DMB14

Hello everyone,

I'm looking at a 2000 Boxster and my mechanic has quoted me $230 for a PPI, with leakdown tests an extra $345.

Does this sound about right?

Thanks

herve_g

It's about the same as what I got quoted a couple months ago (was in Canada though)

mikefocke

He has to drive it, inspect it and write it up. Think of how long that will take. Doing that he isn't working on someone else's car at a flat rate that yields more profit.

Assuming he has the equipment (and any good Porsche mechanic should) I'd be more interested in a codes read and a camshaft deviation test than the leakdown test.

Ask to see a PPI he has done on someone else's car to get an idea of his thoroughness.

Macster

$230 for a PPI is in the ballpark. Some have paid less, some have paid more.

Leakdown test is a waste of money. The engine has to be run, the car driven, and over a distance and with enough variation to give the engine (and the car and any of its other subsystems) a chance to act up, show their true colors.

The DME performs a leakdown test of sorts every power stroke of every piston as it measures the amount of acceleration imparted to the flywheel. If it detects too little (or too much) acceleration that's a misfire and it will set the CEL and store one or more error codes to this effect.

The DME does this constantly.

Ditto what mikefocke said too about the codes, including any pending codes, and camshaft deviation.

I'd add the overrev counters and engine run time wants to be read too.

You want to know if the engine's experienced a money shift and generally how it has been used. You want the engine run time to sanity check the odometer for possible odometer tampering.

DMB14

Thanks for the replies, I will ask about a codes read


I just had my mechanic check the car out. he said overall he was impressed but it will need a few things

One thing that concerned me was that he couldn't say for sure if the IMS upgrade had been done or not. Does this sound odd to anyone?

Im not an expert, but i would think a porsche mechanic would be able to answer that question with certainty. He told me to plan about $4k for service and upgrades to get the car up to date (including IMS upgrade). The asking price for the car is only $9k and I figure I can get them to come down a little

XR4Tim

He wouldn't be able to tell without pulling the transmission (or engine) out of the car and checking. So no, it's not odd that he wouldn't be able to say for sure.

DMB14

gotcha. thanks!

i am going to buy the car