Hi new member here.

I recently bought a 2015 base Cayman with 15k & 5 years with previous owner. Appears to have been very well taken care of.

I saw that the oil was changed 6 times (carfax report), but nothing related to the spark plugs. I changed them today and found the plugs were a little different.
The ones I installed were described asBosch OEM 6 Piece Spark Plug Set # 0242245581 / FGR5NQE04 - Porsche OE #'s: 99917012290 / 99917013090 - NEW Copper

They are different from the ones I pulled out. The plugs I removed had green colored rings on the ceramic and "R 6 w" written on it.
The plugs I installed have blue rings and a "R 6" label.

Can anyone tell me the difference in these? I figure it might be a cooler or hotter plug of the same series, or some kind of update.

By the way, it was tough to remove the old plugs at 5 years and I am very glad I did so, the originals were clean and had a light grey ash color, but clearly worn with the metal on the threads being corroded somewhat. I read some of the threads here on changing the plugs, and they helped a great deal. Hard job for me.

 

I found the old part has the same # stamped on it, FGR5NQE04, so nothing to worry about.

 

If you look at Pelican parts site you will see that in some cases there are two identical parts, one with the Porsche OE on it and the exact same part without Porsche OE but same part number and OE supplier for a lower price. See link for example of GT3 spark plugs with very different prices but same product.

https://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog..._pg1.htm#item1

 

Just wondering where you bought them. There is another thread somewhere about counterfeit plugs, so next time I change mine I will definitely buy them from Pelican or another reputable source, not from the cheapest source I can find (like last time). Presumably they're working fine, but you may want to contact Bosch (or the seller) to see if they can confirm they are legit. Assuming they're working OK, my biggest concern would be whether the threads have the appropriate plating to prevent them seizing to the heads. I assume you didn't use any lubricant per Porsche directive.

 

duplicate post - should be deleted

 

is where I bought them.

Funny, note the color of the rings on the ceramic at that link is green, like the original and not what they sold me. I have no reason to think they were counterfeit, and they work great. I did use anti-seize on one cylinder, that was the driver's side front plug. I had such a hard time with that one that I suspected there was something odd about it that made it stick harder. I applied it from the top thread down to the third from the bottom.

I should share an ugly moment I had during this job. After I pulled the driver's side front coil, and inserted the spark plug socket to pull the plug (difficult driver's side front plug) I found something was in the way. This was kind of scary, how could that be? I just pulled out the coil, that fills the entire space, but each time I tried to push the socket home I felt a springy resistance.

Very annoying, I just kept trying thinking that I am going into the hole at an odd angle and just needed to get the alignment correct. But there was something in there, it was the rubber tip on the end of the coil, and the spring, still attached to the plug.

This caused me considerable regret. I envisioned having a tow truck haul it to a local Porsche dealer and having to explain the situation. I could hear their reply, “I see, trying to save $1300 on the spark plug replacement job did you? Well, now we have to pull the engine and charge $4600 to remove that thing! We may even have to order a new long block. Well get back to you with an estimate next week”.

In a situation like this, emotion is never the answer, either is muscle. Only using your head can get you out of a mess like this.



My anxieties withdrew a little when I did some youtube searches and found this is sometimes a problem with German cars. Use needle nose pliers or a pick to pull the coil boot tip out, but this was in a tough location, so I armed myself. I drove my wife’s car to Harbor Freight and bought every size needle nose plier that I didn’t have, some bent, and several lengths of pick sets, which included the hook pick I knew I needed. I spent $44 to buy 5 needle nose pliers, and about 10 picks of different lengths, and some silicone spray to loosen things up.

The needle nose pliers didn’t work, the tips needed to be several inches long, and the bent ones only had two or so inches, and the straight ones couldn’t get into that tight spot.

The large size pick was too large to get it’s hook into the hole, I considered shortening the hook at the end.

I got a short hook pick, about 5 inches long in there to grab the boot plastic along with the spring. I couldn’t pull it out because I couldn’t get any strength on the handle. Frustrating as can be, so I used some wire to grab the thing. I got a long piece of tie wire and looped the center of it around the pick handle. The wire came all the way out into the wheel well where I could get a good grip on it. With a good pull, it came out with the spring dropping on the ground, and the boot in one piece stuck to the hook.

Whew, what a relief. I also found the wire was great to yank the coils out where they were difficult to access or stuck tightly, just wrap the wire loop around the part of it the connector plugs into and it comes right out. I was using a GEARWRENCH 3/8" Drive 6 Point 5/8" Magnetic Swivel Spark Plug Socket 6" - 80546. I highly recommend this magnetic socket with some wobble that is fixed on an extension. You don't want to leave a socket to pull loose in such a difficult spot.

 

It hit me what the green and blue rings are for, and I'm sure this is true. If you pay more for the Porsche plugs, they need to look different than the regular price version. They can't look the same, or there is less distinction, and less reason to pay the extra $.

So green is the Porsche branded plugs (the originals in my car, and the Porsche version on Pelicanparts), and the blue is the Bosch version. Green for money, at least in the U.S.
Blue means I'm blue because I can't afford the fancy Porsche green plugs.