This all happened on a Friday road trip from OC to Carmel by the way... Driving up the 405 I noticed the alt gauge was bouncing around and going as low as 10/11. I start pulling off the freeway(Inglewood of course) and car goes into limp mode on the offramp. We make it one block and every fail lights up and car just coasts and we are stuck(whole story there, blacked out porsche stuck on Inglewood east of the 405 for 3 hours)

We get the car to Pacific Porsche and after about half hour they explained that there was a dead cell in the battery(probably for a while) which was causing the alternator to continually work over time which led to both sh!tting the bed on me. Also found that the "steering angle sensor" failed due to this ordeal.

Point of story, every now and then check your battery... If this was done within a reasonable time, my repair bill would have been $200, not $3k+

Also, I learned a new term from Joey at BBI... repairs are measured in Porsche Units- USD$1000.00 = 1 Porsche Unit.

 

One more thing. Props to Pacific Porsche and especially Jim Shiltz, they made sure our trip north didn't fail and hooked us up with a 2011 Boxster as a loaner. I have now had 2 great experiences with Porsche service; BBI and Pacific.

 

i think i have had my Alternator also Fail coz of Bad Battery

 

I had a alternator on my 996 C4 cab. fail due to a drained/faulty battery.

 

So an alternator change and sensor costs you $3K?

 

Alternator alone was $1600, steering angle sensor was like $600, battery whatever and labor... $3k +

 

Thats the problem with porsche parts....

That same alternator can be had aftermarket or rebuilt with better than new parts for less than $500.

There are crimes such as date rape, and then there are crimes such as luxury car rape! Neither are enjoyable for the victom. :-)

 

DAMN!!! Mine was $800 Installed same Bosch Unit that came out, just not a Porsche Part Number, but the same Bosch Part Number

I think it was $500 Part and $300 Labour

 

What should the battery level be at? Mine usually bounces around when I actually start the car.

 

Truthfully, you could have paid less than $1k if you went to an independent mechanic. You don't get a Boxter loaner because you got a great deal on service!

But you are right, bad battery/alternator can blow up other parts - I had airbag modules go while waiting on parts - battery went dead and caused havoc...

 

12-14 volts.

 

Thank you!

 

Ouch...sorry to hear. I seem to recall buying an alternator for like $460 and installing it in under an hour? These dealers really are criminals...good service or not...

 

Ouch, this is painful... I did call a couple independents but they weren't much cheaper and being on the side of the road in "up to no good Inglewood" with a pissed off wife wasn't the ideal spot to negotiate and call around.

Either way, not stoked at all and will have a few numbers programmed into my phone from now on for instances like this.

 

No doubt. I couldnt dream of charging $1600 to replace a customer alternator at my facility.