I can only imagine how many other cars at that dealership that did not get the plugs changed out as they should have. Kudos to you for following up to see if it was done!

 

Very aggrevating situation. Hope it works out to your satisfaction. These types of stories, though not that common, are why I do most of the work on my Porsche myself. No worries about whether it was done correctly or, as was your experience, even done at all. Plus I'm not under any time constaint to get the work done so I can make sure it's done
right.

 

110%....

 

My 997.2 had plugs changed about 4-5 months ago
The mid muffler has not been removed.
The rear muffler was removed along with the bumper and thus the access was easy.
I think in your pictures you showed the mid mufflers, which did not have to be removed.
See photos.

In Plug 6: taken from back of car, looking under exhaust, this is a picture of the pipes leading into the "initial-mid muffler" Not changed/not touched
Plug 5: Looking from below the car just behind the right rear wheel. The final muffler (one that leads to exhaust pipe) lead into this one, and as you see, one bolt and nut have been changed to remove the "last/final muffler"
Top pipe leads into mid muffler, and bottom pipe leads out from mid mufler to final muffler which is "in the bumper cover)
Plug 4: The back of the "Final muffler" is attached to a bracket. That is removed along with the "final muffler", it lets you access the plug cover, tin metal behind the 2 screws
Plug 3: the two hex screws are removed and it removes the tin cover which lets you access the plugs. All circled in red

Hope this helps. Based on what I see from your pics and what I compared with my car. I think you need to get more information.

 

you are correct that the mid muffler can stay in place but in the pic he showed the clamps on the mid muffler have to be loosened to get the side mufflers off. They did nt appear to be touched. That place where you have a new bolt is questionable on the OPer s car. If I understand what you are saying....

 

You are right. I missed that one.
Third picture in post number 2. (the one with three pictures)
The 2 bolts side by side, one of them, the one towards the back of the car should have been changed if they really did it.
Look at my picture "plug 5"

 

I loosened both of those bolts to remove mine. They are just clamps. Anyway I think we all agree (including the dealer) ....

 

update us please... as a community we should advise each other of services like this...

After reading the thread of the 230 mile joy ride done to a customers car I remembered this thread.

 

Exactly! What is the world coming to...

 

I was in your shoes just a few weeks ago.

My 997.2 had just turned 4 years and I started prepping for a plug change. Got the upper bolts off but then lost interest and took the car to Porsche in Stuttgart Zuffenhausen (I live 3 miles from the mothership haha).

Anyway, talked to the service adviser and showed him my prep work and asked how they go about doing this work and he told me that bumper cover gets taken off and mufflers on each side of course. He said there is no way to change plugs without taking mufflers on each side off. That is possible on 997.1 but no chance on 997.2

Regards,

CF

 

Update: the dealer admitted that Porsche protocol calls for the removal of the mufflers and that the tech that did the job the first time did not do it this way. It's my guess that Porsche requires the removal of the mufflers because this is the only way to properly get the torque wrench in there to torque the plugs. The dealer willingly removed everything to verify that the plugs and coils were indeed changed. Upon doing this, they snapped pics of 6 plugs that looked fairly new....well, they didn't appear to be 4 years old. At least not in my opinion. Whether or not the plug threads were damaged because a torque wrench wasn't initially used, who knows. I guess time will tell. At least, I have it documented at the dealer as well as with PCNA via a customer feedback survey.

I don't know where to really go from here.

Bottom line: trust, but verify....always.

 

Obviously they wouldn't replace the plugs and coils and then take pics to prove to you that they did them the first time they had your car, that would be dishonest.

 

thanks for the update, and thanks to your post I m sure many are wiser.