Yep, mine were a hard turn the whole way out. Only 20K miles on the car. Just didn't feel right. Soaked them with penetrating oil overnight, said a few Hail Mary's the next day and gave it a steady and slow turn. Everything turned out fine, new ones went in with ease.

 

That is good to know! I guess mine are not stuck from 10 years and 100+ miles.

 

It occurred to me that I don't think a Porsche dealer would do a 40,000-mile service without the plugs and re-set the service light. I COULD see the dealer or independent charging for plugs and not replacing them. This would probably be rare. I know for a fact that not all 12 plugs were replaced on a 993. That 12th plug was real work.

 

Today I completed the driver's side spark plugs. My advice- do the passenger side first. This will "train" you as to what is necessary. The most difficult plug is the front plug on the driver's side. This is true if you are untrained. Once you are "trained", the most difficult plug is the easiest plug. I saw someone had posted this on another forum. The reason for this is, once you know how to use all of the rachets, extensions, swivels and sockets necessary, this plug is the most direct. You don't need any swivels (universals). You remove the plastic inner fender panel and the plastic tray underneath. This allows a straight shot between the suspension pieces with only a 6 inch and a 3 inch extension. It was really easy. These 3 plugs for some reason were not seized. Once they were broken loose, they came out finger tight. I saved $750 and now I can buy a new windshield.

 

Did you expect the plugs to be seized? If so, curious why?

I haven't changed my plugs ( 991.1) - but have changed plugs in many other makes of cars having aluminum heads without issue.

Do you think people are not using the proper tools for the job? Is there something peculiar about a Porsche aluminum head versus say a Toyota aluminum head?

From reading through all these posts, it sounds like a daunting task. Perhaps the original plugs were over torqued. My old Z06 only needed about 13 foot pounds of torque on the plugs ( not much more than finger tight).

 

Fords with the 5.4l v8 triton engines suffer from this same issue. See how they extract those plugs so you can have an idea.
apparently when they are removed all of them cracked (what a nightmare)

 

Was the porcelain cracked on outside ( not the electrode side) ? So long as you can still get a socket on the plug, should be able to get out . Was this not the case?

I think the issue first raised here was a case where the plug separated from the threads ( snapped off at the threads). This could be a major PITA.

 

And that is why I do it all myself so that it is "done right". I could never figure out what was so difficult about some 12th plug.

Doing a plug change on a 993 is not hard, just time consuming because it is a flat-six engine.

 

I agree the plugs on a 993 are not difficult. It's the amount of parts that must be removed to get to the plugs that is time consuming. It took a whole Saturday with and huge pile of metal and sheet metal removed. I just followed the 12 page download!

 

I received a quote of $850 last fall from a reputable indy for plug replacement on my 2019 911T. I asked him why a 3 year replacement interval for a 991.2. He replied to avoid seized plugs and to his credit he mentioned I could probably wait another year or two. I'm a retired mech engineer and I'm familiar with dissimilar metal corrosion, but seriously 3 years (and 14k miles) for spark plug replacement... Are you kidding me? Smells alot like lining mechanics pockets. Aluminum heads have been around a long time, but whens the last time a 3 year interval existed for plug changes? Also, why are 991.2 engines 3yr/40k and 991.1 engines 4yr/40k? Turbo cylinder heads seize plugs faster? In any event, after reading this thread, I've decided to replace my plugs myself in the near future. At first I thought "I'll just put some anti-seize on the new spark plug threads", but mechanic mentioned to not do that because it affects heat rating of the plugs... For f**k sake, and I thought they were just spark plugs. Get the right heat range, gap them correctly and move on... Guess not.

 

Get the right plug-check the gap and install. You want to avoid adjusting the gap if you can on these-if you have to, do it VERY carefully. I got mine from FCP euro and will take advantage of their lifetime replacement for the next set.

 

You’re all mixed up on the service interval, correct interval for spark plugs is 30k miles / 4 years. The following page is from the manual:

 

And what is the reason for the "replacement"? And I take it it is 30k miles or 4 years which ever occurs first.

Imagine more than 100 posts on something as simple as a friggin spark plug. Almost as bad as an oil thread.

 

Watching aYou Tube video on Rainman Ray repairs. He pulled plugs out of Toyota corralla?? They were original plugs, 250K miles on them. It started to misfire. He had zero issues removing the plugs, no seizing etc. The electrode was almost gone, surprised car still ran. Maybe Porsche need to talk to Toyota....

 

I was watching a YouTube video of a Porsche 911 991 Spark Plugs 40,000 Mile Service - Step by Step DIY the other day for the fun of it. I had to chuckle when the owner said "thats a good sign, it started right up" at the end of the video. With 40K miles, the original plugs were hardly worn, of course it is going to start up. lol

My factory installed plugs came right out easily at year 7 without issues. This has ZILCH to do with a replacement interval. It might be due to the wrench working on the car.