I was quoted $500.00 for spark plug replacement on my 2016 Toyota TRD

I think you want to use anti-seize on the threads and dialectic grease where the coil pack grabs it. I don't know if these plugs have a screw on tip on the end where the coil pack attaches but those should be snugged up with a pair of pliers just to make sure they don't loosen up over time. The only time where I haven't used a torque wrench for plugs was on my 911 where it was literally too tight to fit one in there. The Porsche was a real bitch to do plugs on and even more difficult to put Koni's in the rear but the most difficult plug replacement I did was on a '91 Nissan 6 cyl truck, the engine where the V-6 is rotated over about 40 degrees and one of the rear plugs was completely by feel while laying across the top of the motor while jamming your left arm down between the motor and the firewall. I gave that one away to my father's gardener after he died and needed to get it smogged in order to give it away. The Tacoma looks simple by comparison.

 

CT

 

Then you did it wrong. 3rd gen spark plugs are one difficulty notch above tire rotation.

 

Well that contributed to the collective knowledge.

 

I havent done it yet but being that I changed 16 spark plugs (2 per cylinder) in my Ram hemi a few years ago it cant be too bad.

 

How in the world do you need new plugs at 5 years?

 

Per the Toyota maint book, plugs are due at 60k so he's probably there or close to. Others have gone beyond that and were fine so "after 60k - whenever you want" seems to be the real world interval.

 

Nice! Appreciate you taking the time to write this up. Will save a lot of us some frustration down the line.

 

Alldata labor time for this job is 3.0 hours

 

I work at a large Toyota dealer. 85% of our techs are flat rate.

 

Welcome to world of flat rate lmao.

just cause a job takes 15 minutes doesnt mean your getting charged for 15 minutes of work. i dont know why everyone is so surprised by this quote. Go look up the fsm for changing spark plugs.

 

That is the funny part. It looks like the plenum was designed with just enough room to get all three coil packs out. That doesn't seem to be an accident compared to other vehicles that I have had with difficult plugs. I 100% do not understand why the Service Manual goes bonkers with the procedure.


Of course, a few folks have posted in other threads that they prefer pulling the plenum to swap plugs.

 

Not sure why I got quoted, I clearly understand how flat rate works.

 

If you aint replacing. Just check how tight they are. They usually get loose by 60k

 

I don't know what dealership you work at, but outside of the lube dopes everyone is paid flat rate. Now they are paid hourly, but they are paid flat rate hourly. If a job is a 3 hour job as this one is, they are paid 3 hours regardless of how long it takes. That is how they make money. I couldn't imagine the productivity of a shop were all the techs were paid an hourly rate like the guy working fries at McDonalds.

A good friend of mine is an alignment tech at a high volume Toyota dealer. He regularly books 100+ hours a week. He is a 1099 worker and not a w2. He is paid 40% of the shop hourly rate which is around $125 an hour. You can do the math, but the guy is bringing in over $200k a year. However, out of that $200k, he has to pay his own taxes, medical, etc. He is still doing quite well.

 

It's not apples to apples, but, I swapped plugs on my 2009, 2.7L Taco at 120k miles in 2019. Thinking I'd get a little better pep and mileage. The stock plugs looked almost brand new...

 

Back in the day, we use to swap plugs out on a fairly regular basis. But plugs cost a dollar each back then and they damn near changed themselves on most engines.

 

Data point:

I drove on original spark plugs in my 2004 2.4l extra cab until it threw a CEL. Gap was almost 1/4".

I was at 168k miles.

 

Never makes sense to go to dealer other than warranty or recall work. A qualified shop, yes but never a dealer. The monkeys they have working in there are no better qualified than any other monkey.

 

That's hilarious.