At what mileage should I change plugs and coil packs on a 2006
Porsche Cayman S
?
With 46250 miles
Usually they are replaced based on years, especially with a low milage car. If your's are original, that's way past the replacement interval.
I believe it is supposed to be spark plugs every 36,000 miles (60,000 km) or every 4 years.
BTW, those are referred to as coil packs, many people routinely replace them along with the plugs..
Sorry, I
meant coil packs.
The 987.1 idles a bit lumpy. Even after the choke is off. The car doesn't seem to have the "punch" it had a year ago. According to the Car fax, this hasn't been done to date.
I have a great specialist that gets Porsche inside & out. Not sure he's going to recommend the change.
I replaced my plugs @60K mi after about 8 years. Mainly to avoid the chance of the plugs seizing. Alum block vs steel plug. I reused coil packs and am still running fine with them at around 80K mi.
Like
@RSchwerer
said - you need to replace BOTH if they haven't been done yet.
If your specialist doesn't want to do it, find someone else... it needs to be done for seizing reasons, and it's worth doing the coils at the same time since you're there. They aren't that expensive.
Yep. This was on my list when I dropped it off at Autobahn in Ohio. Told him to replace plugs, coils if needed, new battery, oil & filter and tire rotation.
Hi
@jimsounddesign
- At this point, if it's running a bit lumpy at your mileage, I'd say just go ahead and replace all the coils and plugs -- the coils largely because of the plastic aging out. I recently replaced all due to a coil pack crack in my 2010 Boxster -- which was an original coil pack likely due to age and heat.
I may have said it before, but please make sure you introduce yourself in the new members section -- ideally with photos of your ride. It's a strong tradition here on P9 before asking tech questions. Cheers and a belated welcome to P9.
Thanks for the info. My
Porsche
guy examined all the plugs and coils. And he said to wait till 50K miles. He also he replaced the original battery. Which was most of the reason it wasn't running right. (Spark was very low.)
But he will keep an eye on them each time I come in for oil or other issues. The yellow Check engine light is due to a malfunction of the CAT. he said, since it was in storage for the winter, that is most likely the reason. He reset it and told me to come buy if it comes on gain. For now, Drive it like I stole it.
You're welcome. Just a few follow up thoughts on your mechanic's suggestions, totally FWIW (and others might want to chime in here):
3500 miles isn't too far away from the plugs/coil packs replacement, so you're probably fine to wait. Yes, a weak battery can cause low spark and is usually the first thing I replace. However, a bad battery will cause plenty of other issues. Bad coils/plugs will also cause weak spark so I would definitely keep an eye on the car's performance.
Make sure you get a battery tender if the battery was weak - which will help extend the life of your battery. Don't let it drain down to zero.
Not sure if you've ever replaced the coils/plugs before, but it's a doable process -- but it's not a quick one. If your mechanic is willing to somehow quickly check all that the next time you change your oil (likely at 5K miles), great but you might as well just have everything replaced at the same time. It takes the exact same labor to check the plugs/coils as it is to replace them (I just did them).
I really don't like the idea of the CEL coming on for sitting over winter -- that isn't normal. Did he actually use a dedicated P-car scanner to see what was what? Wondering if you're due for O2 sensors?
FWIW, I typically don't usually question mechanics, as they do that sort of thing for a living. However, just keep all this in the back of your mind -- we'd hate to see you get stranded somewhere and fingers crossed for you that all will run just tickety-boo.
Wishing you many fun miles and we're looking forward to your intro in the New Members section,
@jimsounddesign
-- especially as we want to see pics of this cool Cayman you've got. Cheers.
