I couldn't find any records of when the spark plugs and ignition wires on the 944 were last changed so that was next on the list of maintenance items. The car had OEM Beru spark plug wires in pretty good condition and Bosch platinum plugs so the car was taken care of.
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| Clewett Engineering Spark Plug Wires |
I decided to switch to NGK Iridium plugs since I've always generally had good experience with Iridium plugs. The old plugs looked to be in good shape but I think the BR9EIX Irdium plugs should be better and longer lasting. I went with Clewett Engineering ignition wires. These seem to have really good reviews and a bit cheaper than the OEM stuff. I actually have the same wires on my 911 so if it's good enough for that, it's definitely good enough for a 944. The wires are a bit thicker than stock though so the factoring spacers don't fit so for now they're zip tied together. I'll probably find something cleaner solution in the future. Since the old wires were still good, I'm keeping them as spares in case something goes wrong with these wires.
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| New versus old plugs |
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| NGK Iridium BR9EIX plugs |
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| New plugs and ignition wires installed |
I actually did this work a few weeks ago. I noticed that the undertray was a bit wet from oil so I got under there to take a look. It seems I didn't tighten my oil filter enough so it was leaking a bit from the oil filter and I also saw some oil coming from the oil pressure relieve valve (OPRV). The oil filter is in a bit of an awkward position so I used a proper oil filter wrench to double check and sure enough it was not tightened to spec (my fault since I'm the one who put this on after my last oil change) so I torqued it down properly (14 lb-ft). I then ordered a new aluminum crush washer (N-043-815-3-OEM) and rubber O-ring (999-707-144-40-M100) for the OPRV and went ahead and replaced those. Since I had the car sitting for weeks now there wasn't a lot of oil that came out after removing the valve (maybe an ounce or two at most). The old O-ring snapped right off as I was trying to remove it. It had gotten quite hard so the new one was definitely needed. I put it back in and torqued it down (24mm socket - 33 lb-ft), cleaned up the area then let the car run for a few minute. So far so good, no more leaks from this area.
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| OPRV is the 25mm head in the middle |
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OPRV removed with new washer and O-ring ready to go in
NOTE: Got two of each in case I screwed up :D |
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Old O-ring removed, new O-ring installed and lubricated
New aluminum crush washer added |
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These valves to go bad but I saw no symptoms of it being a problem. There was no out of range oil pressure or odd oil pressure gauge behavior so I think trying to fix it by replacing a few seals is the best first attempt here. It's less than 10 bucks in seals and a quick and easy job so it's a no brainer. If I continue to find issues I may replaced the entire valve as there's an internal O-ring I can't replace easily in this but since a new OPRV costs several hundred dollars I'll cross that path when I need to.
I also picked up new jack stands. The offset nature of the approved jackstand points on a 944 make it not ideal for Quick Jack use so I need to jack it up and support it with jack stands traditionally. I don't trust my old ratcheting jack stands and wanted something really solid with secure locking pins and these ESCO performance shorty jack stands fit the bill perfectly. They're beefy, go from 11" to 17" in height, have thick flat rubber pads on top for securely holding up the car against the frame. I definitely felt safe under the car with these jack stands in place.
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| ESCO 3-Tons performance shorty jack stands |
Maintenance Update:
Mileage: 96,629
- New NGK Iridium BR9EIX spark plugs (4)
- New Clewett Engineering ignition wires
- New seals for OPRV
