Hi all,
I am new to the forum and wanted to tell you all about my truly excellent experience with the Perma-Tune service department. I recently completed a five-year restoration of my 1971 911S Targa which I have owned for 35 years. In 2001, I had the car overhauled (not a concours restoration) so I could go to the track with the local Porsche Region. I still had the original Bosch CD unit and coil and they worked very well at that time: with a real 2.7RS engine in the back, the car was very fast on the track so all was well. 20 years later, after living with the restored car for a few months, I realized my CD unit, although functional, was due for some serious work:not quite the power of 20 years ago although the engine was completely redone, as well as the distributor, plus the infamous tach wobble. I was thinking of having it rebuilt, but I decided to go for a concours correct, much more modern solution.
After a bit of research, I ordered a new Perma-Tune three pin module. The guys I purchased the module from sent me the part and I installed it myself (really easy). The car ran for literally two seconds and died. The place I purchased the module said to contact Perma-Tune for warranty support. I did, and they recommended to send the module, my coil and the old Bosch unit to them for testing.
They got back to me as soon as they got the parts and said that my coil was arcing through the high voltage tower to the primary terminal (it probably had been dropped and the ceramic interior cracked), my Bosch module also had problems (intermittent firing from age and component degradation – capacitors in particular, according to the research I did). To top it off, the Perma-Tune was badly damaged. They also said the Perma-Tune was not new. I certainly did not expect that. After several conversations between me, the guys I purchased the module from and Perma-Tune, I realized that the place I purchased the Perma-Tune from failed to tell me that the coil and module should always be replaced together and that the Perma-Tune module that was sold to me as new was in fact a salvaged part!
I was quite ready for a fight about being sold a used part, needless to say. However, there was no need: the guys at Perma-Tune said that they would take care of this for me and sent me a new module right away. I put the new module in with a new Perma-Tune coil as soon as I got them. My car started immediately and now runs perfectly. That was really great service from Perma-Tune and they did not even charge me for the testing. There are not many places left where you can call for sservice and get a real person on the phone, let alone someone that knows these classic Porsche cars.
