#6 Spark Plug (Left Side, Nearest the Driver) Change

[ykobayashi]

After a year and a half and mysterious rough running, I broke down and completed the full spark plug change. I did 1-5 but didn't do #6 because it was a daunting looking effort. Plus all the horror stories I heard on the forums didn't help.

I undertook this effort today and completed it. I have to say that this is the single worst thing that I have attempted on ANY car that I have worked on. The stories on the forums don't nearly do this task justice. I am covered in dirt and grease (car only has 61k on the clock) and it only took about 5 hours of fiddling around with that POS to get it in!

On the plus side the car is running smoooooothly and it only took a year and a half!

Lessons learned:

1. Fer Chrissake take the left drivers side tire off! I don't care what anyone says, you can't do this without taking it off. A majority of the work I did from underneath as I could not get my hands into the area from the top and I have smaller hands.

2. There are two plugs in the wheel well, one outer and one inner. The outer one is pretty robust rubber and comes off with a little elbow grease and a flat bladed screwdriver. However, the inner one is flimsy plastic. The published instructions says to take your screw driver and just punch the middle of the plug and it pops out. This is true, but your screwdriver easily goes though the actual plug ruining from further use. Its better to just pry the edge with the screw driver and if you opt to put it back and reuse it, you can.

3. The coil pack and boot - this is a real ***** to get out. Expect to spend several hours fidgeting with this. The coil pack screw deadends against the frame, but don't panic. Just screw it back in a half and inch and use it to wiggle the pack off the spark plug. Once you do this the coilpack will seem too long to remove, it is, almost. One has to jiggle it enough so the head of the coil pack box thingee is pointed towards the driver's cockpit and then lower it down below the engine. I have lost most of my hair as I have pulled it out working on getting just this removed.

4. Removal of the spark plug. Just when you thought the hard part was done, Subaru does this. I was muttering several curse words and colorful phrases in Japanese and hoping that the damned engine and chassis engineer's ears were feeling my bad karma. You have to fish the extension though the hole then mate it up to the spark plug socket which should have the spark plug in it already. This is not easy. Then carefully guide the spark plug onto the threads and start to hand thread it. This will take a very steady had and a truckload of patience.

5. Reinstallation is all this joyous activity in reverse. I did find that putting it back together was a lot easier than taking it apart.

Good luck to you if you are undertaking this effort. If I can help in anyway let me know. Allot yourself 4-5 hours and prepare some very stiff alcoholic beverages afterwards (or during, who knows maybe it will make install easier?)