Wanted to provide a positive review / feedback on two Texas independent Porsche shops I’ve dealt with recently. Took a five day drive from Granbury, TX down to Austin and the Hill Country to enjoy the twisties. My alternator went out on day 4 in the middle of nowhere (Bourne, TX). Closest city was San Antonio about an hour away. Logged onto to Pelican forum to look for Independent Porsche mechanic in San Antonio. Several members recommended
Jones’ Autowerks. I called them and explained my situation. They were busy but said they’d fit me in right away if I could make it. I shut off everything electrical that I could and headed toward San Antonio. The car made it without further trouble. I met the owner, Bob Jones and the other great folks and thanked them for taking me in no-notice. They quickly diagnosed it as an alternator. They picked one up, installed it and had me back on the road by late afternoon. They didn’t have to do that. They could have told me to go find a hotel. Owner Bob Jones and all his folks couldn’t have been nicer and more accommodating. I had the wife with me and I don’t think she was all that excited about spending the next few hours in a Porsche shop. But they took great care of her – food, drinks and a charger for her iPad. It was a great experience for me too. I’ve only been playing with 911s for a year now and usually do all my own maintenance, so getting to talk to guys who do 911s for a living was great. Bob probably spent over an hour talking 911s to me. His mechanic was also willing to talk too. I was expecting to get the hairy eye ball if I stepped into the shop, but that wasn’t the case. They actually invited me in to show me what was going on with my car. And this wasn’t just a simple alternator R&R. Seems the PO had jerry rigged some stuff – disconnected the alternator light and oil light, cut a wire and did some stuff to the factory alarm. So, Bob had to figure all that out and fix it “right.” I think the icing on the cake was when I learned that, Kevin (super Porsche mechanic IMO), found a bad frequency valve relay and replaced it without me even asking. I can’t believe the difference this made in how my car runs, especially on bottom end…it’s a different car…..so much more power and smoother delivery!
The next morning we headed home. Car started fine and made the 7 hour drive back to Granbury just fine (we took the scenic route). When I pulled into the home garage, I noticed the alternator light was glowing/flickering very faintly and would get brighter as I rev’d the engine. It never got full-on bright, but it was definitely glowing faintly. I don’t know if it was doing this on the way home, because it was sunny. I didn’t see it until I pulled into my dark garage. I shut it down and it restarted fine, but was still faintly glowing. I called Bob Jones back and he said it sounded like a “leaking diode.” He said the light definitely shouldn’t be coming on. He told me the alternator (Bosch) was under warranty and recommended I take it to
Zim's Autotechnik, another independent Porsche shop in Ft. Worth, TX. I called Zim’s (whom I’d dealt with on parts before) and they took me right in. Again the entire Zim’s team was great (Wayne the Service Manager, Kirk in parts and Darren the tech). They had it fixed in a day. And the BEST part is that they covered it under warranty…parts AND labor! Good things like this don’t usually happen for me. Sorry for the long post, but wanted to let forum members know of two excellent shops in Texas if need help. All the best, Tom
