993Brendan

Hi guys- I'm calling on a little expertise here as I have only owned my car for a little over three months and am not the most DIY-oriented guy in the world!

Last week, I took my car into the shop for the first time. I used a local independent with a strong reputation to repair a few items on the car, change the oil and look the car over. Upon inspection, the shop noticed that my blower fan resistor for the oil cooler blower needed to be replaced. They told me up front that this would require about 2 hrs of labor and a $50 part. No problem. While they were in there, they also ended up replacing the resistor for the AC condensor blower. This was another $50 part, but then they also charged me about 1.7 hours worth of labor to put it in. Is that right?

It is my understanding that the restistor is hard to get to, thus explaining the 2 hours of labor. However, should I have been charged that much labor for putting in an additional resistor? I thought that once they did the labor for one, switching out any other resistors would really just require the part and not so much labor.

Thanks in advance for any help. I don't really care about the extra $150 in labor, but I want to ensure that I am entrusting my car to a shop that plays by the rules and isn't going to rip me off for money every time that I take my car in. I have to go down to the shop at the end of the week, and would like to inquire about the charge if it is excessive, however, I want to know my stuff before I go questioning any bills!

Thank you!

Randy M

From your explanation it sounds like you did get ripped off. I'd like to hear his explanation though. Is there anything you're missing in the bill?

993Brendan

No- it is itemized so I can tell what labor was allocated for which job. Thanks.

MJBird993

Some shops will charge you the "book" rate regardless of the job. Others will charge you whatever it actually takes. Others will charge you the book rate for the primary repair, but if they're "already in there" and do a couple of other things, may just charge you the additional time and materials.

It sounds like they are the first option. Which is fine, if you understand that up-front.

Although you didn't ask, I'll suggest that you not be too intimidated by the car, and learn how to do some of the simpler things yourself. If nothing else, you'll learn more about the car, and have the satisfaction of a job well done (assuming, of course, that you don't mess it all up).

I did the 15K (@ 30) service myself, which was a huge PITA, but I did end up saving hundreds of dollars, and got to know the car quite intimately. And I know that it was done right.

Michael

993Brendan

Thanks, Michael.

I decided to do just that when I bought the 993 due to the cost of repairs. I replaced the front rotors and pads a few weekends ago, and am going to do the rears in a couple of weeks. It took me about 2 hours to do the first side, but then less than 30 to do the other!

I think I'll call them posing as a new customer and ask how they charge- thanks for the info. That was the only justification I could think of.

Rick Lee

The a/c and oil cooler resistors are on opposite sides of the car, so it's not a while-you're-in-there job. Two hours for the oil cooler side sounds about right for book time, though a real pro should be able to knock it out faster. A/C side should not take nearly as long as oil cooler side. I did the oil cooler side in about 30 min. because I just mounted the new resistor in a more accessible place. I left the old resistor in place, dislodged the plug from the clamp with a very long screwdriver, unplugged it, simply mounted the new resistor to another stud already protruding from the chasis and just plugged it back in. Who cares where it gets mounted? It all gets covered up anyway. The worst part of the job was replacing the plastic cover that goes into the wheel well. My resistor cost around $30 and I spent about 30 min. - not a bad day.

993Brendan

Thanks, Rick. I wasn't sure where they were located, and tried to do a search to find out. I thumbed through the owner's manual, but didn't see anything. Sounds like their charges are at least justifiable. The total bill was over $1200 (they also replaced the sunroof tranmission, a $500 part), but by the time I had driven to the end of the street where the shop is, I had my S#%*-eating grin back and was just happy to have the car!

mike cap

Brendan,

As Rick says, there are no economies of scale doing both resistors at one time. They are in two opposite locations and require completely different disassembly work.

For an experienced Porsche shop the prices you were charged are a little on the stiff side, but not a gouge job. I replaced both resistors WITH the bumper cover off, and it must have taken me at least 1.7 hours to get the damn A/C resistor changed. No beer was involved.

If you're going to own your 993 for a while and you're not a major DIY guy, it's important to establish a relationship with the shop. But first check out their reputaton with the local P-Car owners and P-Club. Look up your local P-Car club on-line, they usually have a tech guy listed and give him a call to see what independent has the best reputation. If the shop you used is rated as a good one, then go down there and ask them to explain the bill and what was done.

For reference, Carnewal sells the ballast resistors for about $38. plus shipping. So the $50 is not way out of line with the shop's markup.

max911

looking at your avatar, it appears that you have the Turbo/S bumper. (a quick search revealed you certainly do http://gallery.rennlist.com/gallery/albur00/front_left ...looks great by the way! )

This front bumper does not have the removable bottom corner panels; so I am pretty sure the bumper must be removed to change the resistors. I removed it when i changed mine. It is time consuming to remove the wheels, fender liners, and bumper, and replace/align. 2 hours labor seems like a very good deal. But once all is done for one of the resistors, it does not take long at all to do the second resistor.
My estimation is that they didn't charge enough for the first resistor, but overcharged on the second....if they were charging by actual time, not book time.

just my 2 cents.

( i spent about 6 hours doing mine...in the parking lot. including a lot of time scrubbing out the fenderwells etc. I know...that's a long time!! but my hourly rate can't be beat )

STLPCA

Brendan
The resistor for the AC condenser fan is located in the left front fender. The resistor for the oil cooler fan is located in the right front fender. Although the AC is in a less obscure area, neither is easy to replace. Making an "executive" decision to relocate a resistor to a more accessible spot as Rick (& I) did, would not be appropriate for a pro shop. There's some detail in the DIY section at p-car.com.

IMO, you didn't get ripped off. The labor & parts costs are towards the higher end of reasonable, but the shop gets kudos for spotting the bad resistors in the first place. You'd be surprised how many pass undetected in PPIs.

Sometimes it pays to spend a few bucks more for excellence.

993Brendan

Thanks for the responses guys. I was just curious- for some reason I thought they were inside the same fender. Glad to hear the guys at the shop are as good as people say they are. I'm just glad they looked the car over and found stuff that needed some TLC. I'll definitely go there again, but I want to start trying to do things myself. I changed my brakes using the instructions from p-car.com, and saw that there are instructions for pretty much everything there. If I had known those resistors were out before I took it down there, I might have given them a shot. Nothing a monkey wrench and a pocket tool set can't do, right?