Serge944

Ahhh...the joy of the n/a 996. I did my plugs in an hour without removing anything but the coil packs/heat shields.

R5 Turbo 2

+1...Why even bother with this forum if you don't learn anything?

Kevin

One of the "major" reasons why the coil packs are failing is the turbine housings and CAT cartridges located less than 2.5" away from the coil pack. Yes, we know there is a heat shield between the actual turbine housing and CP. However, it is the high temperature heat soak that takes place.

We will also notice that the failing coil packs are from cylinders 1,2,4 and 5.. 3 and 6 rarely fail..

aroonkl

Is 997tt a lot harder than 996tt? I did my 996tt plugs&coils in 3hours. Anyone has idea how long for 997tt?

Macster

Well, we'll see. I appreciate the info but what's done is done. The tech found no reason to suggest I change the packs. He knows me well enough that had he mentioned they needed changing the service manager would have called me at the office and I would have given authorization for new packs over the phone.

That the tech that did the plugs didn't recommend this change of coils is pretty convincing to me that they're fine.

Sure, the coil packs could start to fail tomorrow and if they do I'll have them replaced and mark it up to experience -- though the experience might not cost me much cause car covered by CPO warranty (which runs until June 2011 and 100K miles). If the coil packs act up and need replacing then I'll remember this for the next time if the coil packs are my responsibility.

Youi know, I didn't purposely not have the coil packs changed just to twist your tail. I honestly didn't come across any convincing coil pack problems in my research of these cars so when I dropped the car off coil packs just weren't on my radar.

I'll certainly keep an eye on the coil packs and see how they last, or don't last.

Sincerely,

Macster.

BostonDuce

You don't want to know. I think the factory/dealer procedure is to partially drop the engine.

BD

Kevin

Look, I realize what has been done has been done. However, I will try to tell people to address the coil packs when they change there plugs. Because one just will spend good money after bad, when they get a misfire down the road. Realize that many have flashed cars and running more than stock levels of boost so CP misfire issues become more important.

What got me to post again is your reference to you NA boxster. It isn't a apples to apples comparison. I don't care if it had/has 500K on the coilpacks. It doesn't have 1200 degrees sitting 2.5" away from the CP.

In the end, people can read this thread and take what they want to out of it. Spending $450 in labor to go back in and replace a CP usually results in a "bad attitude" when the service advisor hands over the bill.

dantzig

FWIW. I had a coil pack failure on #3. Replaced them and the plugs last fall.

When I had turbo upgrades done this winter (Kevin's Stage 2A) he urged me to replace the coil packs again with 997TT. At first I was a little resistant, because they were just 6 months old. But in the end, I agreed with his statement that the cost of the coil packs was peanuts compared to the cost of repairing potential damage due to misfire.

My car's performance has been nothing short of wonderful since the upgrades, and I'm glad that I took the advice.

Jon

mos996tt

Just went through this same issue...have 24k on my 2003 turbo, 4-5k of which are at the track. Car was running fine at the end of last season but indy shop suggested checking everything over the winter and doing 30k service. Had them change the plugs and also inspect CP's...4 out of 6 (I suspect Kevin is correct about 3 and 6 not failing) were cracked so they replaced them. I think if you are mostly street with the car, the odds are probably in your favor so drive it like you stole it and have a hoot

Macster

When I picked up my Boxster I spoke with the Porsche tech who changed the spark plugs on my Turbo.

He said coil packs not a problem. Of course he checked them over and they looked fine.

Now before everyone gets crazy understand this area is pretty dry most of the year, and there is no salt applied to the roads since of course there is no snow or ice to warrant the salt.

He said in the UK because of the weather and salt use coil packs were more often found to need replacing. This tech spent some years working in the UK.

This matches my info. I have owned my Boxster since Jan. 02 and it is still on its original coil packs. I never even gave them a thought until I visited some UK Porsche sites and coil packs were apparently failing left and right. The only thing I can attribute it to is the wetter weather and the use of salt on the roads.

Now I did live in the mid-west a few years and drove my Boxster year round even on snowy/icy roads with salt on them. However, whenever I could I would visit a nearby carwash and rinse the car off topside and underneath.

Then at home when the winter took a break and temperature climbed to something above freezing I'd use the hose connected to a laundry room faucet to wash the car with warm water and rinse the car's underside thoroughly.

It would not be very hard for me to accept that in some areas of the USA climate conditions and the presence of salt on teh roads for the winter months could have coil packs suffering the same high rate of degradation that appears in the UK.

Now the tech did admit the Cayenne coil packs do require replacement even here. In fact his co-worker just replaced all coil packs in a Cayenne the day before. Cayenne coil pack replacement done quite frequently even in this area. In short, there seems to be a coil pack problem with Cayennes. (Years ago well circa 2002 when I was shopping a second new car -- having just bought my 02 Boxster -- I looked into VWs. The word then was VW coil packs suck. I ended up buying a Golf TDi (diesel and thus no coil packs) but I wonder if the Cayenne engine is using crappy VW coil packs?)

The tech reminded me that the engine controller constantly checks for misfires and it will light the CEL and log and error code if misfires detected. Absent any misfire codes and no signs of coil pack deterioration there was no reason to replace the coil packs. Had I requested he replace them -- it would have been at my expense -- I'm sure he would have but would have advised against it absent any clear signs they need replacing.

The tech asked me what I thought of the spark plugs. To recap: They are the original plugs. Car an 03. Just has 30K miles on it (21K I put on since last June.) The plugs I told him didn't look very bad at all. Much less eroded than the ones he removed from the Boxster some months ago.

Now he did tell me it is not unknown for the plugs to break down in the Turbo. Nothing catastrophic, the plugs just seem to go south sooner and result in poorer engine performance. He asked me if I noticed any difference in the engine after he replaced the plugs and I told him that the engine might be a bit less rough, harsh sounding upon cold start and a bit better on off idle pickup but nothing really jumped out at me as being better.

Reminded him that I had the plugs changed on time and not on miles -- they're due to be changed every 4 years or 40K miles IIRC -- and while they have over 4 years on them (original plugs and car's an 03) they only had 30K miles. The engine was not exhibiting any problems at all. Before the plug change the engine was running, and continues to run, just fine.

What does this mean? Well, just this:

I have no problem if someone wants to replace coil packs at the same time plugs are being changed. One can do with his car as he wants.

But I also have no problem if someone choses to not replace coil packs at the same time plugs are changed.

Absent any signs the coil packs are in need of changing, absent any misfire errors, absent any signs the engine's peformance subpar due to coil pack problems, if one wants to skip coil pack replacement I think that's fine, too.

Will add that the next plug change in another 24K miles (or whatever the 996 Turbo's spark plug change interval is -- I believe it has been changed by Porsche) I might opt to have the coil packs replaced as a preventative measure even if they have not been acting up or even if they are not showing any signs of deterioration.

Sincerely,

Macster.