This guy is a former Toyota Master Diagnostic Technician with years of experience- he walks you through how to change the plugs in a 2GR-FKS engine:

 

Very often you can find YouTube videos of someone doing this job. Take a look and see if it's something you feel comfortable with. Very likely save some money and achieve a great feeling of independence and accomplishment by doing it yourself. Japanese cars tend to like NGK plugs. Perhaps take a look at RockAuto and see if the plugs are available there.

 

I understand completely, I'm just shocked at the amount of labor

 

You should really ask them to itemize the parts and labor. In general, it shouldnt be anymore than 3 hrs of labor.

 

Yeah she verbally said 140 ish parts and 'the rest is labor'

 

Try to do yourself per video. Make sure you have the tools. That rear plenum bolt was a challenge without a flex connector, keep at it.

Sincerely,
maonca

 

THIS is the reason I got my 4 cylinder Camry for my daily driver, easy maintenance. The V6 requires removal of the intake manifold and wiper cowl to get to the back 3 plugs, it is a lot of work. By contrast the plugs on the 4 cylinder can be changed out in less than 30 minutes.

 

I really like the 4 banger also. Plenty enough power and awesome gas mileage.

 

On the flip side here. I’d rather the V6. Done so many intake plenum pulls on V6 motors, it’s kinda mute. Price sounds about right from a dealer. But actual labor spent would likely be much much less in reality.

 

I did the spark plugs on my 2018 V6... yeah it took a few hours. That said, I just played the CCN vid linked above, and went step by step. Not hard, just time consuming and a little intimidating perhaps for some

I think the price is probably fair given the time involved. My cost was $150 ish (CAD) total for the 6 new plugs and the 2 gaskets. Spent a great day in the garage

 

Is it that hard you ask ? They are not until you do it !!!! and if you don't have the correct tools they're almost impossible to get to. the front three I will do for the cost of the plugs,it's the back three are the ones that took me all day to do. I used Denso iridium plugs good for 100000 miles.consider the fact that you have to practically remove a dozen things before you can even start the job.I would recommend you watching the car care nut on youtube, before trying to do it. Good luck,

 

Shops have to charge their labor rate whether they are doing complicated work or vacuuming your carpets. The rear plugs on a V6 are not difficult, just tedious and time-consuming. Label hoses and wires and take pictures of the layout before you disconnect things. Put all your bolts and stuff in order in a big tackle box, maybe label them as they go in.

 

According to flat rate on TIS (for a 2021 Highlander), R&R spark plugs is 2.2 hrs. I would think the Camry is similar if not the same.

 

For that much I'd look at doing it myself. Actually, I am on my 2014 avalon soon. It's at little over 100k already.
Yes it's a lot of work ( i haven't done it yet) but if the plugs last 100k miles..... that's not often

 

Its very do-able yourself if you take your time, have a location to work and the needed tools, and follow the proper procedure (car care nut vid is good but i also signed up for TIS to download relevant service manual pages)

I had never done a rear bank on a v6 before but just follow the procedure

 

It is pain to get to back plugs on v6 but dealer is always way higher than good independent mechanic. No plug is 20 plus bucls total rip off and their labor is high and always linger than really needed.

 

dealer is always way higher than good independent mechanic

Most independent mechanics run the same rip off scams as the dealers by pushing unnecessary services and doing half way jobs. But there are some good independents just like there are some good dealers. But you're never going to get a cheap good mechanic or dealer. Question is do you want it done cheap or do you want it done right?

Lots of folks here like the CCN on YouTube, including myself, but if you think that man is way cheaper than the dealer you're kidding yourself. My guess is he's probably the same price as a dealer and maybe higher but he's going to be more attentive to the job since he's getting the full labor rate for actual labor hours. Versus a tech getting paid 2 hours book time for a job that takes 3 hours for $30/hr when the labor rate is $150/hr.

 

I changed the spark plugs in my 2013 Lexus RX350 about a year ago. I watched the Car Care Nut on YouTube to get an idea of what I was up against. Most important I made sure all the parts I needed was on hand. Only Toyota/Lexus parts. From start to finish, It took a day and a half to get the job done. In my case the cowl, wiper motor, wiper arms, the metal support that went from strut upper mount (Rt) to strut upper mount (Lt), and the upper intake plenum, just to name a few. I also replaced the cowl to windshield seal, and and the cowl to fender seal pieces. Spark plugs were properly torqued. It was certainly time-consuming but no regrets.

 

I have already done spark plugs TWICE on our 2018 Camry V6 and ONCE on our 2019 V-6 Sienna. As others have said, watch the car care nut. Taking my time and laying out all parts clearly on a tool bench, it takes me 3 hours. I definitely DO NOT change iridium plugs every 60K miles, as recommended. 100K mile intervals for me. Plugs still looked good too.

 

Yeah my plugs in the V6 came out around 85k miles and i was surprised how good they looked.