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My car is a 2004 and has 29k miles. Wondering if anyone changed plugs on a low mile 12 year or older SC430 and saw any difference in engine performance and smoothness.
No need to change them. You aren't going to get anything in return. The iridium plugs easily go 100k. The only time I would change them a little early, is if I was already like changing valve cover gaskets or something. There are people who have gone over 200k, not condoning that though. I changed the iridium plugs in my Land Rover a month or two ago 117k, and they looked almost the same as the new ones.
Hello all
Noticed on NGK site they show the original plugs used....looking further they also showed Iridium IXvvBKR6EIX-11 (3764) and G Power BKR6EGP (7092)......but did not describe the differences......anyone know what they are????
Thanks!
I replaced the spark plugs on my 05 SC430 today. Thanks to mandyfig and the other forum members for their helpful comments!
The plugs had 72.6k miles or 116k kms, depending where you live (see pic). They look like they could have easily done another 25k miles!
I have a magnetic spark plug socket with a 3" wobble extension and a spark plug ratchet with a pivoting head; both proved to be very helpful.
As already mentioned above, take your time, take some pictures, and thread those plugs in by hand before you start tightening and all will be good.
If you have access to compressed air, it also helps to blow off any dust or dirt on the engine to prevent it from possibly falling into your cylinders.
I replaced the plugs one at a time. Its a bit more time consuming but I had the afternoon open to play :+).
I did a few things differently thanks to those who shared their experiences:
1. I did not remove the MAF meter. I removed the one retaining bolt and the two upper hoses and then rotated the MAF onto the intake plenum (see pic).
Rotating the MAF meter onto the engine.
2. I did not remove the battery tray (I could not believe the Toyota engineers did not think this through and they did not disappoint :+). I unclipped the cable tie which holds one of the battery wires. The bracket which held this was flexible enough to bend towards the battery and I was able to remove the coil pack for the plug closest to the firewall (see pic).
Cable clip and flexible support bracket by battery.
3. I was able to remove 3 of the 4 coil packs on the passenger side without removing the wiring clips. (You guessed it, I had to take off the clip for the plug at the firewall as already mentioned above). I undid all the clips on the driver's side.
4. I am a slave to habit and put a tiny dab of the nickel based anti-seize the size of a q-tip head above the bottom two threads on the plug. When you are putting in the plugs you can feel the crush washer seating. The NGK box said 1/3 to 2/3 of a turn to seat the plug but it felt like about 1 turn for the plug to seat.
5. I used dielectric grease in the end of the coil pack where it plugs onto the spark plug. Not sure if it is required but I have also been doing this for a few years now.
I took the opportunity to clean the throttle body and the MAF sensor. I did not take a pic of the sensor but it had quite a bit of dirt on it!
Old plugs and magnetic spark plug socket with pivot head.
On a side note, I asked a Lexus tech about spark plug selection the last time I felt rich and was at the dealership. He said based on his experience he saw fewer misfiring issues with the Denso plugs.
I have been using NGK's in my Mazdas and other Toyotas for quite awhile AND had already ordered the NGK's. Otherwise I may have stuck with the Densos as you can see above, they still look pretty good.
Good stuff! The short cuts you have done are probably what the Lexus Techs do. They have developed shortcuts that allow them to finish their jobs so they can move on to the next. Am pretty sure they are allowed to do multiple jobs simultaneously, it is all about the time. Maybe they are paid by the job and not by the time, anybody would know this?
Thanks!
I am pretty sure the dealer techs are paid based on some kind of book rate shop time.
For example, in the AISIN TKT-021 timing belt kit for our 3UZ-FE engines, it had a labour time quoted of 2.7 hours but the dealer was happy to charge 4.5 hours.
If a tech is experienced and can do the job in less time, I believe he is still paid the 4.5 hours.
But if he has any issues and it takes him longer, he still only gets paid the 4.5 hours or whatever it happens to be for the job.
Whenever I need to take a car to a dealer or shop I always ask for the labour/ parts breakdown.
I can often buy the same parts for much less than the dealer charges.
The downside is the dealer will usually only warranty the parts provided by them.
Here is a good video on the topic of using anti-seize.
I have never slathered it on like butter as shown in the video, but believe it can affect the ability to get an accurate torque (that is if you can actually get your torque wrench into the engine bay to use it).
I had a Lexus Tech friend do my SC's Timing belt. They completed it in 1.5 hours, there were 2 of them. Did it at a chilled pace. Of course they knew the process and the parts to a T! Training and experience, that's what we pay for when the Lexus car goes to a Lexus garage and they guarantee work done 100%.
Quick question, why are folks not replacing the ignition coils at the same time? Especially at these higher milages? Just figured it would be a good time to put new ones on with them off already.
Ignition coils are designed for longer wear (they are basically transformers but instead of lowering voltage, they spike them to higher voltage needed for firing on the spark plugs). They basically do not fail. However if they do, it will be very easy to detect.
I currently am throwing a knock sensor code and wondering/hoping that a spark plug change and possibly ignition coil change will resolve the misfire that the knock sensor is detecting.
04-08-17, 08:41 AM
