JW911

It was independence day, so I figured I would celebrate with independence from dealer extreme prices. My 2005 Carrera recently hit 60K miles and per the book needed new spark plugs. The dealer wanted to charge me $585 which included $230 in parts cost for the plugs. I ordered them online delivered for $50. Having read several posts and tutorials I was a bit intimidated and prepared for the worst. But willing to have a go at it since I hate overpaying for maintenance and I love bonding with my car with a wrench.

So, how was it? Well it took about 4 hours from start to finish. Pretty much dead on with what others have stated. I did not have to remove the mufflers. It was a very tight fit, especially the rearmost 2 plugs, but not impossible. I scraped my knuckles a bit, but not too bad.

I am attaching a photo of the old plugs alongside the brand new ones. The old plugs were in very good condition. They were clearly used, but only discolored. There were some deposits, but not overly significant. And the wear on the electrode was minimal. Porsche recommends replacement at 60K miles, while most other vehicles are at 100K with modern platinum tipped plugs. I would have to say that these plugs could have gone a lot longer without any problems. Probably another 40K miles. Regardless, I am glad to have fresh clean plugs in there ready for another 60K miles of service. I can't honestly say that it runs any better now with new plugs. It ran beautifully before, and it still does. I love 5,000 - 7,000 rpms!

JW911

You will need these two tools to get access to the plugs. A T40 torx driver to remove the coils. And an E10 Torx socket to remove the heat shields.

JW911

Here's an important tip for anyone who attempts this. There are three coils that are impossible to remove using a standard socket wrench with the torx bit due to impossible clearance. But use the torx bit with a small box end wrench like this one and it is no problem.

Chris from Cali

Thanks for the write-up. I might have to give that a shot when the time comes... definitely saved yourself a lot of coin.

Lvt19672

Good DIY, I think the personal satisfaction of doing it yourself is a good feeling.

USMC_DS1

Good job JW... BTW, I changed my plugs at 48K miles. I intend to do the same at 96K miles as well to avoid any potential issues with the metal seizing. Porsche specifies not to use anti-seize and if you conform to that then it's better to replace the plugs before too long even though the plugs may fire until 100K miles as is.

Slamuth

Yeah, nice write up. I was conflicted over having a go at this myself recently, but in this case, the intimidation and time investment won over....and I decided to pay to have it done. I did at least order my own plugs though, and saved a few bucks there.

Money Pit 951

Nice job! I'm also at 60K miles and plugs are next on the list - after I finish the radiator cleaning, water pump, coolant change that I'm doing now.
I'll add that Rock Auto was the cheapest place I found the Bosch plugs

997at

JW911, thanks for the useful info. I'll need to be tackling this job in the near future.
By the way, I'm about to move in to the South Shore hood. Relocating from the SF Bay Area. I've been staying in corporate housing in Cambridge for the past few months, but we just bought a home on the S Shore and will be moving in Mid August. Good to know there are other DIY owners in the new neighborhood.

El Fredo

JW
Good job!
If you would do it again How long would it take you?
would you get or use some different tools?

JW911

If I were to do it again it would probably take 2 or 2.5 hours. It took me a little while to figure out the best way to get all four corners up on jackstands using only 1 hydraulic jack. I probably spent nearly an hour doing this. And then some of the coils took some extra time for me to figure out the best way to contort my hand and angle in the wrench. The front four plugs could probably be replaced in an hour or less. The rear two take a while.

Other than the two tools in my photo, all you really need are several lengths of 3/8 socket extensions and a 3/8 socket wrench. I think I used 1 3 inch extender and 2 1 1/2 inch extensions. I actually bought one of those universal joint things and a wobble extension that allows 16 degree angle, but I didn't really need either of those. And of course you need the spark plug socket. Pretty basic as far as tools go.

JW911

Well, welcome to the south shore! Perfect time of year. Beach and boating at its finest!

DGrayling

Has anyone done this job on a 997.2 DFI engine yet? I'm just wondering because it looks like removing the exhaust manifold/cat will be necessary with these engines. Thanks.

Edgy01

Thanks for the tutorial. I greatly appreciate it when a tool listing is included because we can better assess the investment necessary to proceed.

As you discovered, the plugs can certainly go longer than the factory recommended 40,000 miles. I was told by my technician to let them go until you start to get check engine codes. Am about to turn 70,000 miles and they continue to run very smoothly--with no sense of power loss.

I think my only reservation about doing this myself has to do with the coil packs. I am concerned that I would start the project and then find out I need to replace a coil pack or two--and not have them on hand.

Did you have to replace the coils at all?

Ditto on the plug costs. Bought might some time ago from Sunset in Oregon and they couldn't have been more than $25!

JW911

Actually I had a misfire problem 1.5 years ago just before my CPO expired and they replaced all the coils at that time. Had that not been the case, I would have included coil replacement in my project. I have read about failures happening when the miles get up there and I am another example of this being true. I think you can get them for around $40 each and worth doing them all while you are in there. Better to prevent the problem now than deal with cylinders that don't fire down the road.