Ol' Shatterhand Posted May 20, 2021 Report Share Posted May 20, 2021 (edited) Just had my Boxster S serviced and they found 4-off cracked ignition coils, which explains why the car wasn't pulling very strongly at 3000 - 3500 rpm recently. It's in rude health now! Anyway, I was noseing around in my local specialist's workshop while they were working on my car, and they had a 997 on the ramp. I noticed that there are metal plates affixed to the engine, to shield the ignition coil heads from water and debris kicked up from the road. There are youtube videos from another garage that specialises in early 996s in which they also mention these plates mounted on those M96 engines. Does anyone know if these plates are a bolt-on retrofit on a 986? Having the extra shielding would be worthwhile as it prolongs the life of the ignition coils and it seems to me that the only reason Porsche didn't fit them to our "entry level" Boxsters was to cut costs. Edited May 20, 2021 by Ol' Shatterhand Fixed typos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobbie Posted May 20, 2021 Report Share Posted May 20, 2021 Never heard of this before, but don’t see the point when coil packs in decent condition don’t cause a problem. If they’re cracked, they need replacing not shielding as you have done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonogt6 Posted May 20, 2021 Report Share Posted May 20, 2021 (edited) 32 minutes ago, Nobbie said: Never heard of this before, but don’t see the point when coil packs in decent condition don’t cause a problem. If they’re cracked, they need replacing not shielding as you have done. I think the shielding is supposed to prevent the cracking in the first place by creating a errr shield! I don't think Mr Shatterhand was suggesting to just cover the old ones up🤔 Edited May 20, 2021 by jonogt6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
map Posted May 20, 2021 Report Share Posted May 20, 2021 My understanding is that they're fitted to the 99x because the coil packs are behind the rear wheels and get covered in road spray. On a Boxster the engine is in front of the rear axle so far less prone to this onslaught. Likely to be seen as an un-necessary cost (materials and supply chain management overhead) instead of a cost saving as such. By all means see if you can fit them but I wouldn't bother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
½cwt Posted May 20, 2021 Report Share Posted May 20, 2021 Part number is 996 104 445 02 described as Heat Shield in the 996 parts catalogue. It is not handed so two the same and should cost around £23 to £25 from an OPC. It is retained by M6x16 hex head bolts 900 378 163 09. Whether the holes are there and tapped for the bolts to fit into on a 986 cam cover I don't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ol' Shatterhand Posted May 21, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2021 9 hours ago, map said: My understanding is that they're fitted to the 99x because the coil packs are behind the rear wheels and get covered in road spray. On a Boxster the engine is in front of the rear axle so far less prone to this onslaught. Likely to be seen as an un-necessary cost (materials and supply chain management overhead) instead of a cost saving as such. By all means see if you can fit them but I wouldn't bother. And yet, they crack on Boxsters too. I didn't ask the technicians which four coils were damaged on mine, but it's a good bet that the intact ones were the two furthest forward. Maybe the deterioration of the exposed ones is not as quick as on a 911 with the shields missing. Interestingly, on the 911 they are referred to as "heat shields", so road spray was probably not foremost on the mind of the engineers who designed them in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ol' Shatterhand Posted May 21, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2021 8 hours ago, ½cwt said: Part number is 996 104 445 02 described as Heat Shield in the 996 parts catalogue. It is not handed so two the same and should cost around £23 to £25 from an OPC. It is retained by M6x16 hex head bolts 900 378 163 09. Whether the holes are there and tapped for the bolts to fit into on a 986 cam cover I don't know. Aren't the cam covers common to both the 986 and 996? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
½cwt Posted May 21, 2021 Report Share Posted May 21, 2021 3 hours ago, Ol' Shatterhand said: Aren't the cam covers common to both the 986 and 996? They should be the same but the parts cat lists them as with cylinder head does not give a separate number so it would appear you buy a head and get a cover so they would be a specific set. Possible there may just be bosses on the 986 castings to save a machining op but I don't have that info. Answer is to get under the car and have a look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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