Question About Spark Plug Torquing

Hey guys just joined here and also just purchased my first Tacoma a 2014 Regular Cab 4x4 2.7 Auto with 85,000 and was a one owner. Already love it and while I miss my 2012 5.7 Hemi's power this thing will run a long time if I take car of it and will be better for offroading and over-landing out west. I also don't miss having to fix ridiculous stuff on a Dodge. So far since I got it I've been doing routine maintenance to it and thought I'd do the spark plugs. I thought I was already to go and bought a harbor freight torque wrench (yes it was dumb I know...). I carefully removed the plugs threading them out by hand after I cracked them loose and put some anti seize on the new plugs threading them in by hand until they stopped. Then I thought I'd use my fancy new torque wrench which of course didn't click or work.... The only other thing I had was a cheap beam torque wrench and torqued them to about 15 ft lbs (maybe more) on the dial (thing wasn't precise). I am just worried now that I may have over torqued them since I was fiddling with the harbor freight wrench trying to get it to work. For each plug I'd say I tightened each one 3/4 of a turn and did not in any way crank on them. I also did it when the engine was totally cold and after stripping out an aluminum hole when I was younger I really took my time and was soft with it. I'm just worried now after reading horror stories on the internet of over torqued plugs. At most I did one full turn after the plug stopped spinning by hand. I'm just really worried and want to sleep at night lol.... Yes I will be saving up for a good torque wrench too. Should I go rent one at Autozone and go back in to re torque the plugs? Thanks and sorry for the long winded post.

 

You should be fine with what you did. Drive on. Never mess with the plugs if the motor is hot...quickest way there is to trash the threads in the head.

 

Check your torque wrench. Its hard to see the "Break" but you want to do it in a controlled smooth motion 90° apart. If your way off you can either return it or adjust it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDh4HzWCGic

 

It'll be fine. I'm pretty careful when swapping plugs with the torque setting, and as long as you didn't crank on them, you're good to go. Did you use any anti-seize? Also, you can get a decent TW on Amazon for $40-$50.

 

Thanks for the videos and the advice guys! Yes i did use a little bit of anti seize on the threads. also a little dash of dielectric grease on the plug body. Not sure if it was necessary but figured it couldn't hurt. I'm glad it'll be ok because I have a 5 hr road trip tomorrow and then a 25 hour road trip in two weeks. Next time I'll be sure to torque them correctly and get a good wrench. Not sure if the torque values for the plugs were all the same but they are in there snug so it should be good. Thanks again

 

Road trip during covid-19?

 

I've got a hazmat suit don't worry lol. I have to go clean out my college dorm tomorrow and then I'm leaving for Nevada early this year for fire season. I'm on a wildland fire handcrew as a sawyer. Figured I'd get out there early this year and starting running/hiking at elevation for fire season cause running at 800 feet of elevation in the midwest is nothing like 5,000 feet in Nevada...

 

I use both AS and DE grease every time and never have had any issues. If you havent had the CEL come on and can't feel any misfires no issues. The one time I saw a friend install a defective spark plug (on accident), you could feel the misfire the second he turned the truck back on.

 

Its not a ford so you don't have to worry about them rattling out, I've skipped the torqueing process before and never had any issues with plugs.

 

About 15ft/lb with Anti-Seize should be fine.
Since most specs call not use anti-seize, or to reduce the torque, because it can cause over torque.
I think you will fine. You likely got it tight enough.

Just for reference to the Anti-seize statement.
Toyota calls for NGK or Denso. I’ll link to the documentation to support my statement.

NGK
https://ngksparkplugs.com/en/resources/5-things-you-should-know-about-spark-plugs

Denso (2nd “!” under - Step #5)
https://www.denso.com/global/en/pro...vice-parts-and-accessories/plug/basic/torque/

Also, Reduced Torque
https://densoautoparts.com/spark-plug-installation

https://www.densoproducts.com/learning-center/article/525/plug-torque-settings



FWIW, I DID use Anti-seize on my plugs.
I did NOT use a torque wrench.
I always did it that way before.
Now that I know, I sometimes do, and some times do not.

I’ll just accept the fact I screwed something up if I do it “wrong”.

 

Ok thanks so much I didn't even think that anti seize would cause an over torque risk. I guess you live and learn right and hope I didn't over torque them. I just want my little taco to stay healthy that's all lol. Like I said I just got them finger tight using an extension and then switched to my torque wrench and gave them 3 quarter turns (90 degrees each) until I hit ballpark of 15 ft lbs maybe 20 ft lbs at the absolute most.

 

So...when are you suppose to change spark plugs? The maintenance log for my 2014 v6 shows changing at 120,000 miles. Today, the lead mechanic at a Toyota dealership told me that they should be changed every 30,000 miles.

 

I just got the truck and it has 85k on it. The manual says 100k but I figured I just do them to be safe and the proper ngk ones weren't all that expensive on Rockauto. So I'll prolly do them in 30k if thats what you are saying which is at 115k.

 

I don't think I've ever used a torque wrench for a spark plug - just thread it by hand until it bottoms out, then a 1/8 turn or so "snerk" and call it good.

30K for the V6 - the I4 has iridium plugs with a 100K change interval.

 

115K miles sounds about right. I was just surprised a lead tech at a Toyota dealership would recommend 30K intervals. When I questioned his remark he said the v6 motors don't have iridium spark plugs and don't last as long. Sounds like he was trying to get some extra work in the shop.

 

I guess the tech wasn't trying to blow smoke up my rear. I looked in the owner's manual and the scheduled maintenance log and couldn't find any reference to the 30K interval. Looks like I'll be changing plugs this week when I change the dif. fluids.

 

Just to check my reading comprehension - You torqued them with a broken wrench, then without loosening them, you did it again with a wrench that worked to 15 foot pounds?

There is a real risk that you overtorqued them initially with the bad wrench. If you didn't back them out before using the good wrench, do that now. It's an easy fix.

I've got this whole story about watching an engine explode from a long time ago, but it doesn't involve spark plugs, so suffice to say that I learned this lesson the hard way.

 

Sounds like you overtorqued them to be honest. To also put antiseize as well as an additional 3/4 -1 turn after they stopped turning. Should have only been 1/4 to 1/2 turn at most afterwards.

just my 2 cents. It’s better to undertorque than to overtorque, especially since there is also a bolt that holds the spark plug coil in which also holds the spark plug in.

I did my spark plugs last summer and didn’t use a torque wrench or antisieze. That would have been overkill in my opinion

 

We I feel really dumb now. Guess I'll be doing the plugs again once I get a torque wrench. I know the crush washer on the plug is only good for one time and plugs are cheap enough that I might as well start fresh. Hopefully I don't have an issues re pulling them. I guess I'll just have to crack them veryyy carefully and thread them the rest of the way by hand. Lesson learned....

 

Check this out, it's the maint. recommendations from the toyota website: https://www.toyota.com/owners/parts...se&csrfToken=15856987479274504077737674352221

I change mine every 30k because that's what i've read on this site (link following). I did the same on my 2001: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/scheduled-maintenance-2nd-gen-30-000-60-000-90-000-miles.30893/

It's low-cost and an excuse to mess with my truck. The current 2013 V6 I drive had original plugs at 65k miles (NGK on one side, Denso on the other) and the plugs looked just fine and the gap wasn't crazy off, fwiw.