It seems like the AOS should be easy to change at that point since it is also in the same general area. So he shouldn't be charging regular labor rate for the full job when most, if not almost all of it, will be right there.
That was my initial reaction too - I thought his labor rates seemed high until I looked up the book-rate from AllDataDIY. They give 3.7 hours of labor for EACH side of the intake manifold - so 2x3.7=more than 7 hours, meaning it will probably take him 5 or so. Then you have the hour of prep and hour of reassembly of all the crap you have to remove to get to the engine. Since there isn't a quoted charge for that work, I assume he folded that time into the estimate for the manifold R&R. Also this is the .1 AOS which is more of a PITA to replace from everything I've seen. We're spoiled with the 987.2 engines - easier to work on besides not needing as much work.
www.planet-9.com
Certainly if the vacuum actuator has gone pear-shaped, and is causing a vacuum leak, there is a decent chance it's causing your issues.. and if it's broken the car isn't running right anyway, so it needs to be fixed.
There's a second one on the backside of the hard plastic intake plenum (the T-shaped tube the throttle body is strapped to). I haven't done the full job, but I did have the plenum out to clean the oil from it when I did the AOS. It's not too bad, but I'd either get the service manual, or at least do some serious googling for the torque values and tightening order on the intake manifold bolts.
) Anyhow at this point im planning on taking the upper balance tube out tomorrow and inspect where the leak is happening and replacing the actuators and AOS and crossing my fingers thats the issue. What do you guys think. was he over doing it by wanting to remove the entire air intake manifold?Here's what I would recommend. Take lots of pictures during disassembly especially if you will be waiting weeks for your parts to arrive. I'd search YouTube for videos that may help you. I'd watch a few before starting disassembly.Visited the mechanic today, He showed me where the vacuum leak was: started the car and used a bar to keep the pedal down to keep it running. then sprayed brake cleaner (or some sort of solvent) right in between the balance tubes and the car accelerated. Then showed me the vacuum actuator that was missing the arm and thats where he believes the leak is at. I asked him why he wanted to remove the entire intake to repair that and he said because he was worried about breaking the balance tubes when he took them off. So i dont think hes worried about pieces broken off inside the intake, he just wanted to play it safe and remove the whole intake (which seems a bit excessive) he also said he would replace any vacuum lines too. I paid him and thanked him for his diagnosis. Car has been towed back to my home and I ordered a new AOS, two vacuum actuators and the six intake manifold gaskets thru pelican ( i had called the local porsche dealer and they were a few weeks out since some of the parts were not in stock, he kept saying they were in germany
Any good mechanic is going to be cautious and try to avoid having a come-back. In this case - that logically would mean removing the entire intake just in case something broke internally and is floating around in the intake waiting to start trouble down the road.
Magic. Some things touted as "upgraded" really aren't. I'd have to see back-to-back dyno runs before I'd consider believing it's an upgrade.
