3rd Gen Tacoma Spark Plug Replacement.

How many miles?

 

Around 67,xxx

 

I recently changed my plugs and made a video of the whole process.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

 

I’ll be doing this on my dads truck soon, dealership wanted $600 to change his plugs and he told them to pound sand. I couldn’t believe they tried to charge that much.

 

Hasn't anyone pulled it off with minimal removal of the other components? I feel like I can squeeze the coils out in between

 

Please see in the video above how I did it, and what I removed. I think you can do it without loosening the brackets on the driver side, but it will be a tight squeeze.

It does not take a lot of time to loosen the brackets. I also wanted to make sure I had sufficient space to minimize the risk of knocking off any dirt, that may get into the engine.

 

Very valid point. Thanks for the video

 

Changed the plugs yesterday. 52k Miles. I did the PCV valve as well. pretty straightforward. just took out the top bolts of the plenum supports and loosened the bottom. Nothing out of the ordinary coils and boots were pristine. all the existing plugs were torqued.
It took all of me to resist slapping some anti-seize on there, because that's my thing.
Followed all the info here and in the posted videos Thanks!!!
Obligatory spark plug shots.

 

Is anti seize frown upon or?

 

For plugs, apparently they have addressed it with metal they use for the thread body.
Personally, I use it like frank's red hot sauce.

 

Ahh gotcha so they already have some sort of coating on them

 

At nearly 110k miles, I think it’s time to replace them

 

Replaced today at 71K. Thanks for the write up. Made it a bit easier.

 

Is there a downside from .040 vs .032

 

I'm running the twin tip plugs with a 0.04" gap presently, nothing really different i've found with running or driving. Maybe a hair smoother, can't say. I changed mine at 117'000kms and didn't really expect power gains mostly they were cheaper but still quality plugs. I plan to run 100'000kms intervals.

To answer your question in theory though a larger gap produces a larger spark but for a shorter time. Advantages are that provided the spark isn't "washed" out (which I doubt unless you're boosted) it can ignite the charge more simultaneously which in theory provides more power and fuel economy. Cons are since the gap is larger the coils will be working harder to produce the voltage to jump the gap and the plugs wouldn't last as long because too large a gap from normal wear and the coil wouldn't have enough juice to jump the gap/the spark will be "washed" out

Advantages of a smaller gap is longer coil and spark plug life due to vice versa of above along with better tail pipe emissions due to more complete combustion (i know that sounds kind of contradictory to above... hear me out) because without going too far in depth, basically the coil will spend x amount of energy no matter what for each cycle. Some is spent on starting the spark and the rest on maintaining the spark until it's out of energy for that cycle. The smaller gap will have a smaller spark but the spark will last longer, giving the unburnt fuel from combustion a longer opportunity to burn. Cons of a small gap are the opposite of the advantages of a large gap.

again I mostly picked the 0.04" gap plugs for cost saving without a quality compromise and again I plan to run 100'000km intervals so I doubt they'll wear to the point of causing a misfire by then. If you're gonna be 160'000kms(100'000mi) or more then i'd maybe just run the long life plugs to be safe so you don't end up with having to do spark plugs unplanned.

 

Thank you for one of the best explanations on this topic

 

Changed them out tonight. 61k miles. One of them had baked on crud on the metal portion, so unsure what that would be. All the coils looked new. Not a terrible process.

 

You get that when the plug is loose.
if there not put to the right torque they wiggle loose after a while.
people were checking after 30k and some were loose... i had maybe 2 if i remember.

 

That makes sense. Thanks!

 

I changed mine yesterday. No problems after watching 6 or so YouTube videos. None were loose.