I was quoted $500.00 for spark plug replacement on my 2016 Toyota TRD

"....titanium spark plugs....."

smells like a BS for a gender based snow job.

 

Spark plugs are $72 for 6 of them. I did mine at 58K and don't really recommend it be done that early. Mine looked fine and next time I plan to stretch it out to about 150K or so.

It's not hard to do yourself with basic tools and some patience.

 

How do you know it needs plugs? Is this part of the 30k maintenance?

If you are only changing the plugs because you think it needs plugs, then you are spending money for no reason.

If that's the case why does it matter what price the quote was?

 

...and how "mandatory" is it to replace the plugs around 80k miles?

My dealership wants about $600.00 to change the plugs.

 

Supposed to be 60k service item.

 

I believe the manual says 60k, but folks have gone way longer than that.

The best way to know is to pull them. At that point, you could just slap new ones in.

I pulled all mine at 30k to check for the loose plugs that some folks were reporting. They were all tight and looked great. No replacements at that time.

 

To be honest, I bought the plugs for my '17 V6 @ 70k and I've yet to change them and I'm now at 92k. I've seen zero drop in my fuel mileage (22mpg when no highway miles). But had planned to do them @ 100k. That said, I'm moving on from this truck later this month so dealer can cover that if they so choose.

 

Here is a video showing how to change the 3rd Gen spark plugs. The guy does a good job showing all the connectors, lines and brackets that need to be removed to access the plugs.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=737qAw6Z0n0

 

Geez, i use to go down to auto parts and pay a $1.50 per ngk plug for my 2001 v8 tundra. Changed them every 30k miles in less than a 1/2 hr. I guess were not in kansas anymore.

 

Even the new technology ruthenium are only like $14 a plug

The other $416 is a 3rd gen tax

 

The drivers side took me 45 min, the passenger side took me 15 min. I torqued everything to spec.

The plugs cost $100. So that means they're charging you $400/hr for labor? That's more than a lawyer!!

I did mine at 80k, but they could have gone much longer.

 

I think anytime you ask a dealer to do something for you, your gonna get jammed up.

 

If you have a 3rd gen V6. Its a fair amount of labor.

 

Eh, I disagree. It's quoted sky high by the dealer because they are gonna say you have to remove the intake and it takes more time. Meanwhile, you absolutely do not have to remove the intake, the tech is simply going to do it the easy quick way and pocket the difference.

If a shadetree can do it in about 1.5 hrs., a tech should be able to do it much quicker. I could probably do it in about 30 minutes now. Not counting looking for all my tools in a mess of a garage.

 

The dealer will charge based on the labor hours stated in the Service Documents. The Tech will perform the task as quickly as possible. This way the Tech can turn more jobs and earn more $$.

 

Also worth noting. Be careful where you get your spark plugs. There's a lot of counterfeit Toyota parts on Amazon and Ebay. The packaging looks exactly like OEM, but when you install them, the quality of the parts may fail early or cause other problems.

 

I had never changed spark plugs before and my truck had the original spark plugs at just shy of 100K miles; My mechanic did it for me so I'd know how to do it in another 100K miles, and it didn't cost much more than $100!

 

Works the same way at car dealer detail shops, as I found out the hard way; Great if you're fast, but sucks if you're not...

 

I just bought 6 for like 100 bucks on Amazon

 

OP....take a couple minutes to look in the back of your Owner's Manual (OM). It will specify what type of plug is needed and the recommended change interval.

Follow that. You won't go wrong.

You are receiving many suggestions, while all good, few agree.

The OM will be your authority.