chassis

The S-trim main wiring issues are twofold:

1. Pulling off the plastic cable duct from its ball-shaped retention stud. Without this step, the coils cannot be accessed. The retention stud interfaces with a rubber grommet, and it takes quite some force to remove the first time. When reassembling, wipe the thinnest film of dielectric grease on the rubber grommet, so removal next time is easy. This applies to both left and right sides of the the engine.

2. Left/driver's side harness connectors are best disconnected to give more wiggle room. Removal of the ECU from its bracket is also recommended. The ECU large connectors don't need to be removed, but being able to physically move the ECU around helps wrangling the wiring out of the way.

PorscheACC

Thanks Chassis.!! Great advise..

C5Driver951

So, this is my second time through this thread. Lots of good info and pics. I have a 2021 turbo and after disconnecting way too many connectors with nightmares of breaking them, I put the damn thing back together for now. I talked with a Porsche tech from Main Line Porsche and he pretty much said this job is a pain in the ***. You have to remove the passenger side brace, and there is a special Porsche tool to "pull" the engine to the passenger side to get access on the driver's side... Go figure. I may just have to break down and pay to have this done. Nothing special other than having to wiggle the coils through the insulation which is no joke.

matthewr87

..........whaaaat?

C5Driver951

Yeah, that's what I said. I didn't get into it with Paul as to what it looks like.

Quad_drive

Thanks for all the steps by steps and tips for all of you.
Got my 2020 S spark plugs replaced yesterday. The old plugs didn't look too bad. But, the engine runs quite a lot smoother and more responsive. I am surprised by how much difference it made. I have 28k miles.
Took my time to slowly move around all the wire harness and stuff, still took around 2 hours. Driver side is tight, but doable. Passenger side is daunting to remove the engine mount. Turned out okay, just need all the proper length extension and M12, M10 sockets. After removing the alloy engine mount piece, popped off the harness is simple enough and has more rooms than driver side.
I bought the spark plugs using the VAG OEM, it's $62 for the kit (all six). Exact same part numbers (06M905606F) stamped on the factory ones. The Porsche branded ones are twice the price.
Quite enjoy the work in a SUV, more room to work with. Super happy with the it and save me quite a few bucks.