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...

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.

No kidding - that's a lot of faith...I always "mind the gap" :-)

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.

30 thou, if i remember right. or was that for the lawnmower....

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.

Yes...going beru. My mechanic told me they prefer bosch but when it comes to this, I like oem stuff

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!

What I want to know is...
 

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.

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?

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!

Not necessary, it was upgraded a long time ago, but is being considered for a further update to the Solution.