Go Back   986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners > Porsche Boxster & Cayman Forums > Boxster General Discussions

Post Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 10-31-2013, 09:04 AM   #1
jakesbox
 
trimer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Charlotte NC
Posts: 759
well that kind of sucks

So started working on my car today in between calls. I took off each rear tire, took out the wheel well plastic, accessed the coils, took each one off. I am waiting now on a new set of 6 coils and plugs as I had a misfire in 3 and 5. So, I was actually hoping to see some stuff looking really rotten. Nope...No cracks what so ever. Nothing looking weird or out of place...everything seemed to be clipped in pretty solid, etc.

I am not upset that I bought the new sets...the car is 10 years old with 18,800 miles on it so I am hoping that the plugs are just tired. But, regardless, I will soon have 6 new ignition coils and 6 new plugs in the car. Bought everything from Pelican.

Just wish I could have at least seen a sign of something wrong. But I have not taken the plugs out just yet...

__________________
2003 996 Twin Turbo X50, PCCB, polar silver / 2004 996 Carerra Cabriolet, midnight blue, cinnamon leather, IMS Pro / 2003 Artic Silver Boxster - Short Throw Shift, IMS Upgrade, Carerra Light Wheels, De-Snorked with Evoms Cold Air Intake, GHL Exhaust (Sold) / 2002 Seal Grey Boxster - Fabspeed Exhaust, Black powder coated wheels, Porsche stripes (Sold) / 2 -1957 356 A Speedsters (signal red and seal grey) (Sold) / 1989 944 Turbo (m030 S options)
trimer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2013, 09:22 AM   #2
Registered User
 
Dlirium's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 583
Garage
Yeah, bummer. Would be good to see some sort of evidence of an "issue". Take some picts (would love to see the car too) and keep us updated with what you find in the plugs.

BTW, what are you gapping them to?
Dlirium is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2013, 09:30 AM   #3
jakesbox
 
trimer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Charlotte NC
Posts: 759
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dlirium View Post
Yeah, bummer. Would be good to see some sort of evidence of an "issue". Take some picts (would love to see the car too) and keep us updated with what you find in the plugs.

BTW, what are you gapping them to?
Good question. I talked to the fine people at Pelican and they said theya re pre-gapped. I asked - well just to make sure what is the gap and they said - not sure...they are pre-gapped so we dont worry about it. Strange. Others on all the research I did say the same thing. I would like to know the gap though so I can double check.
__________________
2003 996 Twin Turbo X50, PCCB, polar silver / 2004 996 Carerra Cabriolet, midnight blue, cinnamon leather, IMS Pro / 2003 Artic Silver Boxster - Short Throw Shift, IMS Upgrade, Carerra Light Wheels, De-Snorked with Evoms Cold Air Intake, GHL Exhaust (Sold) / 2002 Seal Grey Boxster - Fabspeed Exhaust, Black powder coated wheels, Porsche stripes (Sold) / 2 -1957 356 A Speedsters (signal red and seal grey) (Sold) / 1989 944 Turbo (m030 S options)
trimer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2013, 09:51 AM   #4
Registered User
 
Dlirium's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 583
Garage
No kidding - that's a lot of faith...I always "mind the gap" :-)
Dlirium is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2013, 11:31 AM   #5
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Florida
Posts: 2,492
There's still hope! Although folks often report cracks on coil packs, A bad coil may have no visible signs of any problem. Although none of my Boxsters have had a bad pack, I was replacing them quite often on a 2006 Explorer. There was never any sign of damage to the pack, they just quit working.

As for plug gaps, don't know if you are going OEM Behru but the Bosch platinum plugs (+2 or +4) are gapless. Well not really gappless but you don't have to set anything.
dghii is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2013, 11:48 AM   #6
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Winnipeg MB
Posts: 2,486
30 thou, if i remember right. or was that for the lawnmower....
__________________
'99 black 986
Mark_T is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2013, 12:03 PM   #7
Certified Boxster Addict
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 7,669
Some coil pack issues may not be visible. I also had a misfire CEL on the 996. Replaced all 6 coil packs which looked perfectly good. Misfire solved.
__________________
1999 996 C2 - sold - bought back - sold for more
1997 Spec Boxster BSR #254
1979 911 SC
POC Licensed DE/TT Instructor
thstone is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2013, 02:09 PM   #8
jakesbox
 
trimer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Charlotte NC
Posts: 759
Quote:
Originally Posted by dghii View Post
There's still hope! Although folks often report cracks on coil packs, A bad coil may have no visible signs of any problem. Although none of my Boxsters have had a bad pack, I was replacing them quite often on a 2006 Explorer. There was never any sign of damage to the pack, they just quit working.

As for plug gaps, don't know if you are going OEM Behru but the Bosch platinum plugs (+2 or +4) are gapless. Well not really gappless but you don't have to set anything.
Yes...going beru. My mechanic told me they prefer bosch but when it comes to this, I like oem stuff
__________________
2003 996 Twin Turbo X50, PCCB, polar silver / 2004 996 Carerra Cabriolet, midnight blue, cinnamon leather, IMS Pro / 2003 Artic Silver Boxster - Short Throw Shift, IMS Upgrade, Carerra Light Wheels, De-Snorked with Evoms Cold Air Intake, GHL Exhaust (Sold) / 2002 Seal Grey Boxster - Fabspeed Exhaust, Black powder coated wheels, Porsche stripes (Sold) / 2 -1957 356 A Speedsters (signal red and seal grey) (Sold) / 1989 944 Turbo (m030 S options)
trimer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2013, 02:10 PM   #9
jakesbox
 
trimer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Charlotte NC
Posts: 759
Quote:
Originally Posted by thstone View Post
Some coil pack issues may not be visible. I also had a misfire CEL on the 996. Replaced all 6 coil packs which looked perfectly good. Misfire solved.
Fingers crossed. Funny thing is I keep hearing how the passenger side is the pain in the butt. maybe it is just me but i had a heck of a time on the drivers side number 4 coil pack. what a pain. The passenger side coils came off in a matter of about 5 minutes. Now - as for the plugs - I am sure I am in for a world of hurt when I start those!
__________________
2003 996 Twin Turbo X50, PCCB, polar silver / 2004 996 Carerra Cabriolet, midnight blue, cinnamon leather, IMS Pro / 2003 Artic Silver Boxster - Short Throw Shift, IMS Upgrade, Carerra Light Wheels, De-Snorked with Evoms Cold Air Intake, GHL Exhaust (Sold) / 2002 Seal Grey Boxster - Fabspeed Exhaust, Black powder coated wheels, Porsche stripes (Sold) / 2 -1957 356 A Speedsters (signal red and seal grey) (Sold) / 1989 944 Turbo (m030 S options)
trimer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2013, 12:30 PM   #10
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Mid-Michigan
Posts: 89
Garage
What I want to know is...

Why does your Boxster only have 18,000 miles after ten years? Drive that thing!
jrblackman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2013, 01:16 PM   #11
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: It's a kind of magic.....
Posts: 6,277
Quote:
Originally Posted by jrblackman View Post
Why does your Boxster only have 18,000 miles after ten years? Drive that thing!
We just had a 2001 Boxster S in for its pre hibernation service, it had 7,800 miles on it. These cars are not daily drivers for everyone.
__________________
Anything really new is invented only in one’s youth. Later, one becomes more experienced, more famous – and more stupid.” - Albert Einstein
JFP in PA is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2013, 01:28 PM   #12
Registered User
 
Perfectlap's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 8,709
Quote:
Originally Posted by JFP in PA View Post
We just had a 2001 Boxster S in for its pre hibernation service, it had 7,800 miles on it. These cars are not daily drivers for everyone.
Would you suggest a preventative IMS swap for someone like that? Even if the oil is changed annualy, isn't that still a ripe condition for failure?
__________________
GT3 Recaro Seats - Boxster Red
GT3 Aero / Carrera 18" 5 spoke / Potenza RE-11
Fabspeed Headers & Noise Maker
BORN: March 2000 - FINLAND
IMS#1 REPLACED: April 2010 - NEW JERSEY -- LNE DUAL ROW
Perfectlap is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2013, 01:35 PM   #13
jakesbox
 
trimer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Charlotte NC
Posts: 759
Quote:
Originally Posted by jrblackman View Post
Why does your Boxster only have 18,000 miles after ten years? Drive that thing!
It's not me! I bought it with low miles. I knew the history on the car and the guy and the dealer he bought it from locally with full documentation and i wasnt concerned with low miles. Took it right to the mechanic for the IMS swap. I drove my last box A ton and this one too! Sat onnthemsidelines for a week with some maintenance and then me traveling quite a bit and now a week because of misfires. I am missing pushing this thing to the max!
__________________
2003 996 Twin Turbo X50, PCCB, polar silver / 2004 996 Carerra Cabriolet, midnight blue, cinnamon leather, IMS Pro / 2003 Artic Silver Boxster - Short Throw Shift, IMS Upgrade, Carerra Light Wheels, De-Snorked with Evoms Cold Air Intake, GHL Exhaust (Sold) / 2002 Seal Grey Boxster - Fabspeed Exhaust, Black powder coated wheels, Porsche stripes (Sold) / 2 -1957 356 A Speedsters (signal red and seal grey) (Sold) / 1989 944 Turbo (m030 S options)
trimer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2013, 02:06 PM   #14
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: It's a kind of magic.....
Posts: 6,277
Quote:
Originally Posted by Perfectlap View Post
Would you suggest a preventative IMS swap for someone like that? Even if the oil is changed annualy, isn't that still a ripe condition for failure?
Not necessary, it was upgraded a long time ago, but is being considered for a further update to the Solution.

__________________
Anything really new is invented only in one’s youth. Later, one becomes more experienced, more famous – and more stupid.” - Albert Einstein
JFP in PA is offline   Reply With Quote
Post Reply



Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On




All times are GMT -8. The time now is 01:52 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Content Relevant URLs by vBSEO 3.6.0
Copyright 2024 Pelican Parts, LLC - Posts may be archived for display on the Pelican Parts Website -    DMCA Registered Agent Contact Page