Cayman Spark Plug and Ignition Coils Day!

Jack up the rear end. Sounds easy. It is!

I've had a few major accomplishments in my life, like switching a refrigerator door from left side open to right side open, fixing a toilet with only one trip to the hardware store, and changing ALL the door knobs and locks on my house. Yeah, those seem like LEGENDARY tasks that only a combination of Superman, Hercules, and Tim "the Tool Man" Taylor could manage, but they all pale in comparison to an event that took place just this week in my garage. 

Rear wheel is off, let's remove those shields that are in the way.
They just need a 10mm socket and a T25 Torx bit. 

I changed the ignition coils and spark plugs on my Porsche Cayman! Honest! With no help. 

What's the big deal? Well, allow me to explain!

Bottom center is the heat shield out of the way, just above that is a catalytic converter. Let's zoom in to where the action is going to happen. 

On your regular front engine car, it is usually simple. Lift the hood, change the stuff, and you're done. Like on a Miata or the old NMS FIAT where the coils and plugs are RIGHT THERE on top of the engine. However, Porsche doesn't play that game with the Cayman. Oh no, that would be WAAAAAY too easy! 

A-HA! We have finally reached an ignition coil. We just have to disconnect the electrical connection (black part slides down onto the gray part,) remove the T30 screw at the bottom, and pull the coil out. 

The Cayman is mid-engine, so, just to get to the spark plugs, you remove the rear wheels, and then...

With the coil out of the way, we're just looking straight into where the spark plug is sitting. The big thing on the right that kind of looks like a spark plug is an Oxygen sensor still plugged into the cat. 

No, really, you remove the rear wheels. Then you remove the inner wheel well stuff, and then you remove a metal heat shield to get access to the coils and plugs. Not super hard, but if you had just run the engine, you will not be happy because the coils are just above the catalytic converters. Reminder: Catalytic converters have one job, to get so hot that they burn up exhaust gas bad stuff. Like, really hot. Like conservatively 500 degrees. AND...that heat is still there when you shut off the car and want to work on anything around them! However, I avoided that danger, which I think was one of the traps that Indiana Jones had to avoid in The Search For The Ten Millimeter Socket. 

Question 1: Try and spot the OLD and NEW spark plug.

Question 2: Try and spot the OLD and NEW ignition coils. 

You could do this job with the car on a lift, so that you could work standing up, but at home I just jacked up the car and sat on the floor all day. It took me about six hours total, so laugh at that if you like, but Rome wasn't built in a day. And it took the Romans a LOT longer to change spark plugs way back then, trust me on that!

With three cylinders on each side, the most challenging one is the closest to the front of the car. So here, the opening on the right was a more severe angle to get tools into, so it was a happy feeling to get this job done. 

The challenge really was just reaching in and getting access, but with enough ratchet extensions, swivels, and a spark plug socket, I got it done. Maybe not worthy of an Olympic Gold Medal, but if they made this an official sport I would NOT want to enter! I'm also thinking that some superheroes like Mr. Fantastic with his rubbery arms, and Magneto that can move metal with mind power, would be a great team in the garage!

Basically the same view as the previous photo, but it was just exciting to pull this plug out of that opening up above there!

If you want more of a challenge than this, I've read that some of the rear engine Porsche 911s also require removing the muffler (likely with rusty old seized exhaust system bolts) to get to the coils/plugs. Good luck with that one!