I was able to replace the rear three spark plugs in my '95 ES300 without removing the intake manifold.

I removed or moved a few hoses to give better access to the passenger side plug and moved just a few others to access the other two plugs.

1) remove the 5/16" ID hose on the passenger side of the rear portion of the manifold. This hose connects to the lower horizontal port on a solenoid at the rear of the intake manifold on the driver side. This hose is about 14" long and is held in place with clamps that are loosened with just finger pressure - not screw clamps.

2) remove the PCV valve and its 'J' hose. The valve just pulls out of its mounting hole. The other end of the hose is attached using a 'finger' clamp. The 'J' hose total length is about 4".

3) Loosen the 12mm nut used to retain two ground wires on the passenger side of the rear cylindrical portion of the intake manifold. Move the wires out of the way.

4) There is a vertical silver cylinder about 1 1/4" diameter and say 2" tall near the firewall. It has two 3/16" ID hoses running to the solenoid of step 1 and to a port on the intake manifold near the solenoid. Just disconnect them from the silver cylinder; leave them attached to the solenoid and manifold.

5) At the rear of the intake manifold near the passenger side there is a metal bracket used to support a 1/4" metal tube. Remove the 10mm mounting nut; you'll want to move the tube a bit to get your hand in the region.

Those were the only things I had to move/remove to give access. I started with the passenger side plug and removed its igniter. Once the new plug was in I put a wad of cloth in the plug access tunnel to keep dirt from falling in as I worked on the other two. Once the center plug was replaced I plugged its tunnel too.

I used a mirror near the firewall to give better visual access to the other two plugs.

I used various combinations of 3/8" extensions to get to the plugs. For the driver side plug I used 6", 5" and 3" extensions. I bought a 3/8" universal joint but did not need it.

I marked the igniters as they came out to make sure I got them back into their original locations. I replaced all three plugs before re-installing the igniters.

I put anti-sieze on the new plug threads before installing them.

Total time for the three rear plugs took 2 1/2 hours.

 

Thanks for posting, Poppo. Very helpful info. Can't wait to try this out.

 

i did my 93 a few mos back, just gotta have the right combination of extensions and i had a few wobble ends that helped a lot. total time about 30 mins.

 

30 minutes? Hard to believe, but hey, I'll take your word for it. How many times have you done this? Did it take you 30 minutes the first time? Why don't you post your technique/approach? I'm intrigued, as I'm sure a lot of people on this forum are.

 

yea it only takes about 30 min. look at my other posts and pics, no big deal!

 

Thanks....