find him/her self getting an embarassing on-the-spot history lesson and probably in front of their manager as well. . . "

Umm, it may surprise you to learn this but those "tech grunts" makes way more than $10 an hour. Service technicians area a nicely compensated group. BTW, aren't you displaying a snooty attitude yourself with your not so kind words about automobile technicians?

Bri Bro

Tom Wood is the only parts dept that would work with me on getting shims and other small ticket items for my car. Never did any service work with them, but my hats off to the parts dept.

BrianAg95

If they outsource your car, you should follow them and see where they go, then take it there next time and pay less..

1987na

I know the dealer in Des Moines, IA only has one mechanic for 944's, but they still did a good job fixing mine.

dmjames

True, they will do a pretty decent job of getting whatever parts you're looking for, but they'll charge (unsurprisingly, but *ouch*) full Porsche list prices ($50 for the rear license bracket, etc.). They also didn't let me know that some parts had been backordered- I was expecting a few things by the end of the week (having ordered them on Monday), but didn't get them for an extra two weeks. I'd have walked away and gotten the parts elsewhere, but they require you to pay in advance, and will only give a partial refund, even if the parts haven't shipped. Then they got defensive when I asked why they didn't inform me of the backorder...

They'll help you find what you need, but the rest of the process isn't so amazing.

quinnfiske

My car had it's last belt/waterpump service at a dealer in Burlington Vermont a couple of years ago. A friend of mine had the clutch hydraulics in his 924S changed at a dealer in Wisconsin and they kept the car 4 months! So it seams to vary from dealer to dealer.

M758

You can call and ask. My guess it it will depend on the dealer and if they have an older tech that is familiar with the 944. Do remember that the 944 is not that old. Sure ans 83 is 23 years old, but the last "944" was a 95 968. Those are 10 years out of production, but will have been to the dealers and probably a number still get looked at.

Now it does not mean the dealer is the best place to get work done on 944. Ask aroud locally and you can probably find shops that do more 944 work more often and for less money.