Hi all,

I'm looking for a reputable independent to undertake a major service to my GTS (all fluids, plugs, belt, coils, possibly water pump). I used Autowerkes for my PPI and was not that impressed, as they missed a few key things. Anyone have any suggestions close to East Long Beach? I already looked into Callas Rennsport but they are simply priced into the stratosphere, double what Autowerkes want to charge. Thanks for any pointers.

 

No affiliation. Check BBI Autosport located 17112 Palmdale Street Huntington Beach, CA 92647 . BBi Autosport

They did some routine maintenance on my 997.1TT. and were very thorough. The problem I had when I went there was it is very tempting to do much much more to the car.

 

+1 for BBI. They service both my 997.2 C4S and 997.2 Turbo S. They know these cars very well. Pricing is below dealership and seems to be in the ballpark of other indy shops

 

Appreciate the pointers, guys. I'll check them out and see how they quote.

Cheers, have a great 4th!

 

Try Russ at John's Foreign Car Service, 28002 Forbes Road Unit A, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677.
949-582-0621 or 949-364-2100

 

I just had my 22K-mile 997 GTS serviced at House Automotive in Pasadena (they also have a shop in Encino).
They flat bedded my car form storage in the SF Valley, and back, for no charge (was included with service price).

I had a major service, fuel intake cleaning, brake, transmission and coolant flush, new battery, new synchro drive belt and tension pulley, cowl/drains cleaned and new plugs.
(Car was not driven for almost 2 years due to Covid)

They also installed a Sharkwerks center muffler bypass X-pipe and mounted new 997GT2 size wheels and tires.

No issues with any of the work so far (350 miles of canyon carving).

I have never experienced their level of transparency and excellent communication before.
No dealership comes close.

My service rep was Gary. Not sure who was the mechanic/tech, but likely more than one guy since I had a lot of work done.

Parts prices are not a lot cheaper than dealer, but you can provide your own parts (with no warranty on them offered).
Labor is about $218/hour, based on 2.5 hours charged to install exhaust part and total of $545.

Some screen shots of my invoice:

 

I've been using Jack at Scientific Porsche in Pasadena. Great pricing and truly helpful.

 

As a former customer of House, I would not travel there or have my car trailered there unless I was close. That is just my opinion after using them for a couple years. Greg is cool but he is not a mechanic. The main tech Niko is gone and since he left, I got 2 really sloppy services on my car before moving down the street (literally down walnut) to a shop owned by a proper Porsche mechanic. If you are in the LBC, there are a ton of famous Porsche magicians in that area. BBi is one of many really awesome shops, some of which are sponsors on this site.

 

jamessinger, I am assuming you went to Scientific after your experiences at House?
What were your "sloppy" service gripes?
(Your history may influence whether I go back there for my next service.)
TIA

 

I did move over to Scientific. To be fair, there is also Stuttcar, which I have heard only positive things about as well.
I do really like Greg and he was very attentive to my concerns. However, I am turned off by the 100% turnover rate and the sloppy work done on my car.
The last 2 times I have gone in (2019-2020), every person and tech there was not there in 2018.
They also did a fairly sloppy install of my IPD plenum and GT3 TB. Mainly, just crooked hoses. The tech also scratched the airbox cover when he did the install. It was buffable but I did have to get a detailer to do it after a few attempts of my own.
On that visit, they also overfilled my oil. When I drove up to my mom's in the foothills of Tahoe, I got gas in Stockton and my rear decklid was covered in a fine mist of oil, which added a HIGH level of stress to a family emergency. In the end, it was just a slight overfill and I assume the tablespoon or so of oil mist was no big deal. The car ran fine home and the oil level/temp/pressure was rock solid for the trip.
Greg was attentive to my complaints but since nothing was broken, I was not offered any refund or discount. I also didn't really expect or ask for it but I was a little put off by his dismissal of it because nothing was broken. I do have 100% faith that if the car had broken, he would have offered to flatbed it from Tahoe even.
I went back after that because I figured this was a one off thing. This is the time where I went in and not one person I saw worked there the last time I'd gone in about 6 months prior. In any case, I gave them X51 headers + the bolts and gaskets. I had them install the X51 header and do an oil change.
They filled my oil correctly this time but my oil filter housing looked like it was soaked in oil to the point where it dripped on my garage floor. I cleaned the filter housing and my floor. NBD. ...but then, I found my new gaskets and bolts for the headers in my frunk untouched.
That was kind of the final straw. Also not a huge deal but I feel like there is a lack of attention to detail and the front of the house is not car people + the back of the house is sloppy. I know most backyard exhaust installs don't do gasket and bolt swaps but this is a Porsche shop and I provided the gaskets and bolts. It is basic knowhow to swap gaskets and bolts. I asked for them to be swapped specifically.
This time I told Greg I wanted a refund on the header install because I needed to get someone to redo the job with fresh gaskets and bolts. Greg was cool about it, so I do not have any hard feelings.
I am not flaming House. I just think that it is a shop owned and operated by non-car people. IDK what the tech's backgrounds are but since Niko left, I do feel the work has been subpar. This is at the Pasadena shop. I have been to Encino but I do not know the people there besides Greg.

On the flipside, Jack at Scientific has worked at Scientific for over 20 years at least...maybe longer. IDK the story but it seems like he started there as a mechanic and then bought the place. The draw for me is the dude is a mechanic and he worked directly on my car when I was in there last month. His work was stellar and the process was a lot less "corporate" (i.e. I didn't feel like I was being upsold by nervous teenagers with 0 car knowledge).

 

Wow.
Thanks for the great detail.
I agree with your characterization of "sloppy".
I did have had a minor glitch that did not really affect my car- but only due to my own due diligence.

After my car was flatbedded back into storage in the Valley, I was perusing my invoice and noticed that the spark plug part number installed was incorrect.
My GTS, of course, has the X51 package- and requires a specific plug.

Here are the screen shots I sent them:







So, Gary agreed and set up another flatbed to Pasadena for my car to pull every plug and check the code.
They checked all 6 and they were had the correct code on the plug itself- just the wrong part number was entered on my invoice.
I took Uber and picked it up at the shop. They did not charge me for any of that.

Better safe than sorry, since the normal 997 Carrera plug (non X51) is a bit hotter and might have caused some running problems. CEL, or worse, damaged the engine.

The 997.2 with X51 plug is, indeed, a slightly cooler heat range.

The X51 equipped 997 Carrera equivalent to 999.170.232.90 is Bosch FGR4NQE.
The 999.170.151.90 is Bosch FGR5NQE, and it is not for X51 cars.
The FGR 4NQE shows one step cooler on the Bosch decoder:


Despite the glitch, I was satisfied with House Automotive. But I am relieved that the car was not driven with incorrect plugs!
It was my first time there and had a lot of work done- the plug thing was merely documented wrong (a front of shop error).
But they pulled every plug and paid to flat bed it back to the shop. (No damage noted after 3 transits on/off the flat bed.)

They also had the car hand washed for the pickup:

 

Twinning it. Greg @ House has always been very generous with his time/resources with us in a local pclub.

 

Yeah. I don't have time for them to do everything twice.