Wow! 20 hours labor for a AOS!

[allenh5]

Sorry for the rant but just had to get it off my chest. My local dealership just quoted me 20 hours labor to change my AOS. '01, 996 tip, C2. Total estimate, $3300. I don't blame them for wanting to drop the engine but good grief, 20 hours to do it??

[logray]

I would tell them that is ridiculous.

go to an indie...

4-6 hours for an AOS from the top through the engine bay.

Dropping the engine should be closer to...

4 hours engine out, 4 hours engine in + parts + while you're in there stuff.

[allenh5]

Just got my quote from my closest, trusted indie. Much more in line with what I thought.

And the above is what I was thinking as well....a dealership taking 20 hours to drop the engine replace a part, that should take very little time to replace with the engine out and reinstall the engine. I'm not sure I want them working on my baby.

[Hilux2400]

I recently had my AOS replaced at my local village garage, which is very well set up for modern work. They are not experienced at doing Porsche cars but I have faith in the team there as they have done other work for me on different vehicles when I have been unable to do it myself.

They charged me for 16 hours labour at £40 per hour (£640 total labour with no VAT). The reason for starting the work was to replace a holed coolant return alloy vent pipe. At the same time we replaced the coolant header tank, the coolant level sensor, all the coolant, the AOS, oil filler tube, put in a reconditioned Bosche alternator and replaced as many visible hose clips with worm drive clips as we could see. The car was available for collection when stated and throughout the work I was able to see what was happening and inspect the work in progress as the garage is walking distance from my home in Hereford UK.

The person doing the work used guidance tutorials from this site which were very helpful and said he would be able to do it more quickly second time around..

All in a very satisfying job well done. I was very pleased. Despite the number of hours charged the overall cost was low.

H

[Kim]

Had my AOS replace by my indie friend a little over a year ago. I accepted his assurance that, because my 2000 996 is a tiptronic, then dropping the engine is required to complete this job.

Even with the engine drop, cost was just a little over $1000, labor and parts.

[Mike Petonic]

I recently had my AOS replaced at my local village garage, which is very well set up for modern work. They are not experienced at doing Porsche cars but I have faith in the team there as they have done other work for me on different vehicles when I have been unable to do it myself.

They charged me for 16 hours labour at £40 per hour (£640 total labour with no VAT).

Man, I'd love to find an indy in San Francisco that charges the equivalent of £40. That's $63/hr. Great!

My indy's rate is US$132/hr. About £85/hr.

[GOB]

The ex head mechanic of the local Porsche dealer here charges per job to be performed, not per hour. Local dealer does the same (bill per job to be done, don't break it out into time). Just to drop my engine (tiptronic C4S) will be $1,000 at the indie. He says it is way to uncomfortable to do the AOS with the engine in place, specially on a tip car.

[Dharn55]

If the price is $1,000 to drop and reinstall the engine then it is not too bad. With a lift, the proper tools and experience you should be able to drop the engine in 4 hours, about the same for the reinstall. Heck I can do mine in the driveway in about 4 hours and it is a C4.

[Hobbes]

FYI, I wrote up a DIY to replace the AOS (should be in the DIY section for the 996). http://www.renntech.org/forums/topic/37442-air-oil-separator-replacement-aos/

I am not a mechanic by trade, but I was able to do it fairly easy. If you have the tools (a basic metric tool box) and time, this might be useful if you can to save some money. I didn't have to remove or drop the engine, but I did have to remove the upper manifold in part for easier access and to clean out the residual oil in the upper.

Hope this helps.

Ken

[allenh5]

Just a quick update. I did take the car to a very well established indie shop in New Orleans for the work. This shop has been in business longer than the Porsche shop both in Baton Rouge and in New Orleans. They replaced the AOS (without dropping the engine), changed spark plugs and serpentine belt all for $2200. Still a bit pricey but as I truly didn't have the time to do this myself I was pleased. Excellent work in a timely manner and washed my car....no complaints here!

[SilverMeister]

On 5/1/2013 at 8:06 AM, Mike Petonic said:

Man, I'd love to find an indy in San Francisco that charges the equivalent of £40. That's $63/hr. Great!

My indy's rate is US$132/hr. About £85/hr.

 

[SilverMeister]

Call Seth @ 415-577-9573   He did mine and is $100 hourly