Changing spark plugs at home

not that bad,just take your time and enjoy a few drinks. Did mine at 60000 miles

 

My truck is 140K and I think they may have the original plugs. I need to do them asap.

 

Tackling this task tomorrow. Cleaned MAF and Throttle Body today.

Got the plugs from the local Toyota dealer. $5/each, plain ol' Cu plugs. Dealer parts counter says no need for iridium, Gen 2 V-6 is made with Cu plugs. The only reason for iridium is for a long service interval, 100+ kmiles. Gen 2 V-6 has a plug interval of 30 kmiles. Spose, if you want you can spend $9/each......

I expect this to take about 2-3 hours. Likely less.

Truck has 109 kmiles, no dealer records of plug changes........PO took the truck to dealer for service.

Actually, the only service records for scheduled maintenance is the Diffs and Xfer case. These were done at 76,000. Due again.

So, I'm trying to get all the maintenance caught up before the snow begins to fly.

 

Yooooo, 2nd Gen'ers!

Welcome to the 3rd Gen section.

We have a slightly diff plug situation going on here, among other things.


Still. Feel free to hang out and have fun, but be careful about the nuggets that you drop as they just aren't applicable in some cases.

 

Gee, thanks.

That is why I was clear about stating Gen 2 V-6.

The point......no need for more expensive plugs than what the engine specifies or needs. Just empties your wallet quicker without gain.

Sorry, didn't mean to upset the Gen 3 posse.

 

I thought that any extra money you throw at the truck adds extra horsepower? Right?

 

Agreed, doing mine around 100k

 

It has nothing to do with upsetting anyone (me?), but more that folks around here tend to engage the and not really read. It also came off sounding like advice / direction.



I understand what you're getting at though. I had a bike and a car that came with platinums but simply ran better on NGK coppers. That was a change that was considered by many and verified.

The 3rd Gen, with an absolutely wonky stock tune, should probably stick with the double iridiums as the tune needs all the help, smoothness, and control that it can get. Iridiums tend to do that.

 

Did this the past weekend. I thought the driver's side was going to suck, but it didn't. Start with the passenger side first so you feel comfortable with the basics.

On the driver's side: I removed a larger vacuum hose that ran next to two or three smaller hoses. It's runs up over the intake manifold from near the oil filler. I would unclip the three smaller hoses from their holders so you can move then around a bit. I didn't see any way to disconnect them without breaking stuff. Disconnect the plug that's in the middle of the valve cover (similar to the passenger side) and there's another hose that runs up to the bottom of the intake manifold. You're almost there! The manifold support legs need to move. I took off the front-most one, but you may be able to remove the upper bolt and loosen up the lower and swing it out of the way. Do that to the rear-most one. Right now you can do the first two plugs. Removed the ignition coils with a 10 mm socket. You'll have to spin the coils around to clear other crap. Mine came right off the plug; which was surprising to me. The last plug. I had some foam doo-hickey covering it up. It's actually held on by another 10 mm bolt. You may have to move some stuff around to see it. Once you get the foam out, switch out the plug the same way you did the other two. You done.

Pro tip: Deflate the front tires so you're able to reach stuff in the engine bay.

 

I did it recently. Passenger side took about 20 minutes. Driver side was an hour or so.

it’s not that hard, definitely easy enough to do yourself to save $500-900

 

The Owners Manual recommends 60K for plug changes on the V6.

 

Anyone take any pictures of the old plugs? Be interested to see what they looked like.

 

Search out the loose plug threads. There have been a few with lots of plug pics.

For the ones that weren't loose, I didn't see any surprises. Some folks had seen issues looking closely.

 

Go to post 2... the thread linking the write up and videos

 

That was about the look of mine at 60k also. DIY job for sure!

 

You forgot the part where you lose your 10 mm socket, then find it in your back pocket an hr later

 

That's every damn project. Still, better than $500 and my pants around my ankles.

 

I go out of my way to never put any tools in my pockets, all of my boxes are shadowed so it makes inventory much easier.

 

I got this: https://www.autozone.com/ratchets-s.../duralast-10mm-socket-set-10-piece/582151_0_0