88porsche928

I think next time I am going to check the bbb
http://sandiego.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Repo...&firm=41000107

blown 87

Sometimes these cars are not even for the mechanicly inclined.

Everything on these cars is high dollar and if you have to pay somebody like me 75$ and up a hour to work on them they soon become garage queens.

I know of a few in my area that are never driven and not for sale because they can not afford to fix them, not that they will admit it, but they can tell folks "I own a V8 Porsche".

I am a shop owner and I wonder if this is a car I can afford to buy, but not to feed, we shall see.

88porsche928

Hi Brown, you said you own a shop? The next time "if I take my car some where else" what kind of questions should I ask? Are you required by law to give an estimate? Can you keep some ones car until they pay you? I might be very paranoid but I have a feeling this guy is going to make up a whole bunch of charges and charge me for storage and milk me for months. Is their laws to protect me from that? I use to go to a mechanic with a different car but that was in Florida and my family has been going their for years.

dr bob

California has some very protective laws that help consumers. But they can't protect you from yourself sometimes. One of the prime things is that you need to agree on charges for services before they start. That's the written estimate that Jim Bailey mentioned. If the charges will exceed the estimate by more than a some small percentage, they are required to get your authorization before they proceed. This would typically be used to cover hidden requirements, stuff not apparent at the time the original estimate was written. You have the right to tell them to stop work at that point, and you can go pick your car up after paying for what they have done. Still within the limits of your estimate, of course. If you fail to pick the car up in a reasonable time, they can charge you reasonable storage. If you fail to pay for work authorized, they can hold your car, charge storage against it, and eventually sell it at auction to pay delinquent charges. There's a whole dispute resolution system with the state if you feel you've been treated unfairly, and the procedure for that is available at the state website undeer the department of consumer affairs. The shop displays a sign with all that info too, including a telephone number you can use to get the process started immediately. You get to pay the whole bill when you pick the car up, and then recover any settlement dollars when the dispute process has run its course. The processs is used to cover malpractice, negligence, and fraud. It doesn't cover slow or stupid unless that falls under one of the other headings somehow.

You need to get to the shop to get a cap on the charges and discuss options with them on what it needs and what you'll want to do when they find out. You are asking them to bid blind on a project, so the estimates may be a lot more than you think it should be. Your opinion that it should only take half an hour gives away a lot. It takes half an hour to do just one or two very basic tests, like the spark test you did at home. By the time they pull the injector/fuel rail covers off, they've chewed through another half-hour, and they haven't tested for FI pulses yet. Pull all the injector plugs to isolate the harness is another half-hour. It goes on from there. In my neighborhood, shops need to charge well north of $100/hr for tech time just to keep the lights on and the employees and insurance paid. I have no reason to believe that San Diego is a lot less than L.A., especially for specialty car work.

If the shop hasn't done any work yet, and you are uncomfortable leaving it with them, go get it now before any charges are billed against it. Keep in mind that almost any car repair place will have a few unhappy customers, so get the whole story before you panic about one or two aw-****s. If there's an obvious pattern then of course you should be concerned.


It's too bad you don't live in the neighborhood here; you might have avoided some of the problems with just the tiniest amount of coaching from the beginning.

blown 87

The best thing you can do IMHO is get as much knowledge as you can about your car, spend money on tools, education and bandaids.

If you must take your car to a repair shop, make sure they know the 928 from back to front, very few do, hell, I own one, have been a paid wrench for 36 years, and I am no expert, I come here for advise.

I am not required to give a estimate and don't for the most part.
There is no way that anyone can give you a estimate with out doing some work on your car for a no start condition.

I tell people to either trust me or take it some place else and offer them a random selection of their own choice of my client database to call for a reference, but most of them have heard of me by word of mouth by the time they find me.

Most states ( at least Georgia) do allow a shop owner to keep a car until the bill has been paid, but this does not give any one the right, legal or other wise to screw you out of money for work that was not done and done right.
If you have been mistreated, hire a lawyer or a gunslinger, don't just let it go.

This part will probably get me flamed, but a lot of shop will not work on Porsche's because of the attitude of the owners.
I only agree to do repair work after a long owner interview. Just so they understand that it is not my fault that they own a poorly kept 20 year old German sport car, and I can do little about parts prices.
Yes a water pump for a Corvette at AutoZone is 35 dollars, but this ain't a Corvette and I am not using AutoZone parts, so your water pump may be 600 dollars, not my fault.

The bottom line is, if you do not feel comfortable with them take it some place else or better yet, let the real experts on the 928 help you fix it, you are all ready posting where the knowledge is and every one here is willing to help you.

blown 87

I bet that is some VERY good advise.

M. Requin

You won't see a more honest perspective than that, here or anywhere.

shmark

blown 87 - where are you in Georgia? Always looking for mechanically inclined people. I do a lot of my own wrenching, but it's always good to know where the good people are.

btw I love your avatar...

blown 87

I am in Sharpsburg Georgia, it is about 40 minutes south of the airport, just outside Peachtree City.

fraggle

That complaint looks wierd, too. The guy buys a car and takes 2+ months to sort everything out?

Nothing on a 928 takes an hour, especially if the guy isn't already an expert.

88porsche928

Update - i bought a used fuel injector harness from 928 intl "I am sure it is a good one" then the mechanic said is does not work, its chewed up like the old one. I am starting to wounder if I am ever going to see my car again. Is their anyone in San Diego free tomorrow? I told him I would stop my tomorrow and he will explain it to me. I don't want him to give me some made up terminology.

bd0nalds0n

Get your car back. Take it to somebody that can fix it. Greg Brown will fix it right, but it will not be cheap. But it will be a fantastic value. Then sell it.

Or sell it as is if you can't afford to fix it. Take your lumps now because it will only get worse, then it gets harder to leave.

Like has been said above, this is not the car for you. They're very expensive to own, and if you screw it up trying to fix it, it's going to be even more expensive for somebody else to undo what you did because you didn't know what you were doing. By doing things on the cheap--trying to fix it with limited to no experience, then taking it to somebody that isn't a 928 expert hoping they can fix it on the cheap, the mistakes are going to start compounding themselves VERY quickly.

Tuition on these cars is very high. I don't mean to be a dick, but if money and experience are tight, buy a Honda until the situation improves.

perrys4

More of the above...sell it if you are not willing to spend the $$ to keep it running. I have rarely left the mechanics shop with a bill under $500.00. They are usually over $1,000.00 I don't work on anything that affects the running condition of my car because I know better. You can do more harm than good. Decide what you are going to do and act on it quick before your into this guy for lots of cash you can't afford to pay.

dr bob

I'm not sure what 'chewed up like the old one' means. What was chewed up on the old one?

The common failure points on the efi harness are the wires and the connectors. The connectors are replaceable, and only tend to be damaged when they are abused during removal. Some heat-abused cars may have damaged wire insulation, but the bulk of the damage on at least the later cars comes from carelessness during removal and installation. The good news is that the connectors are available as separate service parts, and are common to enough cars that they can can be found at Autozone, Pep Boys, Kragen/Checker stores in our area. They are available online from places like eagleday. Do a search on 'AMP junior timer connector' for sources. The wire itself is replaceable, but generally problems show up as breaks in insulation that can be repaired using heat-shrink sleeves and poly shielding.

I'm really sorry I'm not local to you to lend a hand on this.

88porsche928

I went back to the car mechanic today and he said he did not want to install the used wire harness I bought. He showed me where at the connecting points wires were exposed on the new one and some of the wires where a little damaged. He also told me to buy a new engine speed sensor. He showed me it it was broke at the connect part and the #3 wire was pulled out because of the brake. I am going to see if I can find a new fuel injector wire harness. I want to get a new one so this guy will not give me any more excuses on why he can't fix it.