Hi. My name is Queenie, and I think I'm a pretty conscientious car owner. I tend to my routine maintenance in a timely fashion. I deal with sudden or unexpected maintenance as soon as humanly possible. I check my oil once a week. My tires are in good repair, and they get rotated and balanced on a regular basis. I don't drive my car overly hard, and I don't abuse it even when I do drive it a little bit hard. I take some care with it - always.

I don't drive the nicest car in the world, but I care a lot about the one I have and I do my best to do right by it.

So why am I sitting here at work practically in tears over the damn thing?

Well, it's because when Pancho and I talked to my other mechanic - you know, the one who charges me sixty dollars an hour? - about doing some fine tuning on the 914 to get it back on the road, he was an absolute ass to us because we elected not to do the valve guides while we had the engine out. Not just dismissive or rude, but downright unkind. He is adamant in his opinion that my engine is a piece of shit that isn't going to run another week without the valve guides being done.

Not to mention the fact that he (or his employee) seems to have done an exceptionally crappy job of installing a fuel injector for me several months ago. If that was done poorly, what else has been done poorly? Did I mention this is costing me sixty dollars an hour?

Y'know, I know the guy's overworked. I know what a pain in the ass that can be. And he's been working on Porsches for many years - he may be correct about the need for valve guides. I'm willing to accept that I may not have made the best decision about it. But does that give him any right to treat me, a person who's spent at least a thousand goddamn dollars at his shop in the past year, like an idiot?

I am, in fact, not a idiot.

And my money is just as good as that of any other Porsche owner. He doesn't like 914s and I know it, but I didn't really consider that my problem...until today. It shouldn't matter what kind of Porsche a person drives; a dedicated Porsche shop ought to work on them all and treat them all equally.

I don't need a ration of shit when I take my car in for repair. I don't know where else I can take it; this guy is located directly next door to where I work and the convenience factor is critical because I don't usually have anyone to give me a ride to/from work after dropping the car off, nor can I usually afford to be without it for more than a couple of days at a time. So I'm really not sure what I can do here.

But I'm pretty sure I'm going to think of something, because I'm not going to put up with being treated like a second-class citizen just because my car is on the lower end of the Porsche scale.



I feel a little better for having articulated my anger...thanks for listening.

Tell him to fuck off, and find some other mechanic who deserves your business.

Oh, and I am sorry that you had to deal with somebody like this. That is a text book examle of why I rather do my own work instead of taking it somewhere else....

Tell Pancho to take a flying leap and go see John Larson in Santa Maria.....it's a bit down the road but he's a 914 guy....West Coast Garage on Mill Street.


West Coast Garage
105 East Mill Street
Santa Maria, CA 93454
805-925-1993

What Chris said!!!

BTW $60 an hour is a bargain around here..$80+ is what some independants are charging now.

Dont sweat about the valve guides... unless the are non exisatant, the worst that you will see are clouds of blue smoke on decel...

Helps keep the skeeter population down LOL

I can think of a few people I've met like that (I call 'em GBs). You're the one who makes the decisions about what to do with your car and when - he can offer you advice but if you choose to ignore it, that's your perfect right. He's unreasonable, find another mechanic.

You won't hear this from the garage that works on your 914 but they hate working on them so they make it as painful for the 914 owner as they can so they will not return, because they were treated like a second class citizen.
Go to a garage that you have been given a referal.
Don't just start trying each and garage that you find that will work on it. You will go through the same thing and you will be back here ranting again.
Take Mikes advice go somwhere that actually knows what they are doing on a 914, rather than someone who is learning, at your exspene.
Good Luck.
CCLINLO

you can help him with that overworked thing - take your business down to John Larson at the West Coast Garage in Santa Maria. remember - you are doing this guy your last favor by relieving him of the workload of dealing with your money.

he doesn't want to treat -you- like an idiot - he treats all his customers like that. he'd just much rather deal with the 911-owning idiot who's spending $1000 A MONTH in his shop ...

your money -is- just as good - there's just not enough of it to make him pretend to like you. 914 owners are notoriously cheap. and usually too smart to spend $1000 a month on their cars ...

(with the possible exception of racing season, but that's another issue entirely.)

Reading your post I was struck by how understanding you were of their problems. You deserve better service. Find a shop that will service your car with the same care and concern you feel even if it isn't as convenient. It won't ruin your day and almost bring tears.

Sounds like someone already knows of a good shop not too far away.

Dave

I bought a nice 73 1.7 last year and messed around and got the spark plug wires and points screwed up and took it to a mechanic in Dublin who charged me $440 to "tune" the car. I started calling the local east bay Porsche repair shops and all told me "we don't work on 914's". When asked why, most said "because 914 owners are never satisfied!". Sheesh, you would think that these cars are complicated or something.

Patrick Pickerell

Go see John Larson who knows 914's inside and out and actually likes them!
He has been a great help to many people on the different BBS's too for years...He is kinda of blunt and to the point like Brad but don't let that bother you.
Geoff

Hey that idiot did you a favor. Now you will find someone else to deal with that might not be as convienent, but can't possible be bigger ass----!
I bought a S-10 for my dad a few years ago from a single women. She had a convienent mechanic right near the school she taught at. Any little thing she would just drop it right in, just as easy as pie. Well, I was going through the receipts while I was buying it and I couldn't believe what he was charging her to do unneeded repairs, exp brake pads every 12000 miles and rotors every other time, serpentine belts every 6000 miles, removing and flushing the gas tank every year, etc. I called her up to tell her this guy was ripping her off. She was upset with me, because this guy was always so nice and sweet to her when she went to see him. Yeah, I'll bet he was.
I'm glad you are smarter, I'm in Az and I have heard good things of John Larson. Might be worth checking out.

I didn't nickname him Captain Crusty fer nutin'....can't get him to hang on this list for some reason....but he's a mainstay on what's left of the 914 rennlist.....

Good Lord, you're in San Luis Obispo, and the shops ONLY charge $60/hr???


Ok, wait, so it's a bad thing when your mechanic doesn't like working on 914s?
Like mine?!!! My mechanic has a note on my account, something like...
"charge this customer Porsche prices for his VW". (it's a VW shop)

Only diff for me, my mechanic tells you up front, that he can be an Asshole.
Once you get past that, he's an alright guy to deal with.



Your situation:
What Z first said, go see Mr Larson.

Ok. It's the next day and I feel a little bit less frazzled.

First of all, my deepest thanks to all of you for not only being here to read my little rant, but also for understanding my pain. I just want my car back on the road. It's been amazingly reliable over the year-plus that I've had it, and I want that feeling of freedom and reliability back again.

I don't normally cry over my car, but I'm beat. I've been without it for two weeks. I work forty hours a week and go to school two nights a week: I need my car. I've been getting by with a combination of walking and using Pancho's 912, but the bottom line is that I need my car. Add some personal-life-type stresses to the mix and you have a girl who's keeping it together but just barely. Getting reamed for not taking someone's advice when all I want is some (supposedly) expert help to get my car back on the road is NOT what I need at this time.

For the record, Pancho is not the problem mechanic. Pancho is the guy who's been working on my car for free. I am reluctant to name the problem shop because I don't want to be nasty, but I am not the only person who's been less than satisfied with the service there. I have a friend who drives a Carrera 2 that has also been a bit miffed with this shop...so maybe the problem isn't just that I drive a 914, although I'm sure that doesn't help matters any. I work with a guy who drives a beater 944 and he asked me just last Thursday who the other Porsche shops in town are - he doesn't want to deal with this shop either. So, there's a bit of a pattern emerging here.

It's funny that so many people mentioned John Larson to me. I bought a door handle from him at last year's German Auto Fest, and I still have his flyer kicking around. I spied it the other day when I was moving some furniture - I'd stuck it in a box and forgot about it as I hadn't really needed any spare parts. I had actually gone and pulled it out of the box before I made my initial post here, thinking that this would be a good alternative shop for me. Sounds like it's the right place to go. I don't care if he's blunt. Blunt doesn't bother me - in fact, I prefer it. Passive-aggressive snarky assholes bother me, but people who don't mess around and just tell you what they think are A-OK in my book. Of course, it helps if what they think is right...I don't happen to agree with this guy that my valve guides are so shot. I definitely want a second opinion on that. It'll suck having to work around the distance, but I'll find a way. I'm nothing if not a creative problem solver.

As far as what it costs me per hour to get my car worked on, I'd pay a hundred bucks an hour if I knew I was dealing with someone who wasn't fucking me over. I don't care about the money. I can't technically afford it, but that's why God gave me credit cards. I can pay for it when I need to, and I won't hesitate to do so because I love my car and I want it to run right. I've been spoiled for many years because I was married to my mechanic - I never had to put my car in the shop. It's made me both accustomed to having the work done right and to not really trusting shops...how do you know the work is being done right when you're not standing there watching and asking questions and handing the mechanic a beer every hour?

Anyhow, I feel better and I've got some semblance of a plan of attack now. I appreciate the sympathy and the advice. This is a wonderful group of people and I'm really grateful to you all. Thanks again!

not really. there's but a double-handful of guys around the country who really know and love these cars AND have a professional shop in which they can practice what they preach. this is a pretty tight-knit group like lots of enthusiast groups and word gets around. Larson happens to be the one you're close to.

for a variety of reasons i doubt you'll ever see him on this board. he is accessible on Rennlist which (IMO) you should also be tracking. the message volume is WAY down now that most of it (and more) has come here so it's not like you'll be flooded with lots more message traffic. John contributes to the 914 list, but also the Early 911 and Audo 20V lists. he does know and love the Teeners but he's not so specialised that it's all he knows - sometimes, that general knowledge is a valuable thing to have.

i've dealt with John for a long time and i'm proud to call him a friend. we don't agee on -everything- but there's usually room for at least a couple of opinions on many things ...

i think you'll get along just fine.

You need:

http://members.rennlist.com/pbanders/

http://www.pelicanparts.com/914/914tech_articles.htm

Without test equipment, you can get it close, so the $60 guy doesn't have to work so hard.




M

I have to chime in here on this one. My car is the race arena and when it comes time to get the time of day, on going support or alittle time out of the experts you must have pockets that run deep and often.

We've had guys blow us off on a dyno day last minute where we took time off, seen crappy finish detail subpar parts on the little things and thats after dropping some serious cash and bills that make no sense whatever. Getting the street stuff taken care of I've found solutions, but on the race front I,ve yet to find a compenet race guy to stay with for the long haul based on my measly little budgets. By the way the last rebuild and minor fab work cost $10k. Would a thought that might have gained their attention, alittle, naw....