Greg D.

I honestly don't remember... It's a scissor lift of a common brand and I added ramps so I can drive onto it, because my BR is below the garage so I cannot make a pit for it... Otherwise that's even better! Was $1800 or so... + delivery.

I had others before in other homes, stacker, scissor, drive on... Lifts are the best kept secret out there, they are comparatively dirt cheap vs. the safety and ease of work you get from them... The stacker adds a wow factor... I once had a 993 fall off the jack (jack lifted the garage tile!!!) and almost crush me - thankfully I put in tires under the car and heard it coming down, but I'm never NOT having a lift as long as I have a garage... they cost barely more than a set of good tires !

Greg D.

No problem... If you are bored one of those W/e and wanna drive to Marin, bring your filter and oil and you can do it on my lift ;-) It's a 30 minute deal - most of that waiting for oil to drain....

I hear you guys on plugs, but I once cross threaded a plug on my 356 on #3 and that cost me dearly, so I have a rather less confident approach to the damn things ;-) If you say so, I will take a crack at it. My car is 4y old but only has 15K miles, so I want to prevent the plugs from seizing...

991carreradriver

An experience like this is confidence shattering to be sure. By using the proper spark plug socket (14mm with a 12pt and magnetic insert), it will take the stress away. Every plug can be inserted using a 6" extension and finger tightened all the way in to the block. There is zero chance of cross threading if you use this approach. I also recommend (after inserting) turn the plug to the left (loosen) to seat the threads, then to the right using your fingers. No wrench should be used until you are sure that it has seated properly by hand and has reached the crush washer.

Bents

Thanks. How is it powered?

Greg D.

There's this plug that I insert into a wall outlet thingie - kidding, yeah regular 110V ;-) Electric pump w/ tank full of power steering fluid as I recall... might be tranny fluid...

Looks like this one, might be it...(I'd have to move 2 cars to look at the brand, sorry, this w/e)

http://www.bendpak.com/car-lifts/spe...ts/md-6xp.aspx

There are many brands some as cheap as $1200... I've had good luck with bend-pak and directlift offerings... Seriously if you so much as own a 991 and a wrench, you should own a lift... I knew a guy that bought one just to make his detailing easier ;-0

Airandwater

I have a Direct Lift Propark 8 (4 post) and it is great for doing your own maintenance. I bought it for storage (1973 911 S on top, 2013 C4S on the bottom), but for doing things like oil changes or replacing all 8 change-over valves or putting in a PSE, it is darn handy.

BTW, on a warm engine, Porsche recommends 45 minutes to drain, at least on my 991.1.

NF4710

Forgot to disconnect my dash cam at my last oil change. After seeing how the tech test drove my car, I am motivated to get a lift and do more maintenance myself. Seems to me like the tech hit 4-5k RPM pulling out of the dealer and went even higher 3-4 minutes into the drive (see my video). All I asked them to do was check out a rattle from the sunroof. Nowhere did I mention it occurred near redline lol

Time to get consider a lift for the well being of my 911. A few more high RPM trips at the dealer on a cold engine is sure to spell trouble.


Cheers,
NF

Porsche_nuts

Looks like the tech had some fun with your car!

NF4710

I'd have no problem with that if he warmed up the engine. Hope he hasn't done something that gets recorded in my overrev report lol. Tempted to call the dealer and complain but suspect that would just turn me into another whiny customer. Let's hope one quick run to redline on a somewhat cold engine won't be the end of the world. But it's time to go lift shopping after seeing that video.


Cheers,
NF

Bents

Thanks! Do you leave it on the garage floor all the time and just park over the top of it, or do you pack it up and move it each time you're done with it?

Porsche_nuts

I actually had the same thing happen to me. Forgot to turn off the dashcam and saw the whole state inspection routine. They spent more time BSing with one another than working on the car. Tech also took it out for a test spin, but just the opposite of yours, my tech drove very slow and cautiously. He ended the test run by back parking into the lot spot, and I could hear him say, "Geez, I can't park for ****."

shake1

Greg, thank you for the offer. I will certainly take you up on it in the future. I live in San Bruno so not too far away. I have experience doing paint corrections and detailing but not much on the mechanical side. This past weekend, I did my first DIY on my 328i, changing an engine coil following a DIY thread on e90post. I was surpised at how easy it was, I'm sure the BMW dealer would have charged me $600 easily. Took more time to take the plastic covers off in the engine bay than actually chainging the coil itself.

Greg D.

Depends what you buy... Some lifts have ramps and lift the car from its tires (good for oil change, not good for tire change). Some have jack between those ramps... Those lifts you just drive on, easy peasy.

Some are 2 post lifts (not movable) you just fold the arms and drive in between (don't like them because the post is too close to the doors and they must be bolted down).

Some are 4 Post lifts - generally used for stacking cars and non-wheel related work unless you add gadgets - they are movable but again to do tire work you need center jacks between the 2 pads you drove on...

Mine is a scissor lift with arms so I drive over it but it's a few inches thick so people either make ramps with wood (cheap, I covered mine with race deck) or "bury" the lift in their concrete floor (again I sleep under the garage so not an option for me).

Pelican and others sell another lift that is somewhat modular - both pads are separate and only connected by the hydraulics hose, that you could move in and out of your way each time... You wouldn't want to move a scissor lift all the time, it's doable but it's not pleasant... Tons of options out there, from $1000 to $3000.

In my old house in FL (where space was cheap) I had both a stacking lift and a scissor lift, and I fit 5 cars in a 3.5 car garage. Good times... Now that I moved to CA I count myself lucky just to have a garage at all ;-)

Greg D.

Those are 10 y old pics of old setups I had.. You can see the Prop park 8 and a scissor lift whose brand I do not recall.. All pretty much the same. No I no longer own the cars...Edit: not true the bottom 911 is still w/e... the 2x 912s are gone.. They funded the 991 and an Alfa romeo respectively !

Greg D.

Final pic, my current garage when I moved in and after i redid it. You can see I used racedeck to hide the ramps a little. Best would be to cut a pad for the lift and reconcrete that, ramps are annoying...

Sorry - don't mean to show off lifts, I am just very enthusiastic about them because most people imagine they are very expensive when in fact they cost about the same as a set of new tires and are way way safer to work on your car than jacks.... I'll stop now (thought somewhere I have cool pics of my first 356 on my lift ;-)