Quadcammer

ok, so my buddy EMBpilot and I put spark plugs in the turbo over the weekend. Mind you, I didn't say saturday or today...yes, thats right, this turned into a 2 day project.

Problem 1: The Bosch FR5LDC plugs I bought didn't come with the screw on connector. It was just plain old screws. Nothing in the box. Not sure who to blame here, Bosch or Rockauto. Either way, had to buy a different set of plugs and swap over the caps. That was not a pleasant surprise.

Now then...plug 6...not that big a deal. Kind of a bitch getting the long *** spark plug boot out, but other than that, straight forward. The vertical bolt on the tin cover is asinine, but if that were the worst of my troubles, it wouldn't have been a problem.

Drivers side, idiotic that you have to piecemeal the 3" ext/socket, the swivel, etc to get it in and out, but ultimately, no biggie. Little bit stupid placement of the number 2 plug in relation to the boost hose, but got it done without yanking the hose.

Plug 4, same story, boost hose directly in the way. That one had to come out.

Now then. The number 5 plug is the biggest, hairiest, ugliest bitch known to man. The placement is quite literally so asinine I'd like to get the engineer to designed this whole system in a room with a ****ing billy club.

Ok, Intercooler out, pass side boost hose out, arm scraped to ****, etc. Now...porsche engineers determined that the valve cover hole shouldn't extend a bit as to help keep the socket on the plug the plug easy to remove. After ****ing around for 30 minutes with a magnet, old plug out.

Obviously getting the plug boot on is a disaster since its not a straight shot onto the plug.

reassemble...dead miss on 5, partial miss on cyl 3.
dick around with the boots, test this that and the other thing. Car still runs like ****.

now 2am...bed time.

started this morning. Took out 3, cleaned up, and reassembled, seated fine.

Number 5...disaster, yet again. 45 minutes trying to get the plug out with a magnet...gets caught, ends up sideways. What a pain in the *****.

Finally got it out, back in, and the boot clicked on firmly.

Reassemble and it runs good, no miss..whew.

Bottom line...**** porsche.

Texas993

Sounds like an awesome weekend. You did all of this on your back, right?

Quadcammer

nah, hes got a scissor lift, so that helped, but my hands/forearms are torn up and I have skinny hands. If you had big hands, i'm not sure how you do this.

sonny1

Simple, pay a tech to do it.

nrubenstein

Very easy with the engine out!

993Godspeed

Quad, I have changed the plugs 2x in my car. First time for the Bosch and second time put the IK22s. I swore I would pay someone after the first time. I still decided to do it the second time, as you mentioned trouble were 5 and 6. 5 is tough as it sits right under the power steering pump and it does end up side ways if not gentle lol. Short story the more you do it the better you get at it. Took me 2 -3 hours to change all 6 second time around.

OverBoosted28

The real planning is to make sure that you don't need to use your hands or show them in public for a few days after doing the plugs. When I go to work and people ask "what the hell happened" I tell them how much money I saved by paying in skin.

DoninDen

Thank you for the warning and my mechanic thanks you too! Now I will understand why it takes them a few hours to change the plugs. They sure pack a lot back there and you'd never call it a "doghouse".

Quadcammer

I'll bet. I'll probably need to pull the engine in the next 25k miles, so thats when the next plug change is gonna be.

The placement and angle of 5 are simply ridiculous. You're right though, it really is all about experience.

If i were starting with a good nights sleep and some day light, I think I could get it done fairly quickly. Still, for a routine maintenance job, its really kinda retarded. I mean, wheels off, mufflers off (if you have them), boost hoses off, intercooler off, etc etc. Makes all the bitching about pulling the rear bumper off the 991 for an air filter replacement seem kind of ridiculous.

No kidding. Lost a nice chunk of skin on my knuckle.

LexVan

Quad, you don't wear gloves when you wrench on your ride?

Quadcammer

sure do. heavy duty from harbor freight. Problem with this job is not so much cuts, but abrasions. There are a lot tight areas where you have to squeeze your hand through. combine that with a little bit of sweat in the gloves and your skin gets awfully soft.

My hands are more sore from being banged around than cut up, but yeah, one knuckle definitely needed a bandaid, lol

chsu74

So you went from a C2 tranny drop to a turbo 30K maintenance weekend?

Quadcammer

precisely haha.

rlme36

What is the reco service interval for them? Want to plan my free weekends accordingly

Rob

EMBPilot

+1