Re: 239,175 miles and some new error codes... Shuffled the ('02) Boxster around Saturday...

cause I planned on taking Sat/Sun off and leaving town in the other car.

Boxster got treated to a couple of short -- very short -- 'trips' as I moved the Turbo out of the covered parking space and moved the Boxster into the covered parking space.

Left the Boxster Saturday and was out of town Saturday (spent the night in San Luis Obispo) and all day Sunday, getting back home around 7pm (after driving over 500 miles from SLO to Santa Barbara and then 101 to 405 and up to 5 and home). (Had intended to drive to El Mirage Dry Lake over by Victorville off of 395 but decided I was too tired and cut the trip short. Maybe next weekend (3 day weekend!).

Anyhow, went to move the Boxster last night and engine cranked a bit odd and when it fired up immediately started running rough. Doesn't do this except in exceptional circumstances. (Engine always fires up and settles into smooth and fast idle.)

The check engine light (CEL) was on due to a P0430 DTC (arising from a semi-permanent condition due to a converter that is wearing out, and made more likely to occur due to colder weather, short trips and deviating from running Shell/Chevron gas (name brand stuff is expensive here!).

But I suspected the CEL might be on for another reason so I read the codes: P0430 was there, as I expected. P0420 (other converter wearing out) is a new one. And then P0300, P0302, P0306 error codes. Misfires.

Time to change the coils I think. Darn! I was hoping to get 250K miles out of these! I suspect the misfires caused the P0420 error code too.

Oh, checked with the service department today. Plugs changed at around 180 miles. Thus the current set of plugs have nearly 60K miles on them, so I'm debating having the plugs changed at the same time the coils are replaced. Coils are $80/each. Labor is under an hour. Plugs are IIRC around $20 each and I'm not sure what the labor cost is, but with the coils replacement there might be some combining of labor and thus some savings.

And the Boxster is due to for registration renewal this late spring which I believe will require I get the car smog tested, and new plugs (along with new coils) can only help it pass smog emission testing. That and making sure I time the testing to fall on a hot day and run Shell/Chevron gas a couple of tanks before the test.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

I had P0306 about a year ago (at ~90k miles) , I replaced the coil on Cyl. 6 and a few weeks later got P0302, so I decided to go ahead and replace the rest. At $49 each from Pelican Parts and really no more effort than a plug change, I liked the idea of $250 peace of mind. If I was paying dealer rates I might think twice and buy as they go.

desk). Do I have to remove the rear wheels to get at the coils? That's a bit more work cause all I have is the scissors jack that came in the car's tool kit.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

I've never tried to get at the plugs/coils without removing the rear wheels. I suppose you could get to them on ramps, but I prefer to work sitting up as opposed to on my back.