Changing my sparkplugs?

[LeeLee D]

Holy jesus. Anyone got some good tips on what tools and how the hell to even work with like 2 or less inches of clearance lol

Ive had some Iridiums sitting in my trunk forever because I just know its going to take a retarded amount of time to do something so simple

[redlegacygt]

remove the battery and windsheild wiper fluid tank. Or do it from under the car.. those are the only two options i can think of. I just removed those to things and had enough space, but it was still at PITA...

[badbasser98]

yeah, it looks like a major PITA on my GT, but was crazy simple on my 95 BD 2.2l. Took all of five minutes. :shrug:

[shazapple]

5 minute :-? takes me 3 times that long to change my rims and thats easy.

Anyway, remove the air intake, battery, and washer fluid. Be sure to have some bendy wrench extensions around. Doing it form the bottom doesnt work

[badbasser98]

5 minute :-? takes me 3 times that long to change my rims and thats easy.
Pull the wires, grabbed a 1/4" ratchet, a deep sparkplug socket, two extensions and went to town. Did not have to remove anything to get clear access... So I may have exaggerated slightly on the time, but seriously was no more than ten minutes, and that was being very carefull not to break the plugs.

[LeeLee D]

bendy wrench extensions


Im thinking thats what I'm going to need

[warrior]

Lee, its EASY!

I removed Battery and washer reservoir.. get a 3" extension, put the spark plug socket on, put into cylinder, THEN attach the rachet to the extention.. this way, you have enough room from the chassis of the car. If you try to put all three at once, it won't fit.. once the spark plug is free from the threads, take off the rachet, then remove with the socket+extenstion

It's just time consuming.. and putting the park plugs in is simple as well, just make sure you put anti-sieze and turn as much as you can with your hand to make sure its threaded properly!

[LeeLee D]

After tightening it with my hands, how much tighter should I go with the ratchet? Or not use the ratchet at all afterwords

[shazapple]

You had to use the rachet to get them off, so you have to use the rachet to get them on. Use the same amount of force, but not too much cause they are aluminum heads

[LeeLee D]

Makes sense. wont have a chance to do it till friday though. Damn work

[rougeben83]

I went with someone else advice and go 1/4 turn on the ratchet past when the plug is just gets tight.

I got away with just removing the washer reservoir. Also, a good thing to have is a length of rubber tube (I think 1/8") to stick the end of the plug and fish it out...and to thread the new plugs in by hand (just to make sure you don't cross thread the damn thing). I didn't need any "special" sparkplug socket.

[Huffer]

Good grief these things are a PITA.

I did mine tonight, after a misfire on #1 and #4.

I'm going to do a write up I think, but I found that #4 was tough to get enough clearance with the combination of plug socket, 3" extension, 1.5" extension and a regular short handed ratchet.

I needed a cylindrical magnet (when the socket came off the extension, and was stuck deep into the engine recesses).

What I found that will work better (especially on the DOHC where clearance is an issue, on the SOHC there is more space), is a longer 5/8" spark plug socket, which allows the swivel head ratchet more space.

The combinations of extensions and wrenches I used was ridiculous.
Took me 2.75 hours to do the whole job!

[Sarra]

I use a universal joint, a short extention (1 1/2"), a long extention (4 inches or longer), and a deep socket. I vary putting the universal joint on the socket or the extention on the socket, whatever works best. Those universal joints are freaking handy, $10 for a set of 3 at Sears.

It takes me about 30 minutes to do my spark plugs now. I found it easier to just pull the entire intake (leave all of the hose clamps, just unplug the MAF, remove two bolts on the air filter box, remove the two bolts holding the airbox on, and the hose clamp around the TB, lift the entire intake out as one huge piece). Pull the battery, pull the washer res, and have at it. Do #4, then #2, then the rest in whatever order you want.

Just be glad we don't have H6 engines. Imagine that drivers side rear cylinder being further back, and lower down! @__@

[2.5GT]

So there's no possible way of doing the entire spark plugs from the bottom of the car?

I need to change mine, I have some NGKs just sitting in my trunk for months! :lol:

[Huffer]

So there's no possible way of doing the entire spark plugs from the bottom of the car?

Why would you? I did mine with the hood up, the car in the garage sitting on it's own four wheels.

There's no point in even trying to do it from underneath. You'll just tire yourself out.

[2.5GT]

So there's no possible way of doing the entire spark plugs from the bottom of the car?

Why would you? I did mine with the hood up, the car in the garage sitting on it's own four wheels.

There's no point in even trying to do it from underneath. You'll just tire yourself out.

Well either way, you'll still end up tiring yourself out :roll:

Damn Boxers :roll: :lol:

[deadlydave]

mine wasn't that bad...like 25 minutes from above the car, and that was back when i was a mechanical noob.

I got the NGK irridiums too, with the performance non-racing wires. I thought my battery was dying, i changed out the plugs and wires and i'm still using the same one, a year and a half later.

[Sarra]

Be careful with those plugs and wires. If you don't replace them soon enough after they go bad, you can fry your coil pack. Those are expensive to replace. :(