Very nice DIY. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

And once and for all it puts to rest the notion that you have to remove the Plenum to change the rear spark plugs.

One thing I might add, is that if you remove the bolt that holds the black support bracket to the plenum on the driver side and swing it out of the way, it makes it easier to reach around the back of the motor.

I would also add a dab of di-electric grease to the plugs and boots before reassembling them. Somehow I got a feeling you did it, but just didn't show it.

Those two small nits aside, it is a great video and I'm sure it will be very helpful to anyone wanting to change the spark plugs on a V6.

Good job, well done.

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The rear plugs are an absolute :headbang:. I've look at my friends Gen3 and Gen4 1MZ Camry and there is a bit more space behind there compare to the Gen5 1MZ's, mostly due to the firewall. I went and retorqued my valve cover and getting the intake was the hardest part.

Great DYI though, book market'ed :thumbsup:

 

+1 on the rear plugs being a PITA. I spent a lot of money (more than I care to admit) on various sized swivel spark plug sockets and extensions.

 

I've updated the first post with some pictures to more clearly illustrate the spark plug change.

+1 on the rear plugs being a PITA.

yup, the rear bank plugs are a pain in the arse ...

I beg to differ. Honestly if you have the mechanical inclination, reaching the plugs behind the intake plenum is not hard at all. The impression I got on forum boards regarding 1MZ plugs was that it was very hard, until I tried it for myself. It just takes patience.

I recently I feel like everything on your car just pops right off. When I am trying to do my spark plugs, it is like wrestling a bear to get everything apart.[/quote]"]did my 3MZ-FE plugs and had to take off the plenum. Its much more involved, but again, not "difficult" at all. You can't compare a V6 to a 4 cylinder based on maintenance costs alone.

I feel like everything on your car just pops right off. When I am trying to do my spark plugs, it is like wrestling a bear to get everything apart.

Sometimes, I'll break it loose and them film it :lol:. That way I don't look like a goof wrestling needlessly wasting video time.

Well now that I know how its done, guess I'll change mine, got 377,000 km on the originals. Hope they are not too hard to turn out.

Whew, that's a lot of kilometers. Your more than double your spark plug lifespan. Good luck on taking those out, I have a feeling they might be really stuck in there.

 

I feel like everything on your car just pops right off. When I am trying to do my spark plugs, it is like wrestling a bear to get everything apart.

 

Phew.. I had to replace the valve cover gaskets on my 1MZ-FE because they were leaking oil pretty badly. So I took the plenum off, which was nearly a two day project in itself, although I could probably do it a lot faster if I was going to do it again. Once I did that I made sure to do as much maintenance back there as I could... new PCV, new spark plugs, new plenum gasket. But next time I have to do the spark plugs I'll try this procedure out.

 

nice video!

yup, the rear bank plugs are a pain in the arse ... here's a combination of swivel joint and locking extension I use to access those hardest plugs (middle one!) on 1mz-fe through the intake plenum openings...

 

:thanks:

Well now that I know how its done, guess I'll change mine, got 377,000 km on the originals. Hope they are not too hard to turn out.

 

I finally got around to changing plugs and to my surprise it was much easier than I thought. The DIY here is good.

Here's a picture of the original plugs I took out after 370,000 km.



Other than the gap being increased by age, I was happy with the ease in which they came out and the consistency of appearance for all plugs. No oil fouling, pretty clean.

FYI I was able to access and remove all plugs using two 2.5" inch extensions tapped together and to a 5/8" plug socket. Hardest part was getting enough finger leverage to pull and put back the rear rubber plug wires and caps. Not much room for hands behind the intake manifold.

 

those plugs look similar to mine at 125ish k miles on 1mz-fe, maybe mine were looking a bit richer (car was running in fail safe mode for 2 years)... yeah I remember the tight space for hand and how hard it appeared at first to fit a fist in there in order to pull wire boots out - I remember now that it took me a while

 

Does this engine have spark plug wires or ignition coils?

 

on 4cyl it is 4 wires
on v6 it is both, 3 coils over front bank, 3 wires to the rear bank

 

The rears look like a real pain. Is it really worth it for two extra cylinders vs the 5F-SE?

 

Considering it has to be done only every 100k miles, it's not so bad.