HOW TO: Change Your Spark Plugs and Wires (2.7 liter 3RZ-FE engine)

Glad it was able to help you.
BTW you do not have a rotor you have a coil pack so you dont have to worry about the rotor!

<Image of Coil Pack>

 

Great post, but you gave the lower right location on the distributor to both the number two and the number three plug wires and my cap is numbered but not in the same manner as your instructions. If distributor rotates clockwise I have number one in the top right, below that there's number 2, lower left is number 4 (not 3) then number 3 at upper left. Which makes me think something's wrong here and I confirmed and labeled my routing before disassembling or reading your post. Can you give me a hollar back with your decision on which is the correct way? Please, and much abliged for all the otherwise seemingly helpful info.

 

I had to pull the intake tube out of the way...pain in the ass to get those two nuts off the bottom of it...especially when the exhaust manifold is still hot

 

Thanks for the write up OP. Very helpful for noobs like me

 

just got the CEL code for a cylinder 2 misfire. will be doing this tomorrow. rep for you sir!

 

Great write up, thanks!!

 

Im a noob too and I have question about my 2003 2.7 and why does this year model does not have the traditional plug wires like what is pictured above. Mine has individual ignition coils on each cylinder but no plug wires. These plug wires look as if they are tied into a wiring harness??

 

tacosoup89 your truck's ignition is controlled by a computer, TDI -Toyota Direct Ignition, a distributor-less ignition system. Since you have no distributor, you are not going to have; cap, rotor, and spark plug wires. You are just going to have electrical wiring, from the computer, going to each ignition coil that sits on top of each spark plug.

 

Could someone spread some knowledge on me? Is there a different time period between changing the spark plug wires on older 1st gens, than the coil packs on the newer ones? I'm not really sure what the benefit is of having to replace 4 packs at $60-80 EACH, vs. $60 for an entire wire set.

It's also confusing that when I search for "spark plug wires" for my 2004 2.7l at a Advanced Auto Parts website, the return shows the same wires I had on my 1999.

Also, does anybody replace the connecting wires of the coil packs?

Thanks!!

 

I haven't heard of anyone replacing the coil packs unless they are bad.

 

Raginmd , what did you find out about this? My sons is now doing the same thing. We just picked up new wires for it.

 

What are the best OEM spark plugs to get NGK or DENSO

 

When/what condition does one change the spark plugs and/or wires?

 

I just changed out my plugs & wires today & was blown away by the difference they made. My truck has 48,500 miles on it but still had the original wires & plugs from 1998. Overall truck ran fine but just felt gutless & idled a little rough. It also hated to be lugged at all & the whole truck would shudder if you didn't keep the rpms up around 2k. Now all that is solved! Motor is quieter in general, idles smooth, feels peppy again & doesn't care about being lugged anymore! The whole job took me about 30 min or so maybe a little longer because my neighbors kept stopping & bugging me.

I used OEM denso plugs I picked up from the dealer for $2.22 each & bought the nice NGK wires off Amazon for $40 shipped.

 

Where is the PCV valve, and what exactly does it do? My truck ('99 2.7 L) seems to be running a bit rough I have noticed lately. Its not terribly rough, but I notice it when idling. I'm looking for any quick fix. I have just over 175,000 miles on it. I have never done anything to the PCV valve, but I have changed the plugs and wires about 5-6 years ago. About how many miles should you get out of a set of plugs before you change them?
One more thing...my truck does have conventional plugs and wires, but I don't think it has a cap and rotor. Does that sound right?

 

Yes that sounds right. The plugs should be changed around 30k miles.

 

Thanks. I will be doing the plugs and wires again in the near future. There are lots of things I wanna do to this truck, but it gets so expensive so fast! When I did the plugs/wires last time I used NGK plugs and Napa auto wires. I cant remember why I went with those wires but this time I will get Toyota wires from the dealer.

Yesterday I went to my local dealer and spent a bunch of $. Gonna flush out my cooling system and replace all hoses and thermostat and PCV valve.

 

I bought the actual plugs at the dealer as they are only like $2.22 each but for the wires I bought NGK set on Amazon for like $40 which are OEM just blue & say NGK instead of Toyota. Fit just as good as stock wires did & are half the price. You don't have to do wires every 30k just the plugs. My stock wires weren't giving me any issues I just figured they were like 16 years old so why not replace them lol.

These are the wires I bought.

$45 NGK (4441) RC-TX67 Spark Plug Wire Set

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000C5M1YG. Amazon says they don't fit but they are dumb.

 

Thanks, I may look into those wires. Yeah the wires I put in are probably ok, but as soon as I put them in I was wishing I had gone with Toyota ones. The napa ones were skinnier (don't know if that makes any type of difference) and they just seemed cheaper. So Toyota factory wires are actually NGK brand wires then? How much are they from the dealer in comparison to Amazon?

 

Toyota uses both NGK and Denso for most of that type of stuff so they could be one or the other. For example when you buy oem plugs you could get either NGK or Denso. Mine are Denso just because that is what my dealer happened to have at the time. Holding the NGK's up to my stock ones they seem every bit as good if not a little better & fit and look the same expect they are that bright blue color which actually looks pretty good under the hood. My dealer wanted like $90 give or take a couple bucks for the actual Toyota wires.