How To: Spark Plug Change (1 GR-FE)

first plug change so too many miles.

 

I was going to ask about the iridium/platinum plugs... Why do you say there's no benefit? I thought they could go 100k miles w/o changing.

Great write-up, btw. The spark plugs are one of the DIY projects I have on my list, and now I know how to do it.

 

Well I just hit 20K so I will be doing this sometiime this year... Thanks! I remember all the room I had in my 72 Corona. This is much tighter for sure... Any idea what this costs at a typical dealer?

 

Subscribing. I'm at 26K miles so this is gonna be coming up soon for me.

 

Chris,

Yea, after reading through the posts, I know I can do this. I dont want to waste my money anyway...

Jim

 

From reading through everything the only thing I need is a pair of those long needled pliers and the spark plug tool... This should be bad. I too had a 72 Corona and remember the ample room that it had. This is great stuff. Fun, practical and very helpful.

Thank you.

 

Thanks Chris for the write up. I don't believe you left any details out. I just changed mine for the first time, at 40,000 miles. I was a little overdue, but they looked fine. I just got back from the store, and enjoying my favorite beverage. Toyota quoted me 160.00 to change my plugs, I thought that warranted a little DIY with the help of your post here. I would still be out there if it had not been for this, took me about 1 hour and maybe 5 minutes to do the job, first time. The only problems I had was disconnecting the coil on the drivers side front (closest to front bumper) plug. That was a PITA. Finally got it with a small screw driver to push the plug up while pressing the clip with my thumb, I was trying the plier trick but couldn't quite get it, I was close a couple of times.

 

Just don't text him! haha

 

This is good to know as I'm also at 40K. The write up looks sound by Chris which should take all the guess work out of the ordeal. My plugs from the dealer ran $24 so given the $160 quote above I should save $136. Not bad for a couple of hours of my time.

 

I replaced mine with NGK iridiums all around. I really think that hurt my performance since my gas mileage worsened. It dropped about 2-3 mpg. I would suggest OEM replacement spark plugs.

 

Did it today at 51,000. It is way over rated by the Toyota Dealership. It was extremely easy with the write up by Chris 4x4. I haven't worked on any cars ever...(exept for changing the oil and modding) and it only took me an hour and 20 mins; it would have taken less because I checked the forum every so often to make sure I was doing it right. When I tested it out after I was finished it feels like there is so much more power. I will def make sure to do this every 30,000 from now on...

 

I wanted to drop a quick note that I changed out my spark plugs yesterday and the directions provided by Chris were top notch. I also found the anti-seize at Advanced Auto which for one reason or another was buried behind other sealers. In any event, the passenger side took only took 20 minutes but the drivers side was a bit of a challege due to a few items being in the way. I acutally didn't disconnect the entire air box system on the passenger side but rather just removed the box part containing the air filter while leaving the hose in place. 2 hours is plenty of time to complete the project and most would be done within an hour depending on how prepared you are for the process. Unfortunately, I didn't have two 6" 3/8 extensions and had to make a trip to the store to grab another one in order to complete the driver side. You can get by on the passenger side with just a 6" and a 3" 3/8 extension. The problem is my torque wrench is 3/8 and the other 6" extension is needed on the drivers side to actually turn the wrench when tightening the new plugs.

As mentioned before, the dealer stated the plugs were "pre-gapped" and for the most part they were correct, but I checked them any way and found one that was out of spec. I elected to gap my plugs per the manual at 0.043. I also checked ALL the plugs I tooked out and each was still gap correctly. This isn't news, but the passenger side plugs are still all Denso while the driver's side are NGK. It may just be my perception, but the NGK didn't appear to look as good as the Denso in terms of wear. In any event, I snapped a few photos of the old and the new plugs for a comparison below. My plugs were over due when changing them at 40K miles which seems evident in the photos? Any how, I agree with another poster that the vehicle seems more snappy and stronger after the swap so moving forward it will become part of my routine to complete this every 30K miles. For what it's worth, I kept the old plugs and labeled them as a comparison/measuring stick of engine performance moving forward. Hope this helps someone else and thanks again for the write up!

On a side note, I didn't originally have a 5/8 Spark Plug socket so I used a regular 5/8 deep socket and cut a small piece of clean rag stuffed into it, which allowed me to remove each spark plug and add the new ones.

 

Thanks a lot! I guess I don't need to wait for the right book to come out.