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

How much would this cost if I took it to Toyota?

 

Just got back from the stealership . . . they wanted $150 to change the sparkplugs . . . that's about $25 for 6 plugs and $125 in labor!! I decided to do it myself. They don't call them the stealership for nothing!

 

I just changed my plugs for the first time today (47,000 mi) and I noticed the same thing on my drivers side spark plug closest to the firewall. The wet/dampness was appearent from the bottom to about 3 or 4 threads up the plug. The rest looked great- minus the gap..... Are we starting to see a trend here?

 

I just finished changing out my spark plugs for the first time using this as a guide. It took me around 2 hours to do. Thank you Chris4x4 for this excellent write up. I don't think I would have attempted this without it.

 

This tutorial was very helpful. I know my way around cars, trucks, & airplanes pretty well but this tutorial made this go very smoothly. Only took an hour to put them in & it saved me a $100 in labor that the dealer would have nailed me with.
Thanks Chris, GREAT JOB!

 

Thanks chris,it took me about an hour after reading what it took,defiantly would have been longer w/o this info and it saved me some money.

 

sorry if this has been asked already, but does it matter if the engine is hot or cold when changing plugs?... changing mine today

 

Hell yeah it matters. Do you want to burn yourself while trying to change the plugs???

I couldn't resist.

 

where's the excitement if you're not juggling hot spark plugs and searing your forearm on valve covers?

 

haha duh! i didnt think about that! im changing plugs for the first time

oh well, off to the dealer...

 

A further explanation of what Chris is getting at...

For those of you who may or may not be interested.

If the egnine is hot you have a higher chance of stripping the threads when tightening bolts (sometimes even losening bolts) due to the properties of some metals. Some metals become softer at higher temperatures, some also even expand or increase slightly in size.

If you are taking a cold component and threading it into a hot component... Theoretically the cold component's threads are actually harder or more dense causing it to strip or ruin the threads of the softer or less dense hot component.

15 ft-lbs is not a lot of torque which means even doing this COLD some of the metal involved is already soft.

 

Excellent write up...two hrs later; plugs gapped, all buttoned back up; time to take the scrub brush to the hands, nails, and cuticles.
Thanks Chris for an informative, easy to follow documentation on changing the plugs.

 

This theory and explanation completely escapes me
Aside of most normal guys not wanting to work on a hot engine for apparant reasons; I dont get the explanation above.
Hot motor with alum heads, and steel bodies of the plug tell me the coefficient expansion of the dissimilar metals would create increased clearances between the steel external threads of the plugs and the alum internal thds of the heads. More clearance = less chance of galling the thds when removing or installing the plugs. A little anti-seize on the plug thds, along with screwing the plugs in by hand, (no pnumatic tools needed here) and you should be good to go.
For the beginners; righty tighty, lefty loosey
Nuff said...

 

Just finished changing my plugs,figured after 126 k miles they needed it,wasnt much problem except the front drivers side plug was a PITA,the wires were crowded in there on mine and i had a little difficulty getting the wire plug off that one. Thanks for this thread ,it was alot of help.

 

just finished my first change of plugs on my Tacoma. Thanks TW the write up was ace.

 

I need to do mine. I will use thios write up for the step by step procedures. Thanks Chris!

 

For the record, I took 15 minutes on the passenger side. (TRD CAI FTW!!) 45 minutes on the driver side and they are still not out. Tried fingers, pliers and flathead screwdrivers. Granted it was about -10f windchill... Trying again tomorrow.

The original 3 Denso's came out with a 0.045 gap after 36,000 miles. Put in fresh OEM Denso's gapped at 0.040. We'll see how the NGK's come out.

 

Just wanted to say thank you to chris4x4 for his great tutorial to replace the spark plugs. It really guided me step by step and made my day easier.

thank you.

Nikita23
San Jose, Bay Area, CA.