996 c4 gearbox cooler pipe corroded and leaking .....

Hi All, First post here - so please excuse any informalities. I have had my 996 c4 (2001) now for a year and just got it back from its first major service under my ownership ... all is well other than the gearbox Cooler Pipe ... it has corroded and leaking and been flagged as an advisory. The garage quote i got back was around 800 gbp plus vat from a porsche specialist .... please advise, is this a fair price and should i just pay it? or should i shop around a little and look for cheaper quotes? i know a decent mechanic who could do it but he is not porsche specialist so i guess thats frowned upon in the porsche community? i am not much of a DIY man but is this something that could be done at home or would you advise i leave this to the professionals? Any feedback is much appreciated! Thanks.

Is it manual or auto?

I just replaced an oil pipe on my C2 Tiptronic and the pipe was a few pounds under £500, the gearbox oil £80; so unfortunately £800 sounds about right. And it was real bitch of a job getting the fitting out of the gearbox casing...

I just replaced an oil pipe on my C2 Tiptronic and the pipe was a few pounds under £500, the gearbox oil £80; so unfortunately £800 sounds about right. And it was real bitch of a job getting the fitting out of the gearbox casing...

You don't need a Porsche specialist to replace something like this .. it's just nuts and bolts to be honest .. whether they will be much cheaper though depends on their labour rate . I'm not totally sure of which items actually need changing but the cost sounds to be in the ballpark .

Please be careful here this is not necessarily a easy fix There is lots of information about IMS issues bore score Etc but corrosion on a 20plus year old car is something to consider I had the same issue which started with a simple pipe Replacement but end up with engine out and a new (refurbished) Gear box the casing snapped where the pipe was glanded in Once the casing was broken nothing left but to fit a new gear box At significant cost. I would get them to try to remove first but if it Is not budging remove the engine so they get a better angle of Attack simple job end up costing me large 🙁

Please be careful here this is not necessarily a easy fix There is lots of information about IMS issues bore score Etc but corrosion on a 20plus year old car is something to consider I had the same issue which started with a simple pipe Replacement but end up with engine out and a new (refurbished) Gear box the casing snapped where the pipe was glanded in Once the casing was broken nothing left but to fit a new gear box At significant cost. I would get them to try to remove first but if it Is not budging remove the engine so they get a better angle of Attack simple job end up costing me large 🙁

Not sure what pipes you mean, I remember changing my two pipes on the tip box after I saw some oil on the floor, just seen the price of them.£220 each !! I am sure I paid about about a third of that about 10 years ago.

After seeing 996mike,s post i looked into this a bit more .. For Tiptronic oil cooler pipes .. Turns out i have done the job before with a couple of pictures .. First off ignore my previous post .. you need to drop the engine and box .. i wouldn,t attempt this in situ .. garages may well offer it but as per Mikes post .. it's not something i would attempt .. i'm just an average mechanic is why Levering on the pipes will put too much pressure on one side of the casing .. a slide hammer is a better approach to give an even pull on the pipes . £800 if we are talking about the same job is very cheap .. its circa 13 hrs to r&r the engine then change the pipes .. £1400 labour plus parts i would tend to say .. hence £800 is being done in situ . To be honest thought ... this was a composite job and i had the engine out for other reasons .