I too have heard nothing but good things about EPE and also Randolph Racing, I was just going what was convienent and close by, but I may have to travel a bit and venture out of RI.

And the hourly rate at Inskip is I think $120. I know we don't have Honda Civics we are driving here, I expected the maintenace to be high and I can afford to take it anywhere, but in RI its hard to find a really good independent so off to Massachusetts I must go. Even our "German" independent place in RI German Motors, do not do an alignment on 993's, they send it out. I called the place they send it to and guy said "OH, theres no need to set kinematic toe, sometimes they try to make you do all these things that are unnecessary", and I say to myself, ok the search continues.

 

My local dealer recognizes that my car is a Porsche....probably because of the badges....


I would NEVER let them touch my car.

 

The co-owner of the biggest Porsche dealer in the province brings his cup car to my indy. Enough said .

 

Are you a PCA member? They can give you a discount from 10-20%.
But $2k for wires is INSANE! Did they tell you that would cure it 100% It can be a few other things, like a bad O2, dirty ICV (but would not cause the misfire), dirty MAF, lastly the fan & alt belts.

I did my plug wires around 90kmi, as part of my 90kmi service, it took me about 4 hours to do the wires with most of the parts already off the car. I would say 7-9 hours is about right, it's a BIG job, as you got to lift up or remove the intake plenum to route the wires. If you do it, might as well replace the cap & rotors while you are there.

 

Remember, it was 1000 for the wires and 900 for the exhaust "thing", just so we don't mix things up here

Also I do understand why the average indy doesn't know about the kinematic toe.

 

Inskip lost a lot of their personal service and reasonable prices when Penske took them over. Now it's like going to Enron to get your car worked on. I had tires mounted at this place-not much else but they were super nice to deal with and had a pretty clean shop-maybe they can do an alignment:
http://www.championms.com/services.htm

 

Chris, if they have that good a mechanic at the dealership... get to talk to the guy. They often work on cars afterhours to supplement their income. Sometimes the dealership lets them do it right at their service department. i'd say 80% of the time that's the case.

 

It was $1000 for the wires alone, and then $900 in labor, plus I think $125 for an exhaust piece they wanted to replace after removing. Theres no doubt in my mind they wouldn't do a great job. Heck the car drives so nice right now just after getting a proper alignment and road force balance. But the key with these cars is finding someone extremely knowledgeable, that is also trustworthy and REASONABLE. I wish this guy Pat at Inskip did work on the side. He was awesome to talk to and was very friendly and knew everything, and I mean everything about the car.

 

Do keep in mind the higher cost of parts coming through the Porsche NA distribution channel. a BIG mark up right there. So the Porsche dealership is already paying more for the very same Beru wires - but hey the Beru wires are now packaged in a kwel looking Porsche carton. That and a nation wide warranty also comes with the box, etc. Just try to execute that dreamy warranty....

A range of $500-600.00 for the complete Beru wire set & 7-8 hours labor is a fair cost for the task at hand. IMHO. $2000K is a whole lotta bread. The differential in cost must be the dealership's expensive shop supplies, disposal fee's and electricity to run the shop lighting....... er profit!

 

Chris, I was bitching that the dealer price might not be unreasonable, but I also agree that you get mixed results depending on dealer.

I'd take my 993 to Brumos in Jacksonville, but I don't get the feeling that Reeves here in Tampa knows how to work on a 993. I have a long story about the time they had my car for two days and couldn't diagnose something really simple.

dave

 

Another endorsement for EPE and Jerry Pelligrino in Natick.

 

F+cking wires are about 50 EURO / each here in Germany ... that's > 700 USD so the BERU prices are fine!

Stefan

 

Chris,
The new wires are not that difficult to replace on your own. You need a quiet place to do the work and plenty of time to do it properly. Can you take it off the road for a week or wait to do it over the winter? On the cars I have seen, the wires normally go bad first on the lower bank of plugs - these are the easiest to change out. You may have only one bad wire at this point.
Dave

 

Hi Dave. The #6 plug which is the one that is cracked which is hopefully the cause of my rough idle. I think that is the one with the almost impossible plug to get to. The wire is right there underneath but isn't that the one thats a bitch to change?

 

exhaust doesn't need to come off to replace plug wires or plugs
#6 upper plug is the tough one to get to

Porsche doesn't sell the wires as a set but as individual pieces. They then need to be assembled into the looms which is a fun job all by itself...

Beru wire set, already in looms (saves in labor cost and hassle) run $430 via FDM
An alternative would be to replace the one bad wire but that would probably be a band-aid since it sounds like the wires are a bit aged. The labor to do one wire would be pretty high anyhow.

Good luck!