nsantolick

I got burned, a lot, by several shops when I bought my car and decided to just pay someone to do a timing belt service and a few other little projects. Numerous past posts better illustrate the additional circles of hell that Dante missed, but I'd eventually discover...

My fault. Lessons learned. Past. History. I'm nearly fully recovered and almost completely off my meds now. Sure, I have to do much of the work over now, but that's okay.

Perhaps I spent months harassing Nurse Ratched, and only was allowed to eat with a plastic spoon, but whatever. I AM happily working on it myself now, and hope to have it tip top soon, finally... (Kind of put it in my garage and forgot about it for a few months until recently...)

Common sense sometimes DOES elude me. Experience with my 928 does show me though that having a dealership with a lot of non-928 Porsche's, and Ferrari's, and Lotus's, and Maserati's and WHATEVER means absolutely NOTHING, even if the shop manager insists "they work on 928's all the time", or a mechanic claims to used to own one and fixed dozens. Claims to know more about maintaining and repairing a 928 than the cars designers DON'T MEAN A THING, even if they suggest that they first started repairing cars, in utero somehow, as a fetus.

Nevertheless, not everyone can work on their car, all the time, and not everyone has a great 928 shop in their area.

It seems that they all insist that they know what they're doing. Some are good salesmen and make you feel all warm and fuzzy about trusting them, UNTIL...

With that, I'm curious what simple warning signs should make one run like Forest Gump should they be entertaining the idea of a somewhat unknown shop.

What little signs have you all learned to look at as omens of impending doom??? What sort of stuff would scare the more learned off, if they just HAD to hire out work for their 928?

Landseer

No idea. This tech forum is all I've needed. Never even considered a shop except for alignment. But if I did, it would be a rennlister.

I just get a kick out of the whiny know-it-all owners come streaming through, bitching about previous owners and shops.

rligeti

I think first and foremost, I'd be asking for references from their 928 customers. Maybe get a hold of your local PCA chapter and see if the have any recommendations?

If the mechanics name is Cooter, run.

bronto

If the mechanic tells you to buy a 911 instead.

rligeti

or, if you see hondas, volvos, an old citroen half covered by a tarp, and a partially restored 60's mustang in the shop, look elsewhere...

jpNcos

Looking for the engine in the rear

nsantolick

Would you necessarily run if they said that they don't use ANY measuring tool when installing a timing belt, but rather prefer to use their thumb, pushing it until it "feels right?"

I ended up going with a pktensioner, and love the product, but in the beginning I didn't expect to, so I had asked a few shops in the area about "how they tension it properly" and absolutely nobody used any tool. Some even claimed to have the 9201, I think it's called, factory tool, but don't use it still. That really bothered me, but I wonder if an experienced mechanic COULD be consistently in range just by feel. I'd say NO, but, I'm curious what you all feel. To me, that's like "I don't need a torque wrench", and I've heard that a lot too over the years with a lot of foreign shops. Maybe it's just Pennsylvania... lol

nsantolick

blown 87

I agree, cause we all know that you can not even find the motor in a 928 if you work on anything else, hell a accountant could do a better job on a 928 than a guy that has been working on cars every day for 40 years.

This constant mechanic bashing gets old.

SQLGuy

When I got my first 928 (back in 1995), I called around to a bunch of local "Porsche" shops and just asked if they could tell me what engine management my '85 (S3) had... every shop but one said Motronic. The one that got it right is still where I bring my car for the stuff I don't do myself.

That said, the guys that weren't familiar enough with 928's to know that they never used Motronic, may still have done a fine job... I just feel that experience with a car and its idiosynchrasies (e.g. water pumps eating the block) can save both mechanic and customer time, money, and headache.

mickster

When they say: "...yeah I've seen one of them before-it's that 4 cylinder Porsche, right?"

rligeti

It wasn't bashing, it was a joke...

SeanR

Bad day Greg? I'm not seeing anything that is bashing so far, but I suppose if you wait long enough.

Here's one. If he ain't got a shop, but works out of his own place.

blown 87

Actually yea, I look like a freaking chipmonk, got a tooth that started giving me problems yesterday morning, and in 24 hours it has gotten really bad.

My dentist, who is a friend has been fighting and trying to save this one for 3 years, got me on Penicilin (sp?)

So i may be a bit harsh today, but this thread and the other one about the car that was going to a dealer both sounded like bashing to me.

I am going to go hug a large bottle of percadans and some beer, be back later with a new outlook.

danglerb

I don't think a layman has much of a chance at spotting a bad 928 mechanic, and maybe one chance in three of spotting a good one (has all the good signs, cars, books, etc.). Lots of funny stories could be told, but plenty of bad mechanics stay in business.

Sorry Mr Nettles (not being formal, just not wanting to get my Greg's confused), but I disagree. 40 years of working on cars means you know a lot, but it also often means you have no patience, and zero desire to find out how some weird old German car works. Good mechanics that like putting food on the table, often work at a very brisk pace, and/or get paid a flat rate for a job based on hours in a book, and generally are not happy unless they are much faster than the book. Work on a 928 doesn't fit that model very well.

OTOH some regular mechanics certainly seem to pick up the knack of working on a 928 just fine.