My spark plug changing NIGHTMARE.

[methyl mike]

OK soo this is how I spent my memorial day. On saturday, I flushed the coolant on my car, finding out in the process that the radiator cap IS NOT ON THE RADIATOR! WTF?!!! Who designs this crap?! Anyway I then pulled the front 3 plugs, and replaced them no prob. Looking at the back ones, I seriously gave up, figuring you would have to pull the intake manifold to get to them right? Saw on here that you can do them yourself, so on sunday I got up bright and early and together with my friend we began the job. First off pulled the passenger side plug, no prob. Took 10 min at most, piece of cake. Then everything fell apart. Went after the drivers side plug, got my socket and extension together, stuck it in the whole and THE SOCKET FELL OFF! WTF?! So i stuck the extension back in and it wouldnt latch on! Nothing! Tried for over and hour to get it out, got a mirror in there with a light and it APPEARED the sparkplug was long or something, so we fished in there with a magnet on a stick and a coat hanger, and almost 2 HOURS later fished out the socket. It wasnt backwards! No idea what was going on, we went out and bought a longer socket, stuck it in there and it wouldnt grab! It wouldnt grab the spark plug! Got a better look, and screw it all the end of the spark plug wire was stuck on the tip of the plug! AAARRRRGGGHH!!!! So stuck in the spark plug wire, pulled it out and sure enough it grabbed the metal thingy, then got a socket in there and 5 min later had that spark plug in. That took 6 hours. If you're wondering why it's SO hard to do this, there is NO space, you can't see what you're doing, and the shaft is like 6 inches deep! Absolutely terrible design. Oh but it gets better! Went after the middle plug. After spending an hour just trying to figure out what extension to use, and how to get it in the shaft, I loosen the plug-and it won't come out. Then the socket gets stuck, and 2 hours later-the plug spins like it should come out, but won't, and the socket it stuck on it! Given the space i was working with, we gave up for the day and returned yesterday (monday). Over 10 hours has now been invested. Returned fresh at 11am yesterday, and started trying again. An hour later, we realize the spark plug is probably STRIPPED OR CROSSTHREADED, AND THE SOCKET IS STUCK IN A HOLE THATS IMPOSSIBLE TO SEE OR REACH! So I start my car in hopes of blowing out the plug, my only hope. Sure enough it blows out, and thus begins my 10 hour get the new plug in ordeal. Get the new plug in the shaft-IT WONT START. Examined the old plug, the threads look fine! Theyre ok! So I took the plug and tried to make a homemade tap out of it, and tried and tried and tried to start it! NOthing! ANd you cant get any leverage in there at all! Oh yeah the old plug was stripped, which is why the socket got stuck. Long story short, the guy who did this before not only stripped the plug getting it in, he also overtorqued the plug and crossthreaded the flippin threads!!!! screw!!! SO now i am without a plug, and i have to tap the hole today. Don't do it yourself!! What a flippin nightmare, I spent over 20 hours this weekend, and still havent finished. PEace out.

[so-cal_sol]

damn, what a headache, good luck with fixing it.

[bassthrive]

this is not a tutorial, it will be deleted.

[Hsakuragi]

wow...good luck dude

[Jai_Jai_Binks]

For an 1mz, i would always suggest hire a local shop or a someone who's done it before..its not a EASY diy for the back plugs!

[StockSolara]

I don't know about you guys but it was my first time changing the plugs for Solara and I did it in 1.5 hours. You just have to be patient and use logic to look at the best possibilities. It was a tough sparkplug change but I can probably do it again very easily and at a faster time.

[methyl mike]

I don't know about you guys but it was my first time changing the plugs for Solara and I did it in 1.5 hours. You just have to be patient and use logic to look at the best possibilities. It was a tough sparkplug change but I can probably do it again very easily and at a faster time.

Yeah had the middle plug not been stripped AND crossthreaded from the previous owner, I probably could do it in 20 minutes now. Oh yeah I left out a couple things as I was typing on my break, on the driver side back plug, after I got out a wedged socket the SECOND time, I decided to try a spark plug socket, you know one with the foam or whatever inside? SO I stuck it in, couldnt get a purchase, pulled it out and NO FOAM INSIDE THE SOCKET! ?@@@!!!! I stared in disbelief as I realized I now had to fish out the foam from a 6 inch deep hole I could neither see nor reach easily. I guess you could say anything and everything that could POSSIBLY go wrong, did. Thats what I get for trying to save 400 bucks that toyota wanted to charge me. Im tapping the middle hole on saturday, wish me luck!

[Poman]

old topic, I took off the intake plenum instead. It's easier. Take off throttle body's 4 screws; take off 2 hanger bolts; 2 ground wire bolts; a hose or two; 2 bolts and 2 nuts on the intake plenum and bam the plenum is off! Replace the plugs takes no time at all with the plenum out of the way. Then put everything back on. You may want to change the gaskets for the throttle body and the intake plenum while you're at it. About 1 hour to 2 hours if you work slower. Not 6 hours!

[Sap Z]

yea i did it in about 30-40 mins with my dad.

even i got the rubber crap stuck in the hole for the passenger side. but got it out someout.

i guess i got lucky cuz i'm not at all car smart

[dominoSLEV6]

Wow, thread from the dead.

I did the iridium upgrade for the nitrous on my car and it took me under 2 hours, and was my first spark plug change ever. I just kinda went for it.

And hey... this thread made me think, where the fuk stocksolara been at? Samson is his name right? Where the hell has that cat been?

-chris

[JMSinMaryland]

When my next spark plug change comes around Im going to the dealer and claiming my car is showing signs of sludge. Once the engine is apart for cleaning I'll ask them to install new plugs and get a rental car in the mean time.

[Poman]

Not so lucky for me. My dealer here will not fix anything that requires SC removal. I said charge me extra labor but they wouldn't touch it. One dealer I went for timing belt change didn't realize that I had the SC and they called me telling me they won't charge me extra labor. But then later on I found out they charged me for the timing belt change but the belt never changed....I'm quite pissed and going to get my money back on that...

[mikee7]

It sounds like all the trouble with changing plugs in the rear is because of the SC?? Is it that hard for a Non SC engine?

[Poman]

You get more room in the back with stock intake plenum. With SC, you can't exactly reach the passenger side plug unless you lay on top of the SC and trying to reach in from the driver side space. Not worth the hassle. Intake plenum or supercharger is not hard to remove at all....

[mikee7]

Thanks for the info. I do not have an SC engine and I was just wondering if it would be worth it to me to do it myself but I really don't want to spend a good portion of my day attempting to change the back plugs. It might be worth it to let someone that has done it before to do this task.