How do I change the rear spark plugs on a 2005 Toyota Sienna?
John Smith
Jeff
"John Smith" <noone@com> wrote in message
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I think I see the problem. The spark plugs are under the hood, which is in
the front of the van, not the rear. ;-)
Jeff
mack
"John Smith" <noone@com> wrote in message
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Ray O
"John Smith" <noone@com> wrote in message
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>
--
Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)
Tomes
news:4617d7ca$0$24780$4c36...@roadrunner.com...
>
>
it was not actually all that bad once I figured out the trick. If you
have arms of girth then you will have greater difficulty - mine are of
'normal' girth (whatever that is). No parts (manifold or cowl) removal is
needed.
It is a feel thing and a not-out-of-the-ordinary tool thing. Do it one
plug at a time, from pulling the wire to putting the wire back on, then
move on to the next. You need to remember where that hole was. Don't
pull off all of your wires and expect to find things again.
I just used a regular ratchet, a 6" straight extension (I might have added
another 2 or 3 incher but I do not think so), and a spark plug socket that
actually holds the plug securely. Without that holding power of the
socket there is no chance. No bendy joints were needed at all.
The easiest one to get at is the one on the driver side, so do this one
first to get good at it. You cannot see anything so you are going by feel
and you do not want to lose your place. Pull off the wire with your left
hand and the extension and socket in one piece in your right hand, both
hands back there, keeping your finger over the plug tube. Now lower the
socket and extension down and engage the plug snugly. Now go get your
ratchet and connect it to the extension. Turn the plug loose, remove the
ratchet out of the way, then lift the extension out with the plug
carefully and slowly so you do not drop it back down in there. Removing
the ratchet from the extension is the key here, and you will be able to
angle it all out OK.
Now when putting the new plug in you really really do not want to be
crossthreading this at all. I figured that I had one shot. So I stuck
the plug into the socket/extension and lowered it very carefully down into
the tube. When I hit the bottom I rotated it anti-clockwise for a bit to
ensure that I had it all level down there and I felt that little bump
where the thread found its new groove. Then I spun the plug in by hand
until hand-snug. Then I attached the ratchet to give it that final
snugging. Then the ratchet was removed again then and the
extension/socket came out.
If I am remembering it correctly, the center one was the one where I had
to reach in the most, so do that one last. The whole job for these 3
plugs took me about 15 minutes (including trepidation time).
Good luck and let us know how it worked out for you.
Tomes
mack
"Tomes" <as...@here.net> wrote in message
news:7s_Rh.747$3P3...@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> The whole job for these 3 plugs took me about 15 minutes (including
> trepidation time).
> Good luck and let us know how it worked out for you.
> Tomes
WHAT!!! This is a problem?? On my old '90 Mercury Cougar, the passenger
side three on the v-6 took literally hours to replace, thanks to the
designers putting all the air conditioning crapola butted up to the engine
on that side.
I might as well have been blindfolded to do the job, because it was all by
feel. Ah for the good old days when one could SEE all the spark plugs and
where the wires went.
I recall fondly an old Rambler '60 station wagon I had briefly which had so
much room in the engine compartment, you could likely have used it as
another trunk!
Tomes
> "Tomes" wrote in message ...
>> The whole job for these 3 plugs took me about 15 minutes (including
>> trepidation time).
>> Good luck and let us know how it worked out for you.
>> Tomes
>
> WHAT!!! This is a problem?? On my old '90 Mercury Cougar, the
> passenger side three on the v-6 took literally hours to replace, thanks
> to the designers putting all the air conditioning crapola butted up to
> the engine on that side.
> I might as well have been blindfolded to do the job, because it was all
> by feel. Ah for the good old days when one could SEE all the spark
> plugs and where the wires went.
> I recall fondly an old Rambler '60 station wagon I had briefly which had
> so much room in the engine compartment, you could likely have used it as
> another trunk!
to futz around in there. Oh for those days...
My point here is that this is _not_ a problem. It can be done, and it was
done, just with a little patience and feel. I, like the OP, did think
that it was a problem until I found out that it was not really.
Tomes
DH
"mack" <mack...@dslextreme.com> wrote in message
news:131i7h4...@corp.supernews.com...
>
> "Tomes" <as...@here.net> wrote in message
> news:7s_Rh.747$3P3...@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net...
>> The whole job for these 3 plugs took me about 15 minutes (including
>> trepidation time).
>> Good luck and let us know how it worked out for you.
>> Tomes
>
> WHAT!!! This is a problem?? On my old '90 Mercury Cougar, the passenger
> side three on the v-6 took literally hours to replace, thanks to the
> designers putting all the air conditioning crapola butted up to the engine
> on that side.
Good old days? On late '70's V8 Chevy Monzas (and their clones), the engine
had to be pulled to change the back plugs. A friend made the mistake of
buying one of these. When he found out it would be a couple hundred bucks
(in 1983 dollars) to change all the plugs, his solution was to skip changing
the back plugs.
> I might as well have been blindfolded to do the job, because it was all by
> feel. Ah for the good old days when one could SEE all the spark plugs and
> where the wires went.
> I recall fondly an old Rambler '60 station wagon I had briefly which had
> so much room in the engine compartment, you could likely have used it as
> another trunk!
The RWD Volvos, the 240/740/940 series, were like that. Big engine
compartment with a dinky little 2.3L I-4 sitting in the middle. That was
one of the things I liked about Volvos.
Come to think of it, my '00 Rav seems to have a reasonable amount of space
around the engine (but, then again, all I've done is look - there's been
nothing to fix, so far).
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mack
"DH" <d...@stargate.com> wrote in message
news:461a3b0e$0$6888$8826...@free.teranews.com...
>
> Good old days? On late '70's V8 Chevy Monzas (and their clones), the
> engine had to be pulled to change the back plugs. A friend made the
> mistake of buying one of these. When he found out it would be a couple
> hundred bucks (in 1983 dollars) to change all the plugs, his solution was
> to skip changing the back plugs.
If I recall the story correctly, the old Monza's engine had to be loosened
up on its mounts and slid forward about two inches to change the plug at the
rear, tucked into the firewall. Great GM engineering that. I imagine
more than one owner said "You have to do WHAT?"