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THIS DISCUSSION / SOURCE-DERIVED OVERVIEW
Discussion summary
YOUR RESEARCHWhen is it necessary to change coil?
Leading reported evidence
Replace due
Performed · outcome unconfirmed
No successful repair reported for this finding.
0
Reported fixes
0
Unsuccessful attempts
1
Discussions
Read evidence and context
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Discussions that performed work without a confirmed outcome
1
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed
But last time I had my 2003 Turbo in for its 140K mile oil/filter service I had the coils (and plugs) changed due to cold start misfires that I attributed to bad coils.
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Suggestion
If one goes bad and a new part number is available, update all the coils are required per Porsche TSB's, be sure to change/update the bolts too and inspect the covers.
Leading evidence: 'Replace due' (no explicit attributable resolution; this is a reported action or suggestion). Across 1 matching discussions, The most frequently discussed action is 'Inspect covers' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.
Source reports, not a diagnosis or a success probability. Counts refer to discussions and can overlap.
Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
Discussions that performed work without a confirmed outcome
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed
We replaced the failed one at the location, then the rest after, back at the shop.
Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
Discussions that performed work without a confirmed outcome
1
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed
Coils are not exactly wear items that need to be replaced with any frequency.
Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
Discussions that contain suggestions
1
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0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Suggestion
If one goes bad and a new part number is available, update all the coils are required per Porsche TSB's, be sure to change/update the bolts too and inspect the covers.
Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
Discussions that contain suggestions
1
0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.
0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Suggestion
If one goes bad and a new part number is available, update all the coils are required per Porsche TSB's, be sure to change/update the bolts too and inspect the covers.
These are separate views of the same evidence. Frequency alone does not establish a fix, and these counts must not be added together.
Inspect covers
No successful repair reported for this finding.
0
Reported fixes
0
Unsuccessful attempts
1
Discussions
Read evidence and context
Discussions that contain suggestions
1
0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.
0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Suggestion
If one goes bad and a new part number is available, update all the coils are required per Porsche TSB's, be sure to change/update the bolts too and inspect the covers.
0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.
0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Suggestion
If one goes bad and a new part number is available, update all the coils are required per Porsche TSB's, be sure to change/update the bolts too and inspect the covers.
0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.
0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Suggestion
Once you have one fail, you might want to replace all of them just to "futureproof" a bit (you don't want to change 1, then have to do another the next week, etc).
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Suggestion
The general rule is when plugs are changed the tech should give the coils a visual check and if he spots signs of age replace the coils, all of them, at that time.
Discussions that performed work without a confirmed outcome
1
0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.
0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Performed · outcome unconfirmed
But last time I had my 2003 Turbo in for its 140K mile oil/filter service I had the coils (and plugs) changed due to cold start misfires that I attributed to bad coils.
Counts describe captured discussions, not unique people or a diagnosis. Author identities are not reliably stored. Exact duplicate evidence is counted once across matching discussions; one discussion counts at most once per action/state. Multiple repairs reported together remain a combination. Suggestions and failed attempts do not establish a fix. Matches cover whole discussions and can include related faults, model variants and incomplete threads.
14 eligible posts · 0 unverified posts · 1 discussions match the subject in their title or opening post.
Rennlist: 1 discussions
0 evidence records excluded for query context · 0 excluded by outcome qualification · 0 adjusted by outcome qualification.
0 acknowledgements have no verified action link; they do not establish a repair result.
Generation: 20261027T084359Z · outcome-qualification-6. Deterministic extraction; no AI model inference. How we use sources
When they go bad.
Coils are not exactly wear items that need to be replaced with any frequency. Once you have one fail, you might want to replace all of them just to "futureproof" a bit (you don't want to change 1, then have to do another the next week, etc). But I wouldn't be replacing coils just because they have 100k miles on them, if you don't have any misfires.
I work at a New England Dealer and we generally see that the housings of the coils start to break down more so with age and exposure to the elements. They begin to allow moisture in and cause misfires. 6 years typically seems to be average, with some getting more if they take care of their car and keep it dry. However, all 996 coils and early 997 coils have been updated/superseded to a new part number and you can also notice the visible improvement to the coil housings. If one goes bad and a new part number is available, update all the coils are required per Porsche TSB's, be sure to change/update the bolts too and inspect the covers.
100K miles? In a Sacramento car? More like 100K years.
My mostly CA Boxster has just a few hundred miles short of 300K miles and it is on its original coils.
However, a point raised by Dealer1671Guru is important to highlight: I came upon UK owners reporting bad coils, and they were bad, not just imagined bad, long before I came upon any bad coil reports here in the USA. But northeast, upper Midwest cars that get exposed to some rain, snow, and salt a lot -- well, those cars that are driven year 'round -- can have coils shot in just a handful of years.
The general rule is when plugs are changed the tech should give the coils a visual check and if he spots signs of age replace the coils, all of them, at that time. 'course, he should have your permission or get it before doing this. (As an aside, I give the techs permission before a plug change to replace the coils if any one is showing signs of age. Both engines have had a few plug changes over the years and so far not one tech has found any reason to replace the coils.)
But last time I had my 2003 Turbo in for its 140K mile oil/filter service I had the coils (and plugs) changed due to cold start misfires that I attributed to bad coils.
So if the engine is acting up, misfiring, then coils have to be suspected, regardless of how they look.
However, I can tell you that not all misfires are coil related.
There's a bit of a story behind this but I won't bore you with my Turbo misfire story.
If one goes bad (to failure/limp mode), it's generally a good idea to change all coils and plugs. My '99 996 had a failure at a race track, with close to 100k. We replaced the failed one at the location, then the rest after, back at the shop.
My street car is a 2014 Cayman S. I've had two failed coils with less than 15k. Porsche North America chose to change all coils and plugs under warranty.
The moral of the story is don't go looking for trouble, but change the lot when trouble knocks.
Never babied or protected from the elements and driven in all conditions. We got 15.6 years and 70k from them. By the looks of them I'm shocked we hadn't seen issues before that though.
Coil failure at 15K miles falls into the infant death classification, IOWs a new part failure.
The newer coils have some electronics the older style coils didn't have, and the electronics I'm told account for the higher failure rate, at least out of the box.
Good grief. Electronics in a coil. What's next: Its own Facebook page?
My GF's 2005 Jetta didn't have any real issues either until she drove it in really hard rain last fall and it started to misfire. All it really takes are the right conditions or water (or something) getting in the right place.
You know, and then the ones on my motorcycles (both from the 70's) still seem to work... Thing about them is, from what I'm told, is that they work up until they don't work and until they don't work there is really little to no warning.
I was using a lift at a friend's shop one weekend to do some maintenance including changing plugs. Five out of six coils looked much worse than this; some had chunks of the insulation completely missing. Since there was no local source for the coils and I had to finish up before the weekend ended, I put several coats of Plasti Dip on them. I'm not suggesting this as a permanent solution, but those have held up fine for months and probably will until I get around to changing them.
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