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      08-09-2014, 03:37 PM   #117
dreamspeed
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Just finished changing my spark plugs and it was really easy. I just wanted to reiterate a couple of points for people looking to do this as I was way more worried about the difficulty than i needed to be.

1. You do not need any kind of special tools. All you need are a couple of flat head screwdrivers of varying lengths. Just poke around the coil packs and you will eventually find a spot to leverage/pry the thing loose. For the rear 2 coil packs you may need to stick something under the screwdriver for leverage (like a second screwdriver). All 8 coil packs popped off with minimal force

2. The front 3 plugs on each side can be removed and installed easily with an extension and spark plug socket. It will be easier if you have the socket with the rubber inside to hold the spark plug in place. Just assemble the socket, extension and spark plug and screw it into the head.

3. This is the MOST IMPORTANT part of the DIY and if you don't do this correctly you will waste a lot of time.

For the 2 plugs closest to the firewall on both sides you need to use a spark plug socket that DOES NOT have the rubber inside. You will not have enough space to put in your socket + extension + plug assembly. What you need to do is drop the spark plug in, then drop the socket in, then attach the extension to the socket.

If you use a socket with the rubber whats going to happen is after you screw in your spark plug you will not be able to get your socket back out. The connection between the rubber + spark plug is going to be stronger than the connection between your socket and extension. If you try to pull the socket out the extension will just keep popping off.

I would also NOT recommend using a locking extension because even though you would be able to pop the socket off the plug now the extension + socket assembly is too long to pull out of the tight spot and you will spend a lot of time trying to finangle the the locking extension off the socket in a really tight spot.

Use a socket with no rubber so that after you a screw the plug in you can pull out your assembly partially and use a screw driver to pop the socket off the extension and drop it back into the head. Then use one of those magnetic pickup tools to retrieve our socket.

Final note: IF you have one of those spark plug sockets with the built in flex extension you MAY be able to snake it into the 4th cylinder and avoid all the issues i indicated above :P

Sorry for the long post but i really wanted to clarify #3 as doing it incorrectly really wasted a lot of my time.
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