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

Agreed. That makes sense. A bit of torque will be lost with some of the twisting of the joints so more likely to under torque. At these relatively low torque specs, the loss won't be that significant.

The 1/4" torque wrench is officially on the shopping list.

 

Just did mine today... factory plugs were still in at 60K miles... i've owned it since 52K.

Thanks for the write-up!

 

Busted this out today, saved $250 off my 90k service. Gravy!

 

Bought an '05 TRD Sport access cab (6-speed manual with only 92k) less than a month ago - I pulled the #1 coil and plug, it was pretty worn and NGK - the PO was very easy on the truck, but not a DIY kind of guy. So I ordered the stock

$6 Toyota Genuine Spark Plug

Denso plugs on Amazon for $4.02/each, changed them today. Old NGK gaps were #1-.068, #3-.070, #5-.068, old Denso gaps were #2-.066, #4-.066, #6-.062. Consistent wear, and not bad for 92,535 miles on the original set. According to my calculations, the wear was about .0029 per 1000 miles, which is quite a bit higher than the the OP has listed on page 1 (0.00063~0.000126 inches/1,000 miles). The new copper plugs came from Dan Deery Toyota in Cedar Falls IA, in OEM Toyota boxes, and were all pre-gapped at .043, which is where I left them. Install was easy (yes, I used anti-seize) - the one that gave me the hardest time was #2, drivers side at the front, only because the electrical connector for the coil is so tight on the harness, there's not enough slack in the wire to just pull it off and slip it on. I ended up pulling and turning the coil at the same time to remove it, which wasn't bad, but putting it back on was a PITA! I finally did the same thing, holding the coil in my right hand, connector in my left, and starting it on then rotating it slowly and carefully so it lined up and popped on. I've only put gas in once since filling it up when I bought it, and got 14.5mpg in around town driving, plus I was still getting used to the truck and the transmission. Hopefully, the plugs will help. The truck started up, running smooth.

 

Thanks to the OP for the write-up! Got this done in a couple hours with some breaks for jaw-jacking with my buddy/garage supervisor.
Lesson learned: to save yourself the f-bombs, use the spark plug socket to start the threads and swap it out for a normal 5/8" socket. That way you don't get the spark plug socket stuck in there.

 

Finally got around to doing this today and I ended up with a couple questions. My truck has 160k on it now, and I've had it since 135k with no maintenence records. If I still have the Denso/NKG plug combo, is it likely I still have all of the original plugs? They all look pretty clean to me, with the only rougher looking one being the drivers side/closest to the cab one. What do ya'll think of how they look? The individual plug pic is representative of 5 of the 6.

 

They look cleaner than mine as far as your threads but the gaps on yours look pretty far out of spec. Could just be the angle though.

 

Thanks OP for a great and detailed write up. Got all 6 swapped today with minimal effort and cursing. Enjoying a beer as directed. Feels good saving money!

 

Just finished doing mine. It may just be the placebo effect, but I swear my truck had a little more pep on the test drive afterwards. The gaps on the old plugs were all right around .055. I did this with 2 3" extensions and a swivel instead of the recommended 1 3" extension and 2 6" extensions. It made the drivers side a huge pain. I had to disconnect some additional hoses to get my torque wrench to fit. That said, this truck is a dream to work on compared to my previous vehicles ('02 F150 4.6L V8, '94 Bronco 5.0 V8 and '03 F250 5.4L V8).

Thanks for the write up Chris!

 

What is the gap supposed to be?

 

.039-.043

 

Thanks.

 

@chris4x4 these came out at about 100k. can you tell anything about them? they dont look too bad to me.

 

Yea, they stayed in till 100k. Just curious why they are two different wear patterns.

 

good job chris

 

Thanks for this post, did my plugs today and this was a huge help!

 

Nice write up. I read it AFTER I changed my plugs, so I figured out what I had to do by just doing it. Following your directions would have made things a little easier...

I did not remove the air intake. I loosened the hose on the box and turned it sideways. I was able to reach everything on the passenger side, no issues. Driver's side I just removed that metal bracket and worked around all the hoses... pain in the ass, and likely would have been much easier had I removed the hoses and such, first.

Anyway... it's done. Took me about an hour, total time. Their were Denso on the passenger side and NGK on the right... all Denso now and truck runs fine with the new ones. Did it at 32,612 miles.

 

What torque wrench are you guys using?

 

Thanks for the great write up OP! Did mine today and your post was helpful.

This is what I use,

$50 TEKTON 1/4" Drive Micrometer Torque Wrench (20-200 in.-lb.) | 24320

Tekton 24320. It is a 1/4 in though, in hindsight, I'd get a bigger one.