Tune up time?? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Rob175 · 01-17-2021, 07:46 AM

Just looking for opinions on tune-ups. I have a 98' (non-S) 5 speed with 90,000 miles. The car is in very good condition, it's my summer sunny day driver and it gets driven about 5,000 miles a year and is stored inside during the Chicago winters. I'm not getting any CEL and the car starts and runs well and I'm getting about 27mpg. (btw, clutch is still very good too)

My "indi" Porsche shop has suggested I have a tune-up performed now that it has 90,000 miles (plugs, all coils, etc etc).....to the tune of about $1,200 (I'm not a wrencher)

Question......should I leave the car alone or spend the $$ for a tune-up. I'm thinking that as long as it runs well, perhaps I should just leave it alone? Also is $1,200 for a shop to tune it up reasonable?

Thanks

Ciao · 01-17-2021, 07:52 AM

Leave it be; however, when was the last time a tune-up was made? Plugs, coils, oil change are simply DIYs; parts for plugs and coils can be purchased ~ $200

Rob175 · 01-18-2021, 05:49 AM

Thanks.....Not sure when they were last done. I'm the second owner and bought it 17 yrs ago.......all I can say it hasn't been tuned-up in those 17 yrs and the last 53,000 miles. (I only drive between 4M to 5M miles a year.

I'd almost be willing to try replacing the plugs and all coils myself but I have no way of raising the car to get underneath.....lol, I used to tune up my cars ....but that was "back in the day" (60's, 70's & 80's).

I suppose I could tell my "indy" to ONLY change the plugs and all coils but I'm sure they would strongly suggest I do more of what they consider to be a "full" tune-up, thus the $1,200 quote.

BYprodriver · 01-18-2021, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob175

Thanks.....Not sure when they were last done. I'm the second owner and bought it 17 yrs ago.......all I can say it hasn't been tuned-up in those 17 yrs and the last 53,000 miles. (I only drive between 4M to 5M miles a year.

I'd almost be willing to try replacing the plugs and all coils myself but I have no way of raising the car to get underneath.....lol, I used to tune up my cars ....but that was "back in the day" (60's, 70's & 80's).

I suppose I could tell my "indy" to ONLY change the plugs and all coils but I'm sure they would strongly suggest I do more of what they consider to be a "full" tune-up, thus the $1,200 quote.

There is no reason to replace a coil unless it fails. My 2000 S has 140K miles with all oe coils except for 1 because it had a loose boot & The cost of a new boot was almost as much a"coil assembly". New Spark plugs will help anytime.

BrokenLinkage · 01-18-2021, 09:44 AM

If you are not getting any misfires (the mechanics PST2 or PIWIS, or your Durametric tool will show this), and it is not driven in the cold and wet, I think I might just leave well enough alone. Change the serpentine belt if any cracking or advanced age, check the water pump and various pulleys for play while swappung the belt, visually inspect the hoses & replace if indicated, maybe put in fresh coolant and brake fluid depending on when/if this was done before, change the oil and filters, lube the top mechanism, and go drive it. These are the kind of things more likely to leave you stranded or in a predicament, or slowly damage your engine over time.
But if money is less of a concern and your goal is to be comprehensive about anything that could reasonably fail and cause you to need a service appt during the driving season, then sure go ahead and replace plugs & tubes (mechanic can incidentally note other aspects of engine health by doing so) and since there should be no extra labor charge for coils if you are already doing plugs & tubes, maybe prophylactically put in new coils too. And yes, if several coils are already cracked, they are probably not long for this world so might as as well go ahead and swap all the coils and plugs at once and get it over with, but there really is no urgency until you are getting misfires (so you can defer this expense for a little while even if cracks are present)

The cost to stay fun, reasonably reliable, and safe is not that high, considering what you are driving. But reliabilty approaching that of a new car comes at a very high price approaching that of the new car, especially if someone else does all the work. I think my 1st paragraph is the happy medium, but to each his own.

Rob175 · 01-19-2021, 07:28 AM

Your comments are appreciated and make perfect sense to me....Thanks! (btw....I did replace the water pump and coolant tank in the rear trunk, last year and had the entire cooling system flushed and refilled. That's when they "suggested" a tune-up based on the 90M on the odo.

Just one question: would a cracked coil or an occasional misfire trigger a CEL? I ask because I've not had a CEL triggered for years. The last time was when the Mass Air Sensor triggered it about 3 yrs ago and I replaced it.