nsantolick

I've got to tell you that if a mechanic tells me he's been working on cars every day for 40 years, it scares me. Sure, maybe they're the Dali Lama all knowing wise perfect infallible mechanic after 40 years. They also can be just good enough to keep the typical used Honda running and masters of bad-idea short cuts, dangerously bad assumptions & completely lack even a trace of integrity. To me, someone quick to mention their 40 years makes me fear having an ego that prevents checking the facts at times.

I know a little bit about the Citroens (SM & 2CV), Maseratis, Alfa Romeos, Jaguars, Mercedes, Saabs, Toyotas, Porsches, Lamborghini, Volvos & Delorean I've tinkered with, one way or another, over the last 25 years. Sure, I know SOMETHING but I think the varied marques have the potential to have done more harm than good, as opposed to if I'd always only worked on 928s, even if for a relatively short time.

There have been tons of misunderstandings and outright fallacies that I've now found I harbored - attitudes that may have been appropriate for other brands, but are very dangerous ideas when thinking of 928s. With a 928, it seems it's been really bad to assume anything, because of whatever experience I have with non-928's...

I'd waaaaaaaaaaaaay rather hire a paranoid, humble mechanic who has to double check everything when working on a car that he's even willing to admit he doesn't know everything about. That, to me, is waaaaaaaaay better than a guy who really thinks years on the job means that he's infallible...

RE: "Mechanic bashing" - Is there any other car that is more prone to disaster by trusting it to a guy that thinks he knows it all yet hasn't really had much experience with one? If I'd taken the time to read a couple of posts about bad mechanics, I might not have screwed up as much as I did. In the end, I could have had a nice GTS for what I have into my S4, and the money is the least of the expense. The stress and all of it made the money nearly insignificant.

I do love the idea of doing my own work, from now on. I hope I maintain the humility to not think that I shouldn't double check most everything with the consensus of the more experienced Rennlist 928 people...

rligeti

Feel better. Percodan helps a lot with that...

dr bob

There are good mechanics and there are good mechanics with 928 experience. You can gain very similar experience working on similar-age Mercedes cars, but it isn't exactly the same. The good mechanic who claims expertise on the 928 has or has access to the WSM's at minimum. If he's doing a TB replacement, the by-feel tension-checking method is not adequate, nor is the "til the light goes out plus another turn for safety" method. Both are red-flags In my opinion.

I spent a bit of time working on interesting cars to put myself through school way back when. Some British, some Italian, lots of Volvo and Saab, no Fiats. I fixed a nagging problem for a Jaguar owner at relatively low cost one day, and was inundated with Jag work from then on. A loose belt can cause electrical and overheating problems... So I became an "experienced" Jaguar mechanic.

Patience, persistence and care are virtues when it comes to most cars. Many mechanics learn by doing, some by formal training. If you can find a good real mechanic, you are off to a great start. Sometimes there's a learning curve. You have to weigh your options, whether you want them to learn on your car, do it yourself, or take it to that good mechanic who has already learned. Sometimes you'll do well to work with your good mechanic to help him learn the car, and that may include sharing your WSM's, special tools, tips page printouts, and the collective RL learnings.

Some people should line up their mechanics and support networks long before they actually buy a particular car too. The "inexperience" pendulum swings both ways.

blown 87

Very few days go by that I do not learn something new, but one thing i learned a long time ago is to have a interview with any perspective Porsche owner who want me to do work for them, many do not make the cut.

Most are worried about the final cost, not the quality of the job, I do work at my own pace and charge accordingly.
I also do not give estimates, only that the job will be done at a fair price and done correctly.

I have not had one filed complaint in the last 18 years and I think that says something about the level of work I do.

I do not care if you think i have a ego or not, you do not know me, but I suspect some here can vouch for me.

blown 87

I will and soon.

blown 87

I had you mixed up with the op, sorry.

SeanR

If anyone asks me what I know about these cars, I tell 'em I don't know anything. Just what I read on the intranets. Usually gets a good chuckle.

I really hate giving an estimate on anything, because as soon as I do, I'm working twice as long on it......

Don't sweat it Greg, have him pull the tooth. I just got my front teeth repaired (nice chip in one), had a nice smile going for me and thentwo cups of tea later, the ****** are stained....wife had to point that out to me...

nsantolick

I didn't know, nor care much that you're actually a mechanic. I certainly don't know if you're a good one, and really, it's awesome if you genuinely are. You telling me that you are wouldn't be enough though. Mechanics bragging of years of experience "got me" more than once, hence my post.

All I'm saying is that a lot of them do have some debilitating egos and just because they're really into bragging how amazing they just must be doesn't, in my experiences, mean that they'll actually do a good job. Most of them just make **** up, before they'll admit that they don't know something. It's an insult to them to even question if they heard about this, or that.

Now that you mention it though, I've got to say that when I was shopping around, before anyone messed it up, I choose NOT to go to one place, despite having personally known him for 25+ years. He gave me the "it'll be done fast, no matter how long it takes" line as well as the "it'll be reasonable, for the work" lack of idea just what to expect the job to cost thing. He's one of them that denounced using a meter of any kind with the timing belt, claiming his omnipotence as a mechanic gave him highly sensitive fingers, far more accurate than the thousand dollar tool that the factory sells. I ran...

Sorry if my standards on a mechanic demand that when it comes to a job that may cost thousands, I'd like an estimate more precise than "it'll be fair..." I'd like to have a better idea of when to expect my car back, when paying a "professional" thousands than "when at my own pace, I get to it..." I really don't care if they want to interview "perspective" owners, or enforce a strict dress code with their "clients" or possibly require references from other mechanics swearing that customers would never ever complain. I wouldn't even be impressed in any way if they expect customers to bow and kiss their gold plated brass Lincoln Tech class ring.

Sure, things cost more sometimes, to do it the "right way..." I expect that they won't do anything but "the right thing when I go to a shop. I'm the freaking master of overdoing most anything in my life, which is why this particular car has been such an colossal elephant phallus at times, rammed in my colon, again and again...

The only thing worse than my whole Dumbo nightmare is the King Kong one that's been known to happen when I meet a mechanic with an out of check ego.

As far as egos go, I wasn't saying at all that YOU do, because, really, how would I know? There I go again. Seems you do, because you're so quick to tell me how great you are. You're states away and I've already said, I'm doing it myself.

I'd agree with what someone said about references. That's a must, if I'd ever consider it again, but, like I said, I'm happy with the idea of doing it all myself, whatever the expense, but taking the time that I do it with the excellence I'd hoped to get from past expensive repair shops, but rarely experienced.

So, aside from your expectation of respect and trust because of your say so, really, the only clue I have that you may be good is the fact that you're active on the forums here. That, to me, means waaaaaaaaaay more than claimed years of experience or claimed selectivity of potential customers, even with so many not making "the cut..."

I really am quite happy now. The car's looking good, and, one by one, I'm going over my list of things I want to do, often times over after the mistakes of others - others I trusted in the past because of their assurances of how great they are or how much they know or how long they've been around automobiles. My own work, as a professed amateur, seems to CONSISTENTLY far exceed the detail that they have proven capable of, no matter how much they brag.

This post was just about warning signs of bad mechanics, and maybe advice on finding if an unknown to Rennlist one is good enough for the job at hand. My biggest contribution would be "trusting that they're good enough because they say they are..."

George Carlin once said that: "Do you realize that somewhere in the world exists a person who qualifies as the worst Porsche 928 mechanic? If you took the time, by process of elimination you could actually determine the worst Porsche 928 mechanic in the world. And the funny part is knowing that someone has an appointment to take his 928 in for a timing belt tomorrow."

James Bailey

At least one study has found that about 50% of ALL auto repairs are un-needed. Either by mistake or driven by greed. It does not help that the friendly service writers in the dealerships are paid comission and strongly urged by management to increase the gross ! The most common "upsell" is brakes. Story goes like this.... You drop of the car for warranty work/oil change.....Then you get the phone call. Mr Jones while we we doing the oil change were going to rotated the tires for free.... BUT we noticed that your brake pads are worn pretty bad maybe only 25 % left. You want to take care of that now or did you want to bring it back in a few weeks ? We can just put the wheels back on for now but if you go too long you are going to need new rotors.........I recently talked with a VW service guy they did a number of warranty/recalls on the 2002 Passat. He had left that dealership before because of the pressure. He worked at a big M B dealership which when car sales declined really put the heat on the service department to SELL ! He went back to the VW store because they had new owners with a reputation for being honest ! And no he did not try to sell me anything.......I wonder if he still has a job ?

Mrmerlin

most of my work comes from word of mouth, if you ever brought your car here I am confident that it would be fixed correctly and at a reasonable price for my wonderful service.

I have also found that customers walking in would usually request me to work on their cars as I usually had the fender covers installed, thus protecting the finish.
I work primarily on 928s but I can fix just about anything , I will always request a service manual or look one up prior to opening up someones pandoras box

blown 87

Good luck with your 928

928 at last

Greg,
Drugs aren't the answer.......

What was the question again????????

On a serious note though,

My input here is references are the only way to "pre-qualify" a mechanic.

Having said that, a couple more observations.

1). I like Greg's approach. And, most importantly, he's got the credentials to support it. Anybody can say fair and honest, but, I've yet to see or hear anything negative, and that to me at least, means that the man is prepared to deliver on the promise..

2). Greg's approach isn't for everybody, especially if someone's pushing the boundaries of the budget, but, fair and honest works really well for me. (And I've done my time in the profession, and on the receiving side of the invoice).

3). Being honest, competent and fair in today's business world is very seldom rewarded appropriately. (Yes I'm jaded, and, if you have a contrary opinion, I'd love to debate).

JHowell37

For me, ownership is contingent on being able to service and repair my 928 myself. I feel little sympathy for those who buy 20+ year old cars, and are totally unable/unwilling to turn a wrench, thus spending countless thousands of dollars for trivial repairs and maintenance I wouldn't give a second thought about doing myself. And then they get upset when the work is done improperly, or the shop lets the car sit in the corner for months.

I blame the shop for taking on a job they're unwilling or unable to do, but I also blame the owner for knowing so little about their car that they fail to realize that most shops probably aren't going to have the 1 or two special tools needed to do something as basic as a timing belt. To me, it just seems like common sense when you have old ****, you need to know a thing or two about it so at a minimum, you can avoid being taken to the cleaners.

Too many mechanics are like chicks who give bad handjobs. You reach a certain level of disappointment, and you know you're better off handling the issue yourself.

karl ruiter

Never been able to have anybody else work on my cars. There are a few good 928 guys out there. Some of the best know how good they are, and they have charges and attitudes to go with that. Nothing wrong with that at all. Just not for me. So my cars sit on stands for years sometimes.

NoVector

I think Mrmerlin nailed it--word of mouth and then seeing if they have the experience. For me, the local PCA was a good way to talk with other local owners and see who they trust their cars to and also the 928 GTGs. And then, it comes to the experience. I'm 3/4's way into a TB/WP PKtensioner install and I'm still amazed at the little things that if someone didn't know, could end up costing $$ later. I.e., if a mechanic accidently put the oil pump gear in backwards becuase he didn't notice the little dimple on the back of the gear.