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

Appreciate this Spark Plug DIY Chris...helped me know what I was getting into before my plug change. Drivers side was a piece of cake on a 2012. Your recommendations were extremely helpful. Original plugs weren't extremely bad.

 

First tank of fuel since plug change gained 3.3mpg back to net 17.9mpg today. Not great, but an improvement over the damn 14.6 I've been getting since last fall.

 

Has anyone else found oil in the plug chambers.

 

sub for future reference

 

Did mine yesterday, no oil.

If Oil there usually means time for valve cover gaskets.

 

I was thinking the same thing, this was the third time I have replace the plugs and its the first time I've seen oil all over the plugs. I am going to replace the pcv valve too.

 

Had 85,401 miles on the original plugs. (Thought my mom had them changed out when she had the truck so I have been putting it off for a while.) first time changing plugs and this was a helpful write up. Took me about 2.5 hours. The driver's side sucked but I eventually got it. The original plugs were gapped from .05-.06, which I assume is really bad. Some were tough to pull out but nothing broke thankfully. Threw some anti sieze on the new plugs so hopefully won't be as bad as my originals. I didn't have a torque wrench so I used "1/8-1/4" turn method after hand tight. Saved about 100$ doing it myself!!

 

Just had my 30K service done at the dealer. I've had free service thru 25K so this was the first service I've had to pay for. At my 25K service I asked about changing the plugs at 30K and the service tech said it wasn't required. I went ahead and emailed Toyota asking about it and they just quoted the service manual back to me saying it was 'recommended'. I figured for warranty purposes it would be good to have a record of the dealer doing the 30K service so I contacted them for an appointment and asked what the cost would be. They looked it up and said that their PC said I would need to change plugs and that the total cost would be $470. I said I could change the plugs myself if required. She said that the service tech would have better information when I got their.

When I dropped my truck off I asked again about the plugs. This service tech said that Toyota switched to 70K spark plugs in the Tacoma starting with the 2012 models. Just the oil change and other service stuff was $46. I figure it was worth it to have a record of my vehicle being serviced by a Toyota dealer and that they didn't change the plugs.

As easy as changing them appears to be, I may still do it before 70K. But right now my truck is running well so I guess I won't be changing them for the time being.

Disclaimer: I'm just putting this info here as my experience. Each owner needs to decide for themselves what's best for their truck and I'm not advocating in any way going against Toyota's suggested service.

 

I'm pretty sure my 2014 owner's manual says 30k on the plugs for the V6. I'll have to double check when I have a chance.

 

Did my 30k maintenance this last month. Dad did my plugs so I didn't get to learn how to do them. But he said it was easy enough. All fluids changed with the help of my dad too were a easy. Truck runs likes its brand new. Went from 17 mpg to 19+mpg. Filled up 4 times since and consistently 19mpg which I never had gotten before.
Thanks TW for the step by step write ups.

 

Just finished changing the plugs . Denso 's all the way around and gaped to .041 . Couldn't have done it with out this write up . Thank you Chris for this write up and for adding the pictures. Very helpful. Took me about an hour and the half. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be .

 

Did my maintenance this week at 52,000... Oil & Oil Filter Change, Differential Gear Oil Change, Air Filter Change, Cabin Filter Change, Denso ( from Toyota Dealer )Spark Plugs change...the spark plug change took me almost 4 hours as taking out the driver side spark plugs were all challenging..... my cabin filter was black with plenty of leaves, my air filter was full of dust... but over all, I am happy with all I did....tired but happy with all I did.....till next maintenance schedule......

 

Stick two extensions together, piece o cake

 

Just buy the extension with the plug socket on it. I think I spent around $10.00 and it even has a magnet in the socket to pull the plugs. I think I have changing the plugs down to about 10 minutes both sides.

 

The spark plug socket can not pull out the spark plugs from its deep hole, I have to fish them out of their deep holes after unscrewing them and I find it difficult to maneuver my long nose pliers to pull out the spark plugs... the driver side was worse, so little room to maneuver, I have to pause so as not to burn my patience but ultimately i was victorious........

 

The magnet works pretty well, I think I might have even picked it up from Advanced Auto parts. I just had replace my valve cover gasket because I found oil in the spark plug wells and I have pulled the plugs a few times to make sure I fixed the leak.

 

Just another bump for this awesome how-to. Took me right at 2 hours to change the oil and the plugs. My dealership sucks for parts - denso plugs cost me $6 each, but even with buying a socket and anti-seize I was well under $50 for parts. When I got them changed at the dealer it was close to $300, so I definitely saved some cash.

I was glad to have a nice set of ratchets and glad to have a set of extensions as well. For the driver's side I was using the 12" and the 6" extensions together. Made it really simple.

The threads on the used plugs were pretty dark but I think they were just generous with the copper anti-seize. Element-ends looked like new except the gaps were bigger. One did have some white hazing on the metal head. It's been about 32k miles since the dealer originally changed them at 30k.

 

How do I know when to stop twisting the wrench on the torque wrench? Do I stop once it clicks?

 

Can this be done by a beginner? So far I've only done a few things aside from installing tires: Cleaning the throttle body and the MAF sensor, and did the fix for the chirping blower motor. How bad can I fucked this up lol I really don't want to pay the dealer. The dealer quoted me at 119 + tax for parts and labor which is actually not that bad...

 

I have never done any engine work and I was able to do it in 2.5 hours. I just used this thread as my guide and the truck is running great.