KuHL 951

I'll make this short as I can and vent quickly. My son has been driving the 944S and working in the Bay Area. Last Tuesday the radiator sprung a serious leak at the DS crimped tank. He had it towed to a local import shop that spotted the leak but wanted $1100 to replace the radiator While it was on the lift he walked around to check wheel bearings. The front left was as loose as any wheel I've ever seen. I rented a carrier and towed it back here. I ordered cooling parts plus wheel bearings and prayed the spindle wasn't scored. We figure it happened when he had to back up a long way where he worked. I pulled the wheel and found there was no thrust washer at all and the spindle nut had backed off far enough to stop at the center cap of the wheel. Luckily he only drove the car about 5 miles with the loose wheel and he never even felt it except when braking. I assume the last people to work on the hubs was the tire shop that mounted the Cayman wheels and new tires the PO had recently installed. They not only left the thrust washer off the left spindle but didn't put the dust caps back on either wheel. I had spare washers so all is good now but I can imagine the just freaking wheel coming off at freeway speeds and that's just not good. Now I need to figure out if the dust caps were left off intentionally because the wheels wouldn't fit right even with the 1/4" spacers.

No wonder I do all my own work. On a side note, I found the TB 'spring tensioner' needs to be reset after belt break-in; the tension wheel moved a good 1/4" when released. The car is running great and I guess we dodged a bullet. Sorry I had to vent

krystar

yea....always trust only yourself to tighten the lug nuts. at least the wheel didn't pop off. thank god.

944Ross

I have to wonder if Joe Average buys new cars just to avoid dealing with repair shops of all kinds. Stories like yours are just too common. Do you know any other industry dealing with life-and-death machinery that wouldn't have had someone checking the tire jockey's work before it went out on the road? Even Discount Tire has a foreman check the torque on lug nuts before they take the car out of the bay on a simple tire change.

Reimu

It's just a fact that people are more careful with their own things than other people's stuff. I'm sure they are very careful while working on their own cars.

I haven't been to a mechanic in a long time for this reason alone.

Mike C.

I agree it is far too common... and $1100 to replace a radiator! I know they mark up the part and add labor but that really seems excessive.

KuHL 951

Really, that's why I towed it home. A new radiator and all hoses came to less than $450 through Pelican and I know it was done right. It gave me a clear shot at the belts also for re-tension so it was a no-brainer. Anyone have a set of dust caps they are selling? I hope they clear the inside of the Porsche center caps on these wheels. Does anyone else have these Cayman wheels on their 87+ that might have the answer if the caps clear?

Thanks

JohnKoaWood

$450 and 6.5 hours labor @ $100 per hour = $1100.... Just my 2C...

I personally watch anyone working on my car, unless I do the work myself... Until I build a trust with the person doing the work, they are useless to me...

MichelleJD

Dayum Steve!

xsboost90

yeah that kind of stuff sucks. I have one shop i trust with my car- its there right now actually- getting an alignment- but i still check everything when i get the car home. I remember talking to a co-worker when i was a mechanic back in 2000, he told me he ran a BMW service dept. and if anyone ran a lug nut down w/o a torque wrench they were automatically fired on the spot.

Legoland951

The dust caps will NOT fit many of the late wheels. I had to grind off some of the wheel material for it to fit but left most of the "hubcentric" material for the wheel to be centered properly. I know America's tire company will go out of their way to work on the car right. Their customer service is second to none around here. I saw one customer blame the store for her speedometer not working after the tires were changed. They paid to have her sensor replaced sensor even though it had nothing to do with the tires (transmission actuated speedo). She had the nerve to go back and try to have her radio replaced because she said it stopped working after the tires were replaced. That one didn't fly though.

Many shops go by retail on parts and book labor. When tax and waste fees etc are charged, its not hard for the radiator to be $500 just for the part. Call Porsche if you want to entertain yourself. A crankshaft new for any 2.5L lists for something like $3800.

KuHL 951

Agreed, I have no problem with their estimate, except maybe the $480 for the radiator; I just can't afford it. Otherwise they were a great shop, were honest, and pressure washed the lower end first at at no charge so their guy could find the leak. My rant about the tire shop was from before I bought the car. I'm not sure who left the thrust washer off and didn't tighten the spindle nut right but they should never had been so lax in doing the job right.

Lego. Do you know of anyway to fab a shallower or flat dust cap that might fit and still clear the hubcentric center? I don't like the thought of water and debris getting in there.

Legoland951

Any dust cap will require more grinding of aluminum off the wheel. I would use the centercap of the wheel as the dust seal and put an O-ring there if you want to be really sure. I am not sure how much water the center of the wheels get as water dissipates radially as the tire spins. If you are really concerned, have them machine the wheel and find a proper rubber washer to press against the center of the hub to the inside center of the wheel.

eniac

Who the f@ck would leave a dust cap off the hub/wheel bearing?!? Whether a P-car or a Ford.... that's plain stupidity.

O M G ........thats all I gotta say. OMG.

Rock

If this is the Western Hills Bear Alignment, then you're right. They did an alignment on me cabby and after that, the car felt like a new car again. The guy we were talking to there knew a lot about cars in general too!

The problem is that its so hard to find good help these days. A lot of mechanics are idiot kids that the only experience they have is spray painting the intake manifold on their Honda Civic hatchback.

There are very very few people I trust my car to. And I think ive watched these people long enough that I'm fairly confident in my abilities to maintain my own shat now. I kind of have this old motto that I made up, and that is if I cant maintain a car myself, then I wont own it. Luckily for me all of the cars that I own right now, I can fix just about anything on. (Granted all of them have had some Xsboost help too)