The 911 LIVES AGAIN!

"K-Roll-PorscheTamer" (k-roll390) 01/05/2015 at 13:05 • Filed to: 911 fixed

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That's right everybody! She's running stronger than ever, and she's breathing healthily. And it only took 10 HOURS to do it! Here's how!

After changing the spark plugs in my 944, the only thing I knew how to do was to change the plugs in the 911, six plugs. So I bought the plugs Saturday in prep to do it Sunday afternoon.

To begin working on changing the plugs, I had to take out the largest obstruction in the bay: the air box cover; it's actually really easy to remove it, as it's held in place by two rubber straps. Simply unhinge and remove!

(Unfortunately, the gas struts that keep the lid up have been dead for years, my dad has been a bit to cheap to replace them, so I compromised with my tennis racquet)

I started with the drivers side plugs and pulled out the very long wires and got to the removal process. The factory tool kit comes very in handy for this because there's an actual spark plug wrench in it. It's basically a socket with an allen key, but it has a inner rubber boot to clamp onto the plugs and keep them in place as you unscrew, remove, and insert new ones. If you're working on a 911 like this one, the socket size is 13/16 if you don't have the actual tool, but you'll need an extension longer than 5 inches, and it better be magnetic, or else you'll be trying to fish it out of the cylinder heads.

(Picture of cylinder locations as reference, this sticker is on the car as well as it will be on most cars from the time)

Within the first 20 minutes, I had cylinders 1 and 2 replaced, and was working on #3, when I found out things started to get a little more difficult. The plug to cylinder #3 is located under that tubing where I placed the #2 plug wire in the picture above. To get that plug, I had to wiggle the socket under the tubing and loosen the plug, then unscrew it by hand.

After the driver's side plugs were done. I switched to the passenger's side; this is where things started to go very wrong. I tried unscrewing #4, but it wouldn't budge. fearing that the plug was stuck in place, on the recommendation of a friend(who is on Oppo), I ran to the store to get some PB blaster. When I returned, I tried #5 and it too wouldn't budge, so I sprayed both, waited a bit and tried again. Nothing happened, but when I went for #6, I realized that the spark plug socket wasn't connecting to the plugs at all. I looked inside the socket, and to my horror, the rubber boot was missing!!

I thought it fell off on the driver's side, and seeing as I couldn't fish it out by hand, I had no choice but to remove the valve cover, which is only held in place via 6 bolts.

I removed the cover to find no rubber boot, and to come to the conclusion that it must have come off on one of the plugs on the other side; I then found it on #4.

So now I'm 6 hours into a job that should have taken me no less than an hour, and I'm trying to get the boot off the old plug that's still in #4; another 20 minutes of fiddling around and it's free! What I think happened was the PB got into the socket and the boot came loose and slid off when I tried removing the plug.

Jump ahead another 4 hours and at 10pm, I had the plugs all changed! Mind you, I started at noon, it's not that I'm incapable of doing this job faster, I just couldn't stop screwing up and taking frustration brakes.

THEN, the moment of truth, which I had to get on camera:

SHE LIVES!

Albeit some hesitation to start, she ran non-stop, nothing went wrong and the revs didn't drop either after that. idle was well where it should and has been for the car(my dad must have set it for 1050rpm idle, and I love that)

Here are the old plugs for reference:

Just look at #3!! Such foul, many black, how old, why dead, wow!

Best feeling ever!! :D

A bit anticlimactic though, the one thing that kept this car down since June 2014 was spark plugs, if I only knew then, but no worries, better now than later! Now the next thing I have to do is fix that damned tail light...

and 100 more > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 01/05/2015 at 13:08

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Congrats! Job well done!

Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 01/05/2015 at 13:10

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But is the tail light still out?

Important stuff man!

/sarcasmoff

Nice Job!

Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 01/05/2015 at 13:12

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Now to fix the rear tail light ;p shouldn't be too hard haha

TheBaron2112 > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 01/05/2015 at 13:16

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I'm offering you $20,000 for it.

KatzManDu > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 01/05/2015 at 13:17

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Well done! Enjoy!

twochevrons > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 01/05/2015 at 13:19

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Not to rain on your parade, but you might not be out of the woods just yet. Something caused the plugs to get that dirty – sooty deposits like that usually indicate an excessively-rich mixture. That's normal if the engine didn't warm up fully last time it ran, or was idled for a long time before shutdown, but those deposits burn off pretty quickly in normal running with a healthy engine.

Next time you take the car out for a decent run, pull out one of the plugs afterwards, and see what it looks like – the chart at http://www.verrill.com/moto/sellinggu… is a handy guide.

Do-Rif-To > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 01/05/2015 at 13:22

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So now I'm 6 hours into a job that should have taken me no less than an hour

Few sentences sum up the Jalop life so well. Perseverance yo, I'm glad to see you don't need to be a rocket surgeon to work on old Porsches. There's hope!

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > TheBaron2112 01/05/2015 at 13:27

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NOPE! :p

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > twochevrons 01/05/2015 at 13:28

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Well the plugs hadn't been changed in 3-4 years, I chalked it up to being long overdue maintenance.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 01/05/2015 at 13:32

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Even then... I hadn't changed the plugs in my Civic since I bought it (7 years ago). They looked really quite clean in comparison. Exhibit A: http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/i-finally-chan…

Something is definitely fouling your plugs.

Also, I'm glad I'm not the only one who had problems with that little rubber boot inside the spark plug socket. Mine also slipped out, and it made the job a bit trickier.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > twochevrons 01/05/2015 at 13:38

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Looking at the plugs, it looks to be a mix of oil and carbon fouling?

twochevrons > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 01/05/2015 at 13:43

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The cylinder temperatures of a healthy engine are enough to burn off those deposits in normal running – age-related failure of spark plugs happens when the electrodes wear down, causing the gap to open up. The old spark plugs in my Volvo looked horrifically worn, but they were still a perfect off-white colour.

It's not a bad idea to change the plugs – they're cheap enough – but it would pay to keep an eye on the plugs to check for fouling.

TheBaron2112 > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 01/05/2015 at 13:47

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Damn. It was worth a shot.

Party_in_the_USA > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 01/05/2015 at 14:04

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100% of the time when I do spark plugs on my car, the rubber catcher in the socket gets stuck in the previous already installed new plug.

Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen > BaconSandwich is tasty. 01/05/2015 at 14:10

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Oh yeah?!? Well, I will never change my spark plugs! NEVER!!!

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen 01/05/2015 at 14:21

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Ha ha. No worries. Only reason I really changed them is people seemed to freak out here when I mentioned that I hadn't changed them. I figure as long as they keep making an appropriate sized spark, it'll still keep igniting the fuel.

Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen > BaconSandwich is tasty. 01/05/2015 at 14:28

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Because diesel master race

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 01/05/2015 at 15:09

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[slow clap]

jkm7680 > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 01/05/2015 at 15:46

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TOOK LONG ENOUGH!

Now I can't buy you about fixing it :)

Nice job!

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > jkm7680 01/05/2015 at 15:50

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U CANT HAZ NOW!! :P

jkm7680 > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 01/05/2015 at 15:51

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Whoops, I meant bug not buy.

I cannot spell as of this time apparently.

Axial > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 01/05/2015 at 15:51

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Wait, wait, wait...

So your dad, who got all mad at you for "breaking" his 911 last year, was yelling over worn-ass spark-plugs that just needed replacing? Something he himself should have already known about and done?

Wow.

Congratulations on a job complete, though. We've all been there with that plug job . :p Took me four hours to change plugs on the '96 Corvette first time around. Ugh, so little wrench space for an engine bay that is entirely open once the front comes up.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen 01/05/2015 at 16:10

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Wow. I can't believe I missed that. Hah! Good one!

03mach1 - Now has a Fiesta ST > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 01/05/2015 at 16:11

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Awesome! Must feel great! So what's the plan now? Anything else besides the tail light?

Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen > BaconSandwich is tasty. 01/05/2015 at 16:12

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It's fine. TBH I don't think most people notice my Kinja name and associate it with a manual, red, diesel wagon :P

E92M3 > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 01/05/2015 at 16:21

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woohoo!! Another aircooled 911 back on the road!

RallyWrench > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 01/05/2015 at 17:07

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Nice! That raises the question: why did they foul? Short trips? Bad injector patterns? Excessively rich mixture? Also, it's hard to see in the picture, but does that airbox have the aftermarket popoff valve installed? If not, do it ASAP. It's cheap insurance to prevent it blowing up the airbox when it backfires through the intake.

Big Bubba Ray > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 01/05/2015 at 17:23

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Well done, K-Roll!

Little tip with the spark plug socket: if the rubber boot comes out, superglue it in! I ran into the same problem as you the first time I changed the plugs in my Baja. Quickly realized that a bit of superglue keeps the boot in place and you don't have to worry about it falling deep in the engine.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > RallyWrench 01/05/2015 at 17:29

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I think that's what I need to find out now. What could have caused the plugs to foul so bad. We've never taken long trips in the car before, it's always been short distance trips no longer than an hour at most.

The popoff valve isn't installed at all. Surprisingly, the car has backfired quite a few times, and no cracks or breaks to speak of; very fortunate.

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > Axial 01/06/2015 at 17:26

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Wow, four hours is brutal! When I did the full tuneup, it took me a while. First thing was a seized up socket wrench to get the plugs out (trip to the store), then not being able to get the dist. cap back on, then mixing up plug wires. But things weren't too cramped to get spark plugs in without removing stuff. I lost tons of screws when getting the distributor cap back in because it's under the windshield, and later ended up having two wires with enough slack to get melted by the headers, but the plugs went in without major issues despite being cramped.

Axial > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 01/06/2015 at 17:30

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I dunno how they are on L98s, but the plugs are under the headers on an LT4. But that wasn't the real issue. The real issue was the rear two on the passenger side. Not only are the plugs under the headers, but there are these big, unmoveable plastic pieces that were just getting in the way. I could only turn the wrench in single-digit millimeters.

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > Axial 01/06/2015 at 17:42

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I assumed that plastic covering would've been the problem. Also cramped but there was always a simple way to get to them and turn the wrench somewhat freely. The LT5 must be a breeze for plug replacement!