Re: Belt and plugs

Pedro - what's a reasonable cost for 40k service on 2011 Base Cayman with PDK?

2011 Cayman (Platinum Silver/Black)
Previously owned:
2001 Boxster (Seal Grey/Black)
2005 Carrera Coupe (Arctic Silver/Black)
2005 Carrera Cab (Arctic Silver/Stone Grey)

but i'll weigh in now. Can you tell me what the 40k consists of on your car and year (it is different from mine).

Key things are: plugs? Serpentine belt? Oil (yes) Filters (?)

I'd say fair prices would be:

Oil $125 including checks
Belt $35 part + 30 min labor
A/F $20 part + 30 min labor, mostly opening engine cover
plugs $50 parts + 90 min labor, but i may be generous since i did it crouched next to the cold car.
other/checks etc :30 min
Oh, maybe brake fluid (every two years regardless) - $25 fluid + 30 min labor

Labor rates vary from $80-$125

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

Two years ago I had our 987.1 40K service done at the dealer--including plugs, coils, belts, filters and oil--for about $1500 total, after the 10% PCA discount and complaining how big the bill was (originally $1800). After the fact, I went on line to track OEM equipment pricing on the parts; the dealer cost was at least 2X what i could have bought it for from Suncoast.

My take away from that experience was if you are not doing it yourself, find a good Indy and you'll save a lot of $.

I have about 40k miles and 4 summers on my factory replacement 987 2.7 litre engine. I change the oil and filter semi-annually, and have replaced the air filter and cabin filter. I also change the brake fluid every couple years, and I've replaced the coolant.

What is the real-world life of the serpentine belt and spark plugs? Are the plugs painfully difficult to get at?

(On any modern car, I've replaced ignition coils only when they've failed; I haven't replaced them as part of routine maintenance.)

Thanks.

My goal is not to find out the real-world life of the belt, but the 60k factory interval is very reasonable, sicne the job is easy and cheap. The biggest part of the job is removing the panel behind the seats - 15+_ minutes.

Plugs - who knows. They tend to deteriorate over time. I do mine between 30-40k. Its a bit of a pain because you don't have direct access to all the plugs, at least one on each side is buried up behindthe wheel well.

in general you raise the car (blocks, stands) ; remobve the rear wheel, and remove the coil packs, and then unscrew the plugs. on your 987 there are no tubes. One thing i find difficult, with indirect access, is ensuring proper torque. Torque wrenches are ver inaccurate if you put a side load on them.

Took me 1-1.5 hours per side, all in. First time. Cold garage. Yada, Yada.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

Sounds as though I'm ok for another couple years on the belt (prophylactic water pump replacement at the same time?), and I'll take a look at the plugs next summer. Car starts and runs really well, so I reckon the plugs are still reasonably good.

Quote
Roger987
Sounds as though I'm ok for another couple years on the belt (prophylactic water pump replacement at the same time?), and I'll take a look at the plugs next summer. Car starts and runs really well, so I reckon the plugs are still reasonably good.

I had the belt replace on my 987 when I had the water pump replaced because it showed signs of leaking at around 55K miles. The belt still looked in good shape at that point.

I had the plugs replaced last Fall at about 62K miles. They still worked great and showed little sign of wear. My indy said he's never had a problem removing plugs because they were in for longer than the manual calls in terms of time (which in this case was 6 years - manual calls for every 4 years).

That gives me a good timeline.

R

You do them either when one fails, or when, as in my case, you have hgih mileage and occasional wet misfirs. In my case high mileage is 204,000. You had a few months to go.

Plus, if you add up all my estiomates, i'd say its $500 or less - 1/3 what you paid.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/2013 11:10AM by grant. (view changes)

Just when you think maybe it's time to start trusting the dealer again, they go and ding you for replacing the rear taillight fluid.

Assuming you're not seeking that special moment of 'involuntary intimacy' with the dealership.

... I didn't take notice of the direct question until I saw the answers.
Obviously it depends on who's doing the service.
Is it an independent shop charging $80/hour or a dealer charging $180?
The 40K mile service should be a 4-5 hour charge, plus parts and materials.
In the older cars that service schedule happens at 60K miles.
Happy Porsche'ing,
Pedro

PS: I don't know where Grant is getting his parts but a Poly-ribbed belt from Porsche is $50+, OEM plugs are $100+, Oil and Filter (without labor) is 100+.

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

and that's why. I get the exact same Beru plugs, Contin belt etc from either a good online supplier or my FLAP foreign-car -supply house for about half-60% in most cases. The belt, for example si $30-35 most anywhere. plugs $6-8. Filters, oh $15 (AF). In fact i tried to estiamte a bit high so some money could be made.

But that's exactly why i dont patronize dealers, pretty much ever.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com