Bill51sdr

Have you had any work done to the car in the recent past? Did this stalling problem come on gradually? Who diagnosed the alternator as bad and were they attributing the stalling problem to it?

ew928

Would it be wise to get a total dollar amount of work they have done so far and then proceed.
Agreed with Bill Swift. Did they proclaim a bad alternator to be causing stalling?

It gets too pricey for them to keep swapping out GUESSES and maybe make the car run fine afterwards.


Good luck, SoCalGirl

fraggle

That mechanic is looking for money. Go Elsewhere Now. He might eventually fix whatever is wrong, but not until you pay his shop rates to train him.

socalgirl

ohhh boy...my nervousness, just escalated
So the car started not starting right away, once a month about 2 months ago.
Then it died in the middle of my being stopped at a traffic light. And it wouldnt start again. Once started a day later, it stopped mid-street, hence the tow to the car doc...
He said "I am 99% sure the starting problem is the alternator. Once we get it in we can see if it still stalls we may have another issue, but Im almost 100% sure this will take care of it"
And now for the MILLION DOLLAR question, that you are all thinking, and no one is brave enough to tell my gentle ears....Did I even need the very expensive, saved money for two weeks, alternator???

morganabowen

SoCal Girl, Oscar lives in Lake Elsinor, which is a short ride from Temecula, I will try and see if I can find his e-mail address. he is extremely knowledgeable about the 928, and owns a terrific example of a beautiful shark. He does all his own work. Hopefully, he can recommend a wrench in your area

Charley B

It would be really unusual for a competent mechanic not to be able to test an alternator before replacing it.

ew928

My car died once due to a weak alternator.
The simple test done was to start the car, then load up the electrical side by turning on AC and headlights on high beam. I didn't have a voltmeter then so this was the simple test.

Car idled by died as soon as I hit the high beams.
It wasn't conclusive but sure helped narrow down the culprit.

I've since got one of those cigarette lighter voltmeters to give a rough idea if the electrical side is goofy. It's not accurate but gives a general idea of the health of the battery and alternator.

Hope someone can help you out. Hate to fund this mechanic's boat/summer home/race car fund.

socalgirl

THANKS MORGANABOWEN

rjm65

I've just about always done my own work, and the few times I've had to seek "professional" help I knew what the problem was and needed the work done for me because I didn't have the proper tools, time, etc. Now, what is the policy of most shops, what is most common, when they misdiagnose a problem and replace a good part? Do they still make you pay for the part you didn't need?

Charley B

Unless you and they agree before hand that they will not charge if it doesn't solve the problem, you pay for it.

6mil928

I'm kinda thinking fuel filter or fuel dampener. We have really bad gas here and I have to change fuel filters often. My cars performance gradually degrades till it gets to the point I notice it. It usually starts up slower than normal when the fuel filter gets clogged.

worf928

guess is not what you want to hear from someone working on your 928.

If I was wearing your shoes I'd rather pay $500 to have the car towed to Bill Ball's than pay this "guesser" any more money.

The problem you described could be as simple as a tired $5 fuel pump relay. If I was going to guess at the problem I'd swap the horn relay for the fuel pump relay. That's a $0 guess. If you can get the car back you can do that swap yourself in 5 minutes and see if it cures the problem.

Folks, I don't know the lay of the land in CA, but surely there's a lister that can do a few basic checks on socalgirl's 928 in the vicinity?

Hilton

Make sure you get the old alternator back too.. that way you'll have a spare!

Also, find a mechanic who isn't spending your money guessing.

Mrmerlin

you can get a fuse relay chart from here, just type in your year www.928gt.com
Goodluck, Stan

Ed Hughes

I'm not going to pile on here, but based on what you've said-the car started to show signs of hard starting intermittently a while back, the last thing I'd suspect is the alternator. My guess is you cut your losses with this fool, you've at least got a new alternator now, and find someone else who knows what they are doing.

The next time you have an issue, get with the board here. I bet you'll have all of the 928 owners in SoCal tripping over each other to show you how much they know and how much they can help you.