Replacing Spark Plugs at 60K mile service

Find a decent mechanic and save a lot of money IMHO.

 

40 minute job,and its easy.Plugs are $30

 

Where the heck are you guys getting these prices from?

 

What engine are you doing the plugs on??? there's a bunch of crap that has to be taken off to get to the plugs on the left side of the engine

 

2nd genners

 

Yeah no fucking way is it a half hour job.

 

Your plugs are fine, I've got 136k on mine.

 

This is required by Toyota?

 

No

 

I did my plugs at 60K. I didn't remove the intake. It was kind of a pain in the ass though. Gotta move a bunch of stuff out of the way. It boggles my mind they've managed to make changing plugs on a hemi head type engine so hard.

It's not hard enough that you can't do it. It's just a pain in the butt.



Anyway, that is about the going rate for a V6. A local place wanted $500 to do a v6 s10 for me about 14 years ago.... I was busy with work, but $600 is a bunch of money for me. I took the day off and did it..... I still would.

 

Assuming the $600 plug change price is for a V6 Tacoma with an in-line engine. Yes, that is high.

However, if the quote is for a vehicle with a transverse mount engine, then it is justified. My Highlander had a transverse mounted engine. The dealer wanted $450 for a plug change (about 10 years ago). I said no thank you. It took me 2 six hour days to replace the plugs. The front 3 plugs were easy enough. The rear 3 were buried against the fire wall. I had to take the entire air intake off. Including the intake manifold (its a 2 part design). There were 2 bolts in the back that I could feel but not see, and could only give it 1/8 turn per try. I was laying across the engine superman style.

 

rockauto was definitely the cheapest I found, as well.

 

same here however aluminum heads are a different animal, at least for me. i did a friends 2nd gen T-Bird and removing them was a struggle. not sure if you need to put anti seize on the new plugs? when i was removing them they did not just break loose as normal, they were very tight removing and felt like something was wrong.

 

Yes! After a few posts about some plugs being only finger tight, I went through mine to check. The ones on our Tacos have a longer than typical threaded section and do not feel good on removal.

Thankfully all mine were tight and looking good at 30k. Some antiseize made them feel a lot better going back in. Steel on AL threads, always antiseize. Be careful to use the lower bound when torquing as any lubricant on threads will lower tightening torque.


As noted, this is not a $600 job. Something like $14/plug and 90min tops? I did mine without pulling the intake. There is just enough room to work with it in place.

 

I just changed mine last night. It was very straight forward and didn't require anything special as far as tools. I found the following video and it was very helpful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=737qAw6Z0n0

 

Definitely do them yourself. I’m not the most mechanically inclined person but I successfully did mines with the help of the guide that was posted earlier. Just make sure you have a torque wrench and a couple socket extensions/swivels

 

Thanks for the info. I'm looking to replace the plugs over the 4th of July holiday.

 

Well I know the manual said 60000 miles but I just changed my plugs at 90000 miles. At 60000 I did not see the need to change them out

 

My bounce up to 23mpg highway trek yesterday says to me the plugs needed to go. I was not babying it and have not see that mileage yet. We'll see if it sticks after a few tanks.
-- 60ker here