Are there any tips or tricks to changing the plugs on a 97 4runner, 3.4L. I lost a cylinder this weekend, and the autozone guy and i diagnosed a fowled plug, so its time to change them out. I was looking and the plugs on the passenger side(cylinders 1,3,5) are covered by the intake. Is the only way to reach them, remove the intake.Any help would be appreciated.

 

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...ght=SPARK+PLUG

check out my experience. it was b/c of one mis-gapped plug. otherwise, its an easy job.

you'll have to move some of the air intake plumbing. its an easy job. while you have it removed, I'd highly recommend you clean out your throttle body. search "throttle body" and you'll get more info than you need on the subject.

bob

 

If yours is the same setup as mine 96 4cyl. You only need to take the wires off at the cap and then pull them under the intake. No need to remove any other parts. Just make sure your engine is cooled down. I also recommend using some dielectric grease on the plugs and wires. It helps keep the moisture out.

 

So my understanding is that the NGK double electrode plugs dont need to be gapped, correct? the box says thay need to be gapped, but somewhere in that thing you posted it says dont regap dual electrode plugs. I am kinda confused right now

 

They should already be pre-gapped. You don't gap multiple electrode plugs. Just look at each plug and make sure the gap is the same for both sides. Bob just recently had a problem with this. Don't forget to use anti-seize on the threads.

 

The box the plugs came in says they ARE NOT pre gapped, so should i jsut check to see that they are the same

 

Changed all the plugs, and now it runs like a champ. The driver side closest to the firewall was a real pita to change but was do-able. I had to remove the intake to get to the passenger side plugs. I took about an hour or so to swap them all out. THe plugs that came out of cylinders 3, 5 were absolutly destroyed. Nowonder the thing wasnt running and had no power. I am just glad that all i had to do was the plugs to get it running again.heres a pic of the 2 bad plugs. look how burned they are

 

I have a piece that I leave together all the time for spark plug changing. I have a 12" socket extension electrical taped on to it is the spark plug socket. That way the socket comes out when YOU want it to. I also use a little anitseize on the threads of each plug.

 

Runner,

You did use anti-sieze on the plug threads, right? Also, make sure you put some dielectric grease (aka vaseline) on the spark plug boots so the next time you remove the boots, it won't have burned and fused to the engine!

bob

 

Of course i did. the one i took off were a pain, they stuck in there like no other. I was quite liberal with the anti seive and grease in the boots. I also made sure they were torqued to specs, which i think was around 15 lbs.