Andrewck

Can anybody shed light on what an indy typically charges for service and how long it takes? Just got the bill for my job at $1500: $930 for labor, $460 for parts + taxes. I like my shop, but when I look at the 2 hour recommended job time on Pelican, I'm trying to bridge gap between that and what was performed on my vehicle.

Per bill, the following was done:
-remove catalytic converters
-replace water pump
-water pump gasket
-replace low temperature thermostat
-replace catalytic gaskets
-fill and bleed cooling circuits
-road test and inspect to confirm operation

Chris(MA)

Did you have leaky cats? why put new cat gaskets?

AWDGuy

I'd also replace the exhaust gaskets. that's probably $10 of his $1500 bill though.

that labor charge seems very excessive. did they charge book time? I know when I called the ottawa dealer to replace my alternator, "the book" said 4 hours and at $150/hour, I wasn't willing to pay that.

I got it done in 2 and I never opened the trunk of a porsche before.

5CHN3LL

2 hours seems pretty darn aggressive for DIY; on a lift with the correct tools, no surprises at all, and a few of these under your belt, sure. At home in the garage, though, the DIY gods would have to be smiling to do it in 2 hours.

The time when I figured I would be able to knock out a DIY like that without finding at least two more things to fix (or breaking some 20-year-old brittle plastic fitting or wire connector) on the 996 is long gone; now I just book the weekend and assume that if I get done early, I get to start drinking that much sooner. I had to start keeping track of the "while I'm at it" repairs that need doing to try to outpace entropy.

KoB

As AWD points out, the question on something like this is always whether your mechanic goes by actual hours of labor, or by a rate book. In the past I've seen water pump/thermostat/coolant refill booked in the ballpark of 4 hours, with maybe a little more labor added on for a complete system flush-- although, as Schnell observes, it may not actually take that long for an experienced mechanic in a well equipped shop.

Paul Waterloo

I didn't remove my cat when I did it myself. Took me the better part of a Saturday in my garage.

I paid $150 for the LN low temperature thermostat with housing (bought it at LN when I was visiting there), and $199 for an aftermarket water pump (I think it's the OEM, can't remember now) and OEM water pump gasket. Coolant was $120 for the Permifrost stuff, which is OEM, but in a different bottle. Changed out all of the 5.5 gallons that was in there.

So parts that I spent without doing the cats was about $470. That's pretty much exactly what you paid for parts.

ejdoherty911

Your indy should charge you book time, simple as that. I don't know what the book time is. Pelican parts two hour time for DIY is Bat Sheet crazzy. No fudging way anyone is getting this done in two hours start to finish including refilling the coolant. I have done this myself and it took longer than two hours. I think four - five hours or about $$400 - $550 for labor would be fair. $930 for labor seems high. I think $135 an hour for labor is premium pricing and that works out to 6.75 hours.

billh1963

I just did this myself a couple weeks ago. Total time (spread out over a few days) was probably 3 hours. Not that bad of a job.

And, you don't have to remove the cats.

RennPart

We've gotten pretty good at doing them on Boxster's, but the engine is backwards in the 996 :P

We keep the pumps in stock and also the low temp t-stat in a kit at a reasonable price, use "RENNLIST" for coupon code at checkout for 5% off. Add a serpentine belt too if yours is looking beat.

https://rennpart.com/carrera/carrera...nance/cooling/

Alfieg23

I just came back from picking up my car from my local Indy who replaced my water pump with an OEM one and did a coolant flush using Porsche brand coolant. He charged me 4 hours labor. All in was $808.00 including tax.

Botsy67

Just did my WP+T-Stat+Coolant flush at Local Porsche Indy and total labor cost was 4.5 hrs to replace those parts and then 1 extra hour to do the coolant flush+refill+bleed. So clearly your $930 in labor is relatively high but you can shop around and compare. Cheers,

cbracerx

I bought my Porsche brand pump from these folks, it was a good price, shipped fast and they answered my questions promptly and thoroughly. No affiliation.

Andrewck

So I think the fact they took then entire back end off my vehicle had something to do with added time... Interesting as I've never heard or anybody removing bumper cover to pull the water pump. It came out to 6.5 hours at $142 / hr.

Car is back in my garage, but I need to return to the shop as they did not install the LN thermostat I asked for and put in another brand. I will discuss the labor at that point. Thank you all for the crash course on book time as well as your personal experiences doing this job.

billh1963

Well.....that certainly gives access!

I did mine in the carport with the back of the car up on Rhino Ramps.

cbracerx

Removing the rear bumper cover is actually pretty quick. Don't know if the easier access really saves any time but the quality of the job done has a chance of being higher.