Finally Changed My Spark Plugs....in 4 Hours... - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

***Eye8Pussies*** · 09-23-2005, 01:21 AM

So...as I get ready for my emissions test, I'm doing all I can to make sure I pass again this time (last time I was right on the dot with some stuff), so I finally changed my sparkplugs, which are about 10k over due

I took a look behind the intake plenum and decided I didn't want to scratch up my pretty hands trying to do it that way- so I did it the hardcore way and went from this:

to this:

in about an hour and a half to 2 hours....took so damn long, and it everytime I thought I had the damn thing off, I would find something else that I had not seen to unbolt/unhook
my biggest concern was actually getting all the vacuum lines back in the right palce afterwards though

long story short, I changed the spark plugs to Bosch Platinum +4...only because canadian tire didnt' carry denso, and I'm not a fan of ngk for some reason...

then it took me about another hour and a half or so if not more to get the damn thing back on....and afterwards, scatching my head over how ANYBODY could fit a sparkplug socket along with an extension, and their hand down the back to the sparkplugs without removing the intake plenum

sorry, I just wanted to show off this bit of work of a budding shadetree mechanic that found that changing the damn spark plugs was too much work and glad to only have to do it every 80-100k or so

though next time I'm sure I can do it in about 2-2.5 hours or so

but to more gear head related types, the bosch +4 came "pregapped" from the factory and is not supposed to be regapped, but the gap was really really small...probably around a 0.038 or so whereas the oem gap is supposed to be 0.043, so I regapped every plug (x4 on each one) to 0.043 and now iI feel as though my car is running leaner than usual
- or so my very inaccurate a/f gauge tells me
- I know it's not accurate by far, but it usually at least gives you a general idea
- But since I've changed the plugs and gapped them as so (alot bigger than the "bosch factory" gap, I haven't even seen a hint of green, and when cruising on the highway (around 140-150), I ONLY see red, whereas it usually at least shows some stoich

any thoughts?

JetspeedCamry · 09-23-2005, 02:34 AM

Wow man..props on that! I did mine a few months back, and had to do exactly same thing! Soooo much stuff has to come off. But, you tend to realise it isnt that bad once you've done it. I labelled all of my vacuum lines and so it was easy to just plug them all back in. As far as the AFR goes, why did you regap the plugs? Whenever i bought new plugs i've never done that. I'm not too familiar with the way plug gaps etc. work, but, i'd imagine if you increased the gap a bit, the spark would loose a bit of it's "power", and not burn as much fuel, thus incomplete combustion. But yer, i really don't know, im just tryn to use my noggin! haha

RedPhoenix · 09-23-2005, 05:00 AM

Nice work! Gl with the regapping problem

Gary_602Z · 09-23-2005, 06:20 AM

Regapping the plugs should not have caused a lean condition. Remember them vacum lines you were talking about?

Thats where I would start.

Gary

chronoti · 09-23-2005, 07:06 AM

make sure you got the vaccume line from the pressure regulator hooked up right

also you can pull the fuse and let it relearn it self.

bil · 09-23-2005, 07:17 AM

It took me 1.5-2h to replace them on my 93V6 without taking off the intake. I had to use 2 extensions, flixible ratchet & a universal joint. The one on the driver's side was the worst. You cant see a s**t

camry300 · 09-23-2005, 09:30 AM

instead of flexible joint , the secret is to use 2 wooble extensions each will allow a 15 degree angle. And remove one nut which holds a pipe at the driver side to the engine to give u more room ( push the pipe holder back) and thats all. The second time I did it took only 45 minutes.
BTW NGK irridium was on sale AT crappy tire and I bought 6 for 45 CAd not that bad, but it is very good performance wise but I heard not as durable as denso's irridiums??????????

kenny1773 · 09-23-2005, 10:14 AM

I changed plugs in my 1995 V6 in an hour the first try. I did not remove the intake. I used a spark plug socket with the rubber grippy thing in it, several extensions, a rachet with an adjustable head and a universal joint (and a bit of duct tape to make sure nothing came apart when I pulled out).

Just like you have bad feelings about NGK, I have worse feeling about Bosch. Bosch plugs and Toyota engines just don't mix - IMO. NGK or Denso would have been the way to go. I doubt it is causing your problem, but I had Bosch plugs do strange things in Toyota engines (rough idle, stalling, bad gas mileage).

Jeeves · 09-23-2005, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by camry300

instead of flexible joint , the secret is to use 2 wooble extensions each will allow a 15 degree angle. And remove one nut which holds a pipe at the driver side to the engine to give u more room ( push the pipe holder back) and thats all. The second time I did it took only 45 minutes.
BTW NGK irridium was on sale AT crappy tire and I bought 6 for 45 CAd not that bad, but it is very good performance wise but I heard not as durable as denso's irridiums??????????

God Bless wobble extensions. Those allowed my friend and I to pull the 7M out of the Supra in an hour and 15mins.

***Silver Streak*** · 09-23-2005, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenny1773

Just like you have bad feelings about NGK, I have worse feeling about Bosch. Bosch plugs and Toyota engines just don't mix - IMO. NGK or Denso would have been the way to go. I doubt it is causing your problem, but I had Bosch plugs do strange things in Toyota engines (rough idle, stalling, bad gas mileage).

I would have to agree...throughout the years, I've only heard of using NGK or Denso with Toyota, never Bosch. But good work doing it yourself, never had to do it...thank gawd. BTW, I'm selling NGK plugs, not sure if they'd fit 1MZ....

foompla · 09-23-2005, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silver Streak

I would have to agree...throughout the years, I've only heard of using NGK or Denso with Toyota, never Bosch. But good work doing it yourself, never had to do it...thank gawd. BTW, I'm selling NGK plugs, not sure if they'd fit 1MZ....

bosch is garbage. i think hell be testing his theory about how fast he can pull the intake off sooner rather than later .

***Eye8Pussies*** · 09-23-2005, 03:27 PM

hmmm....well, we'll see what happens....

and I suppose you can do it with two extensions and flexes....but I htink I'd seriously rather do it this way....a bit longer, but I'd presume less frustration....

I'd rather spend 3 hours straight working in comparison to 2 hours of frustration and swaering...lol

and yeah, we'll have to see about these spark plugs....I don't mind changing them again in the spring, since I have to do my valve cover gaskets anyway

dandxg · 09-23-2005, 03:37 PM

I use autolites in my old corolla, and they work fine, and cheap too, I know people say they are a peice of crap, but at $1.29 per plug, right on. My 2003 Camry comes with Iridium so no changes for 90k which is cool.

A tip to protect your hands, it looks funny, wear heavy duty kitchen cleaning gloves, instead of just surgical gloves which rip easier, working on my EGR valve last year these funny yellow gloves saved a few layer of skin a couple of times when my hand banged metal!

Gary_602Z · 09-23-2005, 04:11 PM

Don't know if it works on Camry's but on a GM fwd you can take out the front dogbone and with a rachet strap pull the top of the motor foward enough to get your pretty hands on the back plugs!

Gary

foompla · 09-23-2005, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary_602Z

Don't know if it works on Camry's but on a GM fwd you can take out the front dogbone and with a rachet strap pull the top of the motor foward enough to get your pretty hands on the back plugs!

Gary

yea, gms suck. you can do it. the flexpipe might not be too happy with it tho. ive done plugs on a v6. its all about having the right size extensions