I know I am in the land of the TB party, but it isn't likely I will do any work myself, so if people wouldn't mind sharing some of the typical and not so typical repair costs and experiences I would really appreciate it. My goal is to gather a reasonable set of information and make some kind of a brief guide for new and prospective owners. Nothing too fancy, a list and description of all the years, a spec chart to see what changed, collection of links, and from this thread some idea of what common repairs cost and/or require in time and tools. Regional and shop to shop variation in cost might be very helpful as well.

Top of my curiosity list are; PPI, TB, WP, and AC. A common format would also be real helpful, like

2006, Los Angeles, dealer, tuneup, $35, 1 hour, tools required Visa card and newspaper coupon, 1988 S4, needed to pass smog test, worked fine. Book time and shop rate would also be great to compare.

Thanks, anything that results from this will have all personal info removed, be available to anybody here that wants it free, but might get stuck on ebay for some cost of doing it amount like $1 or so.

 

My understanding of having somebody else do the work is that it will cost on the order of one arm and one leg.

PPI, about $150. Figure $3k+ per year ongoing, unless you get a really good example that is in absolutely perfect shape. Still no guarantee you won't spend big bucks. A few on this list have spent nearly nothing over a couple years. Somebody documented all his expenses, and it was $5K a year for the first about 4 years, then very little the next 2, and ended up about $3K.

 

Where are you located? Hourly rate tends to vary geographically (and - IN GENERAL - P-car dealers are the highest...and also don't know $hit about sharks!)

 

I live in the city of Orange, Orange county, Calif. Twenty years ago Greg Brown got the honor of messing with my 914 2.0, and I am sure he misses me a bunch and looks forward to my buying a 928. I bought my last 928 from Bozzani in West Covina, but my last local dealer was the Lincoln Mercury dealer here in Orange that also sold Porsche for a few years. They used to have two service lanes, $65 Lincoln, and $85/hr Porsche.

I would like to have more than my region though so it would be useful to other people.

$3k a year isn't something I can sink my teeth into, it needs cost by thing so I can related to it. Lots of people around here get a annual contract with the car wash for around $700 if I remember correctly. I had a $200/month tire habit for a brief time. Replaced AC evaporator is something I can related to, not a yearly total.

 

This is a tough one -- +1 to what Mark said, and on top of that -- for any given region -- costs of a given repair can vary widely. Someone can charge you $3000 for a TB/WP. They screw it up, you pay $7000 to have the job done again plus replace all the bent valves. So that's a $10,000 TB/WP job.

Best bet might be to get ahold of the "book" that is used to find out "book time" on repairs, maybe distill it down to hours per job, and people can work with that.

 

There are VERY FEW good 928 mechanics left. I've been dissappointed just enough to do most repairs updates myself. Then again, I live in the boonies w/few options. I've learned so much about the 928, I don't want to start learning another type.

HH

 

How about:

Timing belt - $1500
Torque Tube replacement - $2000
Intake manifold R&R - $1500
Change fluids - $500
Replace motor mounts $1000

YMMV. I wouldn't want to see the bill for someone tracking down an intermittent idle issue.

 

lifted from a post by bcdavis.."60,000 In Repair Bills

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok...

I did what I was always afraid to do.

Added up how much I have spent on my 928 over the past 8 years of ownership.

It came to close to $60,000.

Which is about $600 a month.

Obviously, some of my repairs were upgrades, like s4 suspension and brakes, and swapping in a black interior, and a repaint... But mostly repairs.

Just something to think about, if you plan on keeping an OB alive.
You had better be willing to do your own work, or be willing to spend " ....
Just one data point from a very particular former 928 owner .

 

I hate to admit this, but..... I spent over 7k for a/c alone. The shop never got it correct and did some nonstandard rewiring under the consul to bypass freeze switch (dumb a$$es). Decided to do it myself finally and went online to get 609 certificate (bought wayyyy too much r-12!), dyes, vacume pump, flush kit/solvent, nitrile O rings, guages. Locally I picked up 2 r-12 recovery units (less than $200 for both). Did both my '86.5 and '81 one time and they are set.

 

I can do the small stuff myself, but I may need a mechanic in the future. Before buying my 928, I called a couple of "so called" Porsche independent shops. It was amazing how little and how much incorrect info they gave me. I am a little afraid to take my car to a shop, I am afraid of getting "taken" and have the car not fixed correctly. I am hoping some CD repair manuals and my Lincoln Mercury mechanic friend can help fix anything that might come up.

 

Sorry, a 928 is not the kind of car for you if you cant do at least some of the work yourself, unless you are rich.

To answer some of your questions, in the Atlanta area most European shops get from $75-120 /hour.

There is NO WAY I am going to give some one a firm price for working on a car over ten years old. You just never know what has been screwed up before that you are going to have to fix when you get started on something.

PPI's how far do you want them to go?

T-belt and water pump, are they going to have the knowledge to do this correctly? what if the water pump bolts break off?

A/C work, that is one you just have to start repairing leaks and replacing things until you get it right. I have seen many cars come into our shop with a loss of charge in the A/C system. We put UV dye in it and charge it and fix all of the leaks we can find then, will it stay fixed? That depends on a lot of things, how long has the system been down?

Emmisions problems, that depends on what it is that it fails on.

The real problem you run into when you start working on old cars is what else you have to do while you are in there doing a paticular repair.

If any shop quotes you book times on any thing on it I will be willing to bet that they wont on the next one they work on, unless they know the car very well.

I am starting to know the S4's pretty well and I do work on cars for a living, but giving some one a quote on a S4 that I have never seen before that they want me to stick to just is not going to happen here

The flat rate book is a good starting point for what could be the least you could expect to pay for a job.

 

I second that about not being able to do anywork, then you shouldnt buy a 928. Instead buy a new WRX or something and use it till the waranty expires.

When i bought my engine from Devek, the repair receipts were included as part of the deal, and out of curiosity i added up the work done, and it came to $15,000 or $17,000 i forget for just a year! And everything was relatively minor, there were some expensive parts, namely wiring harness, but its a bunch of little crap that can add up like crazy! I think the guy was probably happy when the car was totaled, no more crazy repair bills. The car only covered maybe 10K miles in that time and was in the shop maybe 5-6 times in the one year, maybe 14 months or so.

These are not cheap cars, they are ok if you are a capable wrench.

 

Couldn't agree more on that sentiment. With my financial situation I wouldn't have even considered a 928 without:

1. Being able to work on it myself
2. Rennlist

For me, having one or the other would not have worked for me. Putting those 2 together, and I am good to go.

Sa-weet! I own a 928! And it runs great! And I haven't crashed the family budget!

Who's better then me!

Ed

 

If I lived in the land of timing belt parties I would be very apt to buy a barbeque.

I have never met a 928 mechanic who has been able to do a job correctly the first time, or hasn't overlooked something that should have been done while it was apart.

Shop for a mechanic first, and then buy a well maintained car, and 3K should get you through a typical year. These cars are not incredibly complicated if you have aptitude, but nobody who works on them will care as much about them as you will.

Budget an allowance for sorting your ''new'' 928. They always will need something when you first get them. Hence the need to shop for a mechanic first.

If you do get a 928, and decide to have it serviced by a mechanic, get used to this phrase; "What do you expect, it's a Porsche!''. If your mechanic tells you this , run, don't walk , away from his establishment. A mechanic once told my wife that working on my car was his retirement fund. Sadly enough, I would have kept contributing, except he couldn't seem to figure out that he should test drive the car before returning it to me. YMMV

 

Local indy shop;

All belts, rollers etc. done, new WP...

Over $5k


The car was in the shop with TB light and belt noise issue, and I didn't get a definate price. I just ASSUMED it was going to be $2500-3k.

I've moved on...


Parker
889285SPD.