Transmission Rod Seal Leak on my 83 SC CAB

12,000 for a rebuild??? YOu can buy a another 911 for 12K....I bought my 83 with 75K miles, mint condition, for 16,500....It's a SC CAB but the top needed a little work. Other than that, everything worked....
Bought the car in March at 75K, not in Jan, it has 93K miles on it and still going strong.

It had a minor transmission rod seal leak. Brought it to one of those so-called indep. repair shops....paid 280 bucks to have it fixed...

2 days later, same leak. I brought the car back, he installed a second seal.....2 days later after that, leak AGAIN....I called him on the phone inquiries about suggestions...he told me the rod may be worn and turning it down could fix it potentially damaging the seal...said the engine/tranny needed to be removed, total 1300 dollars...

In the meantime, I went to a Porsche dealer to get a second opinion....They replaced the seal a THIRD time but apparently they did it right. At $90/hr, they charged me 1 hour of labor plus the cost of the seal, total came to a little of 110 dollars.....

I asked for my money back from the other repaid shop. I got my 280 back after all that hassle...

Bottom line is: Be Careful....they see you with a Porsche and think you have money lying around.

ALWAYS get a few opinions and ALWAYS do your own research: Knowledge is Power!

and these BBS are great for advice.


83 SC
saving for a 930 this summer.

Hey guys, stop beating up on us mechanics. There are a lot of honest ones like me out there, you just have to find us. I don't mind at all if you expose the rip-off artists though. They ruin it for the rest of us. I think in some cases if you go to a non-Porsche specialist and get a ridiculous quote, what you are experiencing is a service writer that is trying to "blow you out of the water". In other words, he doesn't really want the job unless he can make sure he won't lose his ass due to his own incompetence. He figures you'll just walk away but if you do bite, he's built in a tasty safety margin for error. That's why it's usually best to go to the specialists. OK I'll get off my soapbox now.

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Tyson Schmidt
72 911 Cabriolet

Kinda interesting, when I had a missing problem with my car, I first took it to some shop by my work. They weren't specialized in Porsche or anything. They weren't even too keen on checking it out.
However, they gave it their damnedest try. They swapped the first injector, didn't change the problem, tried some different things, then called and told me they couldn't fix it. And didn't want to bill me for their time!
****, I gave em 40 bucks anyway, not that that's much, but jesus, they were honest.
The next guy I took it too, a Porsche guy, bent me over and stuck it with a red-hot iron and HE never figured the problem out either (but he fixed other stuff and charged me for it).
Finally, TRE in North Hollywood did the trick. True professionals--having both the honesty of the first guy I took it to, coupled with true knowledge of the machine (they only work on Porsches)


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Kurt B
1984 911 Carrera Cabriolet
75 914 1.8

Thanks Kurt, for the positive reinforcement. When you find a competent and honest Mechanic, stick with them. I really believe from an insiders perspective, that a lot of these guys aren't intentionally ripping people off. They just lack the skill and ingenuity to save themselves and the customer money. Then again there are definitely those who will screw you over just because they didn't like you. (One of the reasons I left my old job). I now work for a friend who is both honest and a pleasure to work for. Unfortunately, he only brings in Japanese cars because thats what he knows and is too small to expand to Euro. (Sad for me )

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Tyson Schmidt
72 911 Cabriolet