Changing spark plugs
 

So the car is at around 66k miles so it was time to do the plugs. It's certainly not a job I would want to do often but if you have patience and can work in tight spaces it's not terrible to do. If you do not have a lot of DIY experience you may want to consider paying someone to do this.

Like any other writeup on the internet, if you mess up your car while following this it's your responsibility not mine.

http://images59.fotki.com/v111/photo...1060015-vi.jpg

Right side plugs
Remove the injector ecu (10mm bolts x 3), the bottom one is a little annoying. Don't unplug the wiring from the ecu, there's enough slack on the wiring that you can just squeeze it past the hose and move it toward the back of the engine.


http://images42.fotki.com/v694/photo...1050992-vi.jpg

Remove the 10mm bolt and unclip the wiring from each of the coil packs and remove them.

http://images40.fotki.com/v1075/phot...1050995-vi.jpg

You can now remove the spark plugs. Here's the tools I used, if I had another small extension I would have tried that instead of the universal joint but I didn't feel like running to the store. The mini ratchet isn't necessary but I found it helpful. Also, make sure you have a magnet on a stick, the potential for dropping stuff is high, I actually tethered my ratchets to the car with some twine.

http://images108.fotki.com/v613/phot...1060006-vi.jpg

I always prefer to insert and start threading the plugs with a piece of vacuum line or an old spark plug boot.

http://images20.fotki.com/v113/photo...1050999-vi.jpg

Left side plugs
Because of all of the lines and hoses running on this side there's even less room to work. To get a little more room I removed the bolts from the injector cover (12mm) and to keep from rubbing the shit out my arm I also removed the clip that holds the 3 hoses (it just unclips from the metal bracket). If you have thick arms you may want to remove the strut brace (and master cylinder brace if you have one) as well. It was just too difficult to get good pics of this side but it's not any different than the other side.

:clap:

teach me more!

Subbed

Good write up, there Scenic Driver ......thanks for posting ...... :thumbsup:

I think when my FR-S gets up to that point ..... I'll just trade it in ..... :D

Oh, the "good old days", ...... just open the hood, climb in the engine compartment and change the plugs; a 5 minute job.....:)


humfrz

If it was an I4 engine it would probably only take 10 minutes, that's all it takes on my Audi.

Wait... that's it?

No removing engine mounts and jacking the engine up? No soaking two piece plugs in PB Blaster and praying to the car gods they don't break when removing them? (Looking at you Ford Mod V8's) No enlisting seven year olds with slender wrists to grab them from under the firewall? (Looking at you, GM W Bodies)

Thanks for this write up, Im getting to the point I need to change mine too and was debating doing it myself so this definitely helps. If anyone has done this or is planning to do this, are you just using OEM plugs or changing to something else?

Unbolting the engine from the mounts and jacking it up is the way the service manual says to do it but as myself and others have found, it's not the only way.

Lifting the motor to replace the plugs is just another way for Toyota to "lighten" up your wallet.

I am putting in a set of these soon:
HKS M50HL
http://cdn1.bigcommerce.com/n-dvzvde...0.1200.jpg?c=2

I'm a new owner here (1 month!), but it's good to see a successful alternative to changing plugs. Actually, lifting the engine slightly doesn't look too hard either - the mounts are easily accessible. I know changing plugs on some of the Ford V6 requires unplugging and removing the intake :-(

Great thread with some good tips!
 

I will be needing to change spark plugs soon, so I really appreciate this thread!

I guess we can be thankful the maintenance isn't as insane as a Ferrari F355. Here is a quote from an article on the subject (link below):

Here’s Why You Should Never Buy A Ferrari F355

nice write up. thank you.

Did this recently without lifting engine. You will need small hands, the right tools and *lots* of patience...

I'm know it can be done without jacking the motor (I couldn't get my hands in there, so need small hands), but why not? Yes you have to jack up the car, but its an extra 10 minutes to do so. Its two nuts to unbolt, and you get 3-4" more clearance. All the time fussing with trying to work in small space will eat up time like crazy. Trust me i'm all for shortcuts but the best bet is to try to get in there first without jacking anything up and if its a PITA just jack the car up and jack the motor up and save yourself the hassle.

This helps! I just hit 59k so this will need to be done very soon.

Would this also be a good time to replace the coil packs? I've seen here and there some owners having issues with them.

For those that lifted the engine, did you remove the mounts and use a standard jack?

Are you sure that's all it is? The service manual says that parts of the exhaust and other things have to be removed/unclipped before raising the engine.

You have to remove the rear bolt holding the front pipe too I believe. Don't think you need to undo anything else. Or you could unbolt the header. I actually forgot about that lol

Here's what Subaru says to do, if all of this is really required then I'd rather spend an extra hour or even two on top than deal with all of this especially since all of the exhaust nuts and bolts on my car are probably rusted by now.

1) Disconnect the ground cable from battery.
2) Remove the air cleaner assembly w/hose.
3) Disconnect the hose assembly from the sound creator.
4) Remove the two bolts and remove the sound creator.
5) Disconnect the front oxygen (A/F) sensor connector (A) and rear oxygen sensor connector (B).
6) Remove the two bolts securing the harness of the front oxygen (A/F) sensor, and remove the two clips from the stay.
7) Remove the two clips securing the rear oxygen (A/F) sensor harness.
8) Lift up the vehicle.
9) Remove the 12 bolts and seven clips to remove engine under cover No. 1.
10) Remove the seven bolts to remove engine under cover No. 2.
11) Remove the three clips to remove the front mat guard under RH.
12) Remove the two nuts and disconnect the joint pipe.
13) Remove the two nuts, two bolts and two compression springs to disconnect the exhaust center pipe assembly.
14) Remove the bolt to remove the exhaust pipe assembly FR.
15) Remove the two nuts and disconnect the joint pipe.
16) Remove the six nuts to remove the exhaust manifold sub-assembly.
17) Tie the joint pipe to the front crossmember using string.
18) Remove the nuts which secure the engine mounting to the front crossmember.
19) Lower the vehicle.
20) Remove clip (A) securing the engine harness to the engine hanger, clip (B) securing the battery cable and clip (C) securing the generator cable to the intake manifold protector RH, and clip (D) securing the generator cable to the fuse box.
21) Remove the bolt securing the harness stay from the intake manifold protector LH, and the two clips securing the battery cable from the intake manifold.
22) Install the ST1 and ST2 to the engine assembly.
23) Remove the clip securing the bulkhead harness to the vehicle.
24) Set the ST1 and ST2 to vehicle in order to support the engine.
25) Turn the handle on the top of the ST clockwise, and slowly lift the engine from the crossmember engine mount hole until it reaches the position where the engine mount stud bolts can be removed.
26) Lift up the vehicle.
27) Install the ST between the engine mount and crossmember.
29) Rotate the handle on the top of the ST counterclockwise to slowly lower the engine.
30) Remove the ST (ENGINE HANGER) from the vehicle.
31) Remove the RH spark plugs.
32) Remove the LH spark plugs.

Subaru will advise you to raise the engine because

1) they aren't going to tell you to work on a car because of tight spaces... if you have no room to work with, you increase the chances of damaging the customer's car
2) it's better to have more space because it gives you a better chance of getting an accurate torque setting with a torque wrench
3) reduces liability

As for unbolting the parts listed, it comes with the territory of properly working on a car. In practice, most mechanics will take shortcuts.

-alex

well, if you are so good with it, maybe you can do it your way and take some pictures to show us like what op did. then your comments would be a lot more helpful and will be taken seriously.

Uhm, what are you talking about?

Where did I say I was "so good with it"? I'm simply stating a fact that its HARD to get in that spot. If you don't have tiny hands its going to be difficult for anyone. I tried to do it without jacking the motor and it was just a PITA so I jacked the motor up quick.

What do you want me to take a picture of :lol: a motor jacked up? Go to your car, and imagine the engine 3" higher.

All I simply stated was that it is going to be easier with more clearance in there. If you try to do it without jacking the motor up and its becoming a hassle, just jack the motor. Save yourself the headache.

I just changed mine without lifting the engine. It is very tight but i'm skinny as fuck so I was able to change them. My arms were all scuffed up.

Kevlar sleeves are great to have when working in tight spaces to keep that from happening. They're great for working around hot parts too.

I just had my Testarossa done and it was $13,000 but that included a new clutch, new tires, a bunch of little things that go bad in 25 years and enclosed transportation >200mi there and back.

it looks very tight space. how to torque and gap on spark plugs in that space. lol

Shouldn't you gap the plugs before putting then on?

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Changing spark plugs
 

The proper plugs have 3 prongs and should come gapped correctly. I didn't see any specs in the manual so I assumed this was not required. I'm not even sure how I would gap a plug like this.

Anyone over 70k just replace their plugs? Curious what they look like compared to OP post.

The key I've found for these is to have the perfect combo of extensions, mix and match a few super short stubby extensions until you have the ratchet right where you want it.

ill be changing mine at 90k miles in a couple months, ill take some pics :) i havn't had any problem with my spark plugs yet. also im doing new injectors \o/ yay

Mine were pulled below 50k miles and they looked pretty awful, made me wish I had that taken care of a bit earlier. I probably won't go more than 30k on the current set. I'd rather pull them too early than late to understand a good range of when to change them going forward.

I have them around somewhere for future comparison. And pictures if I remember.

Changed them today actually.66k
What a pain in the ass.

What is the best spark plugs for the twins? OEM?

They don't look bad, actually. A bit of carbon closer to the threads, but the firing surface is clean and the electrodes are a nice tan color...thanks for posting that pic.

Yea not too bad, those look 'normal' for 66k.

On another note, I stopped by the Subie dealership for some OEM oil filters.. asked the serviceman about changing the spark plugs, he said they won't need to jack up the engine when changing the spark plugs. Not sure if that was just a sales pitch, but I'm sure they're not the only mechanics to take "short cuts" when doing maintenance/repairs.

@Black Tire

In the 355s defense, that's because it was one of the last ferrari's to have an interference engine with a timing belt, so if the belt failed you'd have a piston smash the valves. Most of the modern stuff like the Califronia T, 458 and 488 go much longer between those engine out services. The 458 for example only needs a major 5-6 year service regardless of mileage and only a 20 hour job vs the 50 hour job the F430 had.

Dude it is Subaru. They are used to changing plugs on boxer motors.

It doesn't matter how used to you are changing plugs - it's a matter of how little room there is when you don't jack the engine up.