Wish me luck - spark plugs today
 

78,000 miles since I last changed them - I still can't believe I've put that many miles on in 3 years. Its a nice warm and sunny day and I've got a fridge full of beer. Got the plugs from 1stsubaruparts for 9.53 ea.

Did the tail light gaskets yesterday - today the spark plugs get done. I'm interested to see what they look like after running the free flow exhaust -
Hopefully I won't destroy any coil packs in the process :D

Remember to keep her cool while changing plugs and a second pair of hands are always helpful. Make sure your jacks stands works before you lift the car.

L

ps. good luck

All done - no problems. Car was cold from sitting all night - didn't lift the car so no need for jackstands. 4 of the old plugs looked good - slight tannish brown color. Both rear plugs had slight white- glaze on them -

Jesus, it only took you two hours?@?!?%!@% How did you get to them??

All of them from the top. Removed the battery and airbox to get easier access. The only hard to get to plug really is the driver side closest to the firewall - all of the others are fairly easy to replace. Used various ratchets/ extentions and a 12mm wrench. Sometimes you have to only put the ratchet halfway into the extension - a 3" extension + spark plug socket comes out to about 1/4" inside the valve cover so you can't put the ratchet all the way into the extension.
A long screwdriver to pop the coil packs off. It helps alot if you have a spark plug socket with the rubber thing that grabs the plug.

Only 2 hrs - Actually about 1.5 hrs - took my time and stopped to eat pizza for lunch. Also spent some time cleaning the engine around the valve covers to get any sludge out before I removed anything - didn't want to drag any sludge into the spark plug holes while replacing them.

If you are used to doing it, you can do it all in about 1/2 hour 45 minutes tops.

L

Why would you go in from the bottom? I've never heard of that.

Mike

I don't think it's a matter of going in from the bottom, but rather getting to the access holes in the fender. However, this is really unnecessary when working on a cold engine and there is no chance of getting burned.

Two hours sounds about right for someone doing it the first time. With experience, it shouldn't take any more than 45-60 minutes unless there are complications like torn boots or stuck plugs.

KuoH