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

I’d be amazed if those are original plugs

 

You and me both ha ha

 

Just changed mine out this afternoon, piece of cake, just under 30k on mine, old ones were gapped between 46 and 50, slapped in a new air filter, I’m all set for awhile. Thanks to the original poster for taking the time to post this. Took me close to an hour, took my time, looking for the right tools, etc. Now it’s Miller time !!

 

If I read that right, it took you an hour to find your tools. If that'd been me, it'd be two hours and three Millers!

But... If you found your tools and did the job and cleaned up inside an hour before cracking that beer, I don't fucking believe that for a minute.

 

Yeah, the actual job was about an hour, had read the original post a few times, watched the you tube videos, and went at it, had no problems at all, for me usually the easiest jobs can go south real quick, but not this time. Hardest one was the front on the drivers side, but even that wasn’t all that bad once I got everything out of my way.

 

Finally got around to swapping my plugs out. Truck has 80k miles, original plugs were still in it. After removing them, they all gapped around .054 (that was the closest wire I had and it fit snugly in almost all of the gaps). The new plugs seem to have smoothed things out a bit.
Used a magnetic spark plug socket with an extension on it that made life much easier. It was my first time doing it so I really took my time to make sure i didn't screw it up and double checked my tool count at the end. Took about an hour and a half. Next time will go much faster.

 

I noticed you didn't mention any torque value for these bolts. Just tighten them down, but don't over do it.

 

12 ft/bs

 

Would spraying a little Kroil around the plug base help?

 

Did all 6 plugs come out with no issues? I am changing mine this week and they were last changed by my selling dealership about 60,000mi ago. Current mileage is ~120,000mi.

 

Just did mine at 47,000 miles assuming that the previous owner (who only put 24,000 miles on it) hadn’t already done them.

Started pulling the driver side coil packs and found a surprise. One of these things is not like the other... and looks like it was cut-off using a dremel.

Guess the previous owner had a shop change the plugs early, and they lost one of the origina bolts in the process.

 

Those things break super easy if over-torqued. Ask me how I know...

 

Yesterday I changed out my plugs. I followed chris4x4's excellent and well detailed tutorial to a tee. I went +60,000 mi. on this second set of plugs(my selling dealership did the first plug change). My mileage was 120,440. Next change will be 30,000mi or ~150,000mi.
I was methodical. Took my time(~2.5 hrs). Others have finished much quicker than me. Since this was the first time I had done this I wanted to make sure I wasn't making any grievous errors.

I did one plug at a time. The only difficult one was the driver side front. It took a few more minutes to access. A small screwdriver + the long needle nose pliers got it done. Extensions were a must. I lubed the gaskets on the coil assembly with silicone and used dielectric grease on the boots. A small amount of anti-seize for the plug threads. Things started off on the wrong foot when the first plug fell out of my spark plug socket onto the concrete. Arg! The plugs were torqued to 15 ft.lbs. My 3/8 torque wrench would not accommodate the torque values for the coil bolts. I carefully hand tightened those. The electric tape on the extension to spark plug socket worked very well. All the plugs came out without any issues.

All in all I felt great accomplishing this relatively minor maintenance item. My chest was a tad puffed out. Changing spark plugs isn't exactly like rebuilding an engine, but it still felt good and saved me money. Thanks again chris4x4!

The old plugs were all gapped at about .050

 

Wait until one gets stuck. That was fun this morning.

 

Long story. I changed the plugs for the third time back at the beginning of the summer. I'm the only one that has changed the plugs and have owned the truck since new. When I got to the middle plug on the passenger side, it unscrewed about a quarter of a turn and got tight again. Uh oh. So I ended up leaving it in until I had time to tackle it. I finally decided to do that on Friday morning. Engine was cold having sat overnight and the temps were cold too. I methodically unscrewed the plug about a quarter of a turn, sprayed some Kroil in the hole and worked the plug very slowly back and forth. I worked it back and forth a couple times and then would unscrew the plug about a half a turn more than the previous time, shoot some Kroil in the hole, and leave it for about 15-20 minutes. Repeat. It took about 3.5 hours to work the plug free. It came out and the threads looked fine. I think it was a build up of using to much anti-seize on past plug changes. It's out, I'm happy, but I never want to feel that much anxiety again!

 

@chris4x4
Thanks for the detailed write-up. I read over your instructions last night and that gave me a really good idea of what I’d be up against for my rig’s first plug change (at 30.5k miles). Got the plugs changed in about an hour and a half this morning. Replaced the engine air filter and lubed the drive shaft too while I was at it.

 

Thanks for all the info, 178,000 with original plugs . Old plugs electrode about gone, gap at .076. Changed out this am with NGK 1483 G-Power Platinum, its what the parts store gave me. Did passenger side and cranked up, didn't notice any issues, did driver side and cranked up kind of funny, idles at 400-500 RPM and took for a drive , stalls out unless I rev slightly at stop signs. A/C turned on helps a little, but still barely running. I had to get back home so I put my foot in it a little and it ran great in the middle RPM range, I think I may have yanked too hard on the PCV vacuum hose , it was cracked all along the top before, after folding out of the way I may have cracked it on the inside of the sleeve. Gonna replace it with a piece of 3/8 hose in the morning ( replacing the PCV valve also) and see if problem goes away. Am I on the right track here? Might replace each plug on the drivers side one at a time and crank it to see if problem goes away if that doesn't work tomorrow.
JP

 

End to the story to help future folks :
PCV and new hose didn't fix it, but I saw a few posts where driving it will help ECM reset fuel,air etc mixtures. So using the two foot method of driving to keep from stalling at red lights I took it for a drive. Went out a 4 lane city road, drove 10 miles, still stalling. Took it on the interstate for about 25 minutes, keep in mind it runs great once you get above idle RPM's. After 3o minutes of interstate driving I pulled into an O'Rillys to see if they can pull a code for me, and amazingly when I parked the damn thing it idles at 700 RPM like it should . Turned on A/C and it bumped up a tad, off A/C and back down to about 700. Put in gear and dropped to about 600, but idle smooth like it should. So, as of today, the long test drive to resetting the computer worked out for me,hope it helps someone else freaking out over a simple spark plug change thinking they caused harm.
Joey

 

Just replaced mine today. This write-up was perfect, thank you! It took me about an hour and a half, and I was taking my time.

 

You're a fucking speed demon. Takes me that long to gather up my tools and beer.