Changed my Spark Plugs today

[chr15gb]

I was waiting for some nice weather which finally arrived.

The job took about 2 hours but I did take the opportunity to give the Throttle body a good clean too (and as it was my first time, I didn't rush anything).

I followed the youtube guide at the bottom of this post.
Almost the same but ours don't have the fuel pipe.

I couldn't quite work out how to fully remove the inlet manifold, it was held on by an electrical plug up by the bulkhead which looked a right faff to unclip. I didn't need to anyway as I could just manoeuvre the manifold out of the way to get access to the plugs.

I found the worse bolt to be the one at the back of the throttle body. The gap is too small to get a socket in there so I had to use a ring spanner but even then, I could only move it about 2 flats at a time. Not difficult but time consuming.

A problem I did encounter was on removal of a coil (nearest driver seat). The large seal came away with the coil and fell down the side of the engine. I had to fashion a fishing rod out of an old coat hanger and fish it out from the bottom engine cover where it had laid to rest.

My car is on 92K with FLSH. The 60k service was done but the price on the service history is the same as a normal service (£445). The 60k service should have been over £600 with the plugs changed so I had doubts as to whether my plugs had been changed when due.

New plugs supplied by Lexus Birmingham via eBay for £80. I inspected the orange seals on the underside of the manifold which all looked fine so I left them in.
I've included the knuckled socket I used to remove the rear manifold bolt everyone says is a Beetch to remove. Using that it came out fine with no problems.

You will note the top of the old plugs are the nice sandy colour but there is a fair amount of sooty deposits. I don't know if this is 32k miles worth or 92k miles worth of wear.

At first start afterwards, the car revved at 1550rpm. I read somewhere if the throttle has been disconnected, the car should be left to idle for 5 mins so it can re-learn the throttle position so I did just that.
After a 20 min drive up the motorway, it is now idling at 675rpm and drives great.

Quite a big job out oft he way, next is to learn all about the brake slide pins and do those.

 

[madasahatter]

11 minutes ago, chr15gb said:

I was waiting for some nice weather which finally arrived.

The job took about 2 hours but I did take the opportunity to give the Throttle body a good clean too (and as it was my first time, I didn't rush anything).

I followed the youtube guide at the bottom of this post.
Almost the same but ours don't have the fuel pipe.

I couldn't quite work out how to fully remove the inlet manifold, it was held on by an electrical plug up by the bulkhead which looked a right faff to unclip. I didn't need to anyway as I could just manoeuvre the manifold out of the way to get access to the plugs.

I found the worse bolt to be the one at the back of the throttle body. The gap is too small to get a socket in there so I had to use a ring spanner but even then, I could only move it about 2 flats at a time. Not difficult but time consuming.

A problem I did encounter was on removal of a coil (nearest driver seat). The large seal came away with the coil and fell down the side of the engine. I had to fashion a fishing rod out of an old coat hanger and fish it out from the bottom engine cover where it had laid to rest.

My car is on 92K with FLSH. The 60k service was done but the price on the service history is the same as a normal service (£445). The 60k service should have been over £600 with the plugs changed so I had doubts as to whether my plugs had been changed when due.

New plugs supplied by Lexus Birmingham via Ebay for £80. I inspected the orange seals on the underside of the manifold which all looked fine so I left them in.
I've included the knuckled socket I used to remove the rear manifold bolt everyone says is a Beetch to remove. Using that it came out fine with no problems.

You will note the top of the old plugs are the nice sandy colour but there is a fair amount of sooty deposits. I don't know if this is 32k miles worth or 92k miles worth of wear.

At first start afterwards, the car revved at 1550rpm. I read somewhere if the throttle has been disconnected, the car should be left to idle for 5 mins so it can re-learn the throttle position so I did just that.
After a 20 min drive up the motorway, it is now idling at 675rpm and drives great.

Quite a big job out oft he way, next is to learn all about the brake slide pins and do those.

 

That is good info there and well done to you. Time wise does not really matter, main thing to do it properly. You will easy do brakes after doing this.

Plugs do not look over clever. were they worn on the middle electroyed, you say the gaskets were fine was that the paper ones as well?

[J Henderson]

Well done for changing them yourself. Planning to do mine next year when the mileage will be around 50K.

 

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[is200 Newbie]

Good job ... definitely the harder of the two jobs.

Any other issues faced?

[normski2]

Well done Chris ... that is good work. You have the satisfaction of knowing the plugs have been done now.

Doing the slide bolts/pins on the brakes is a very worthwhile job and having done it once it gets easier and quicker each time. Just take your time and make sure you have the right grease. Noobie has put up 2 really good write-ups with photos for the front and rear slide pins. Follow what he says and it will be a doddle. If you're not sure at any point take photos to look back at when you come to re-assembly.

Having done all it is likely you will find the car feels a lot better under braking. The likely one that often seems to play up is the bottom pin on the rear brakes. Just keep waggling the caliper gently and it should start to free up. You only have about 30° of rotation before the disc is fouled or the brake pipe reaches its tight point.

Once you have done them think about doing them every 12 months or so. Its worth it and its quite simple really.

[chr15gb]

No other issues, it was remarkably straight forward. The bits which looked easiest turned out to be more frustrating like the clip the guy removes at the 4 minute mark. Those were swines on both sides. I thought I had broken one on the passenger side but I had simply dragged out the tie wrap retainer so it pushed back in okay.

Not sure how relevant this is but I plugged an OBD reader before and the spark advance was 18-20.
Afterwards it is 6. The engine was cold on the first one and up to running temp for the afterwards measurement.

[is200 Newbie]

Did you notice any differences in the drive of the car - mines just coming up to 100k and I have thought about doing soon.

[chr15gb]

The car feels snappier than before but I will reserve judgement until I have driven it on regular journeys before deciding how much benefit there is.

Apologies for my poor camera work but I tried to get a decent close up of the plugs. Without the new ones to compare to, I don't know if these are worn or not

 

[Verbout]

Nice job   video bookmarked.

[VrmmVrmm]

I own the IS220D...have owned many petrol inc two petrol Mercs...one thing struck me looking at the photos of the old plugs the gap looked large?  I'm not saying it is as I don't know the spec.  Did you photo graph the NEW ones and do they come with the gap set?

[chr15gb]

They come with the gap set. All I can find suggests don't mess with them. 

They have a protective plastic shield over the end so I just checked the top end was tight, then fitted them.

I put a little copper grease on the thread before fitting 

I agree with you, the gap did look quite large on the new ones, more than I recall from my old petrol days. I've been a derv driver for many years, last was a 530d.

[johnatg]

Those plugs look pretty well used to me - I'd say 92K rather than 32K. But still more or less serviceable - (I assume no particular starting or fuel consumption issues?) - which lends credence to my theory that these plugs are good up to 100K miles. I say 'up to' because it will depend on driving conditions - motorway cruiser or town traffic crawler - not sure which will last longer!

My car passed 60k miles today (during a 350 mile trip to Scotland) - I intend to leave the plugs until 80K - 85K and then assess how long I intend to keep the car (if indeed I keep it that long - I only do about 7K miles a year in the Lexus.

So my personal advice is - if your car is passing 60K save your money on plugs until another 25K miles have passed and then see how long you'll keep the car! (so long, of course, that you don't meanwhile have issues such as starting, emissions or fuel consumption or other obvious signs of worn-out plugs). Nothing sudden will happen - and they last 100K miles in California! ('Cos they are emissions related and all emissions stuff has to be warranted to 100K there)

[chr15gb]

Well on a normal run today I am satisfied changing them has made a difference.
I suggested earlier the car felt "snappier" but more accurately, the car was more twitchy and jumpy on the gear changes. The revs climb much faster.

I haven't owned the car very long but one particular part of my route sees the speed limit rise from 30 to 50 right at the bottom of an uphill section.
I always keep the car set to ECT PWR as the car would be left behind whilst everyone else accelerated (two lanes) if I was in Eco mode. To keep up I would have to almost bury the throttle to kick down a gear or two if it were in normal Eco mode.

I've switched back to Eco mode now and I can keep up with everyone else comfortably.

I'm convinced now those original plugs are 92k worth of wear.

I guess I am simply restoring the car to what it should be like. Both the MAF clean and the plug change have made positive improvements.

[is200 Newbie]

On ‎01‎/‎04‎/‎2017 at 3:38 PM, chr15gb said:

The job took about 2 hours but I did take the opportunity to give the Throttle body a good clean too (and as it was my first time, I didn't rush anything).

Was that 2 hours for the complete job - from start to finish?

[chr15gb]

Yes.  Easier than taking an inlet manifold off a 530D which I have done a number of times. Having the right tools helped,  I can see why that rear manifold bolt would take a while if you only have standard right angled sockets, I did try that first but it's a non starter. 

I reckon you could get it down to just over an hour by going balls out and have experience. 

[is200 Newbie]

19 minutes ago, chr15gb said:

Yes.  Easier than taking an inlet manifold off a 530D which I have done a number of times. Having the right tools helped,  I can see why that rear manifold bolt would take a while if you only have standard right angled sockets, I did try that first but it's a non starter. 

I reckon you could get it down to just over an hour by going balls out and have experience. 

That's good going - its one of my jobs soon although I was contemplating getting them done when I book car in for the fuel seal recall..

I would rather do it myself just so I know how to do them..

[aly-g]

I had my plugs changed when my car went in for service mot a couple of weeks ago mileage 88k, I asked if the manifold had to be removed to do the fuel pressure sensor they asked why  and I mentioned that I wanted the plugs changed, they said they would change the plugs for an extra half hour labour + cost of plugs which they charged me £114.00 ! Ah well Lexus need there profits , the old plugs looked in very good condition for the miles done , the fitter said my my radiator might have leak ( didn't do a pressure test though ? ) quoted £ 980.00 !!!! To replace it...... And he didn't torque the plugs when he fitted them ? I know this 'cos I was sent a video of the work.

Allan

[J Henderson]

Was the £114 for the plugs or the 1/2 hour Labour? 😝

 

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[aly-g]

The £114.00 was for the price of the plugs + vat, the half hour labour was about £84.00 so just under £200.00 total for the plug change , if I had a garage I would have done the job myself , doing the job at the side of the road wasn't on with all the dust and other crap flying around.

Allan

[chr15gb]

Was the half hours labour simply because they already had the inlet manifold off for the pressure sensor or did the half hour include taking the manifold off?

A Full Service is £485 which does not involve removing the manifold
A 60k service including plug change is £645.

A difference of £160 to take the manifold off and change the plugs (assuming price of plugs is included).

As you say, they need to make their profits!

I did mine on the drive but I can understand the "side of the road" problem. Backwards and forwards with sheets of plastic covers and fetching tools would be a chore.

[aly-g]

Hi Chris, yes it was because the manifold had to come off to do the sensor so it made sense to do the plugs for only half hours labour. I still would have preferred to fit them myself ! At least that job is out of the way now .

Allan

[james250]

Chris, thanks for the great tips. I just watched that video in preparation for doing mine. My one concern is the fuel line, he removes it but doesnt this mean the washer needs changing? I think you mentioned our IS250's do not have the fuel line in that place is that correct? So that saves us from having to remove the fuel line? 

Also, is there any other washers that need actual changing? What about the main rings underneath the manifold? Does that not need changing? Is the washers on the throttle body? What are the water hoses that are connected to the throttle body? Is it coolant line?

[chr15gb]

Replied via PM but yes, mine did not have a fuel line into the manifold, no idea why or what the difference is.

It is good engineering practice to change seals once they have been broken open but as they are quite expensive, I took a punt and inspected them. They were in pretty much perfect condition so I left them in place.

I've had no issues since the change.