986 S down on power and misfire after service

[jmsgld]

I had the car serviced by garage down the road last week - oil, filters and plugs.

I thought it seemed a bit down on power afterwards on a short run, but drove it for the first time this morning - on hard acceleration it really struggled - it usually picks up at about 4k rpm which seemed exaggerated today, and then at higher revs it started to splutter and misfire.

Is there anything particular to this engine (2001 3.2) or just standard stuff?

I haven't checked the oil level as my parking isn't particularly flat, I don't know which brand of plugs they used, I can't remember the brand of oil they use but it was a fully synthetic 5w40.

It's back in on Wednesday for them to check, the leads were probably last done when last serviced by Porsche 5-6 years ago... thoughts?

[gd]

Assuming they have done everything correctly re oil, filter, plugs, etc.... If they changed the plugs they could have accidentally broken a coil pack, or the leads could have been refitted incorrectly. Or they might have accidentally dislodged or damaged one of the vacuum lines, perhaps less likely. My first port of call would be the coil packs. If they haven't ever been changed then perhaps worth changing them anyway.

[J Chitty]

No check engine lights?
Duff plug or coils would be my first guess, there isn’t much room for hands in that space.

[dh00065p]

Had similar issue on my 986S which turned out to be coil packs. Overtime with the heat and where they are situated in an exposed area it doesn’t take much for one to start to fail. Following changing them on my car everything was straight back to normal.

[jmsgld]

Thanks, I was thinking damaged / loose lead.

No check engine light came on, will the misfire still have logged?

With the coil packs, are Porsche OEM best or does it matter?

Thanks

[Semmelweiss]

Quite possibly a combination of Coil Packs and MAF. I have had similar, immediately after a service about 10 years ago...

[jmsgld]

I haven't driven it much as only use it for commuting, but it's still not right.

It went back to the garage, they checked plugs and leads, used some contact cleaner and test drove it a couple of times but couldn't find an issue.
The following day I drove it and it seemed fine. Didn't drive it for another week as Xmas etc, then drove it again yesterday and didn't misfire but low rev is a little lumpy and mildly down on power.

I think it only had a new MAF a couple of years ago.

One thing is that the electronic oil level indicator light shows one bar over full on completely flat ground, dipstick looks at max fill line. Is it worth draining out a filter's worth of oil?
Worth just putting on a new set of leads?

Thanks

[Scrump]

I can’t see that the oil level is causing your problem.
As others have said, I too suspect a faulty coil pack. They crack over time and removing it to, replace the spark plugs has exacerbated the fault.

[jmsgld]

Thanks, any particular brand of coil packs to order or avoid?

[r.g.]

It's possible that they have dislodged a variocam sensor plug, but you really need to get the codes read to diagnose properly.