New spark plugs, yes or no?

[MartinH]

Car is booked in with Lexus Swindon for 100K miles service (after spending most of its life looked after by Lexus Edgware Road). I am told there is no record of the spark plugs having been replaced in ten years. It is not a minor item, adding £250 or so to the bill. Several posters here assert that the recommended 60K miles replacement period is too cautious, and the plugs can go on... and on.

My car is still running great and still achieving nearly 40 mpg for longer, steady trips. Shall I forgo the spark-plug replacement?

[Malc1]

18 minutes ago, MartinH said:

Shall I forgo the spark-plug replacement?

Nope  .  has the car covered 100k miles yet  ??  ... 100k miles might be about their limit for optimum travel .........   might be less expensive with an indy changing them instead of the Main Dealer tho'

decisions  decisions  decisions ............ one of the joys of owning a car eh !

Malc

[Cotswold Pete]

I would for sure replace if you think they are the originals.

From my experience it makes a subtle difference, the idle seemed smoother, the repsonsive a tad better, the fuel economy did not seem that impacted.  When I had plugs changed when they must have done at least 80K, the mechanic said that one of the plugs was looking like it was not going to last much longer as as they had been in the engine for a good few years (probably at least 7 years) they were a little less easy to oik out.

I can recall with my first car back in the early 80's taking out the plugs every 5K for a jolly good clean and checking the gap to get the most out of my Renault, it was one of those therapuetic things to do a couple of times year to make sure my low pay was eaked out a little more.

[johnatg]

It sounds as though the car has a full Lexus service history? If so they would have changed the plugs at 60K miles or six years, unless they noted in the service book that they hadn't.

(I asked for my plugs not to be changed at 6 years/40K miles - they wrote 'No plugs' in the service book)

It is ridiculous to change plugs on an age basis - they only need changing on a mileage basis at, at least 60K miles and they will usually reasonably last to 100K miles or more - see Car Care Nut on YouTube for an informed person's take on this.

But if you still aren't sure, you could get a local garage to take out one or more plugs from the right (offside in UK) bank - they are very easy to access - and have a good look at them. If they are OK don't bother changing. If they are the worse for wear, fair enough, get them all changed.

[MartinH]

Yes, car has Lexus service record since I bought it in 2011 — possibly the vendor, Toyota Rotherham, changed the plugs before it was sold to me at 50K miles and did not upload the work to the Lexus db? 

[Barry14UK]

Are you sure you will still get Lexus 'Relax' warranty if Plugs not changed at specified time/mileage?  Lexus Cheltenham told me I couldn't pick and choose items to leave out.  Consequently, due to age, my plugs were changed at just over 40k miles, much too early! 

[johnatg]

That would be an important consideration but I don't think you get relax warranty beyond 10 years - Martin's car is 16 years old.

[Spock66]

23 minutes ago, MartinH said:

Yes, car has Lexus service record since I bought it in 2011 — possibly the vendor, Toyota Rotherham, changed the plugs before it was sold to me at 50K miles and did not upload the work to the Lexus db? 

So Lexus should have changed them at 6-years / 60k as part of the service, the online records are poor in my experience.

For example I have had tracking and aircon services done which are shown on the invoice but not the online service records.

[MartinH]

Yup, it does not qualify for Relax. Probably the most most important question to ask is: how much longer do I keep this car? New plugs will have a service life of at least 5 years (say 50K miles), but there are likely to be other, possibly weightier, failures in that timeframe.

[Malc1]

9 minutes ago, MartinH said:

Yup, it does not qualify for Relax. Probably the most most important question to ask is: how much longer do I keep this car? New plugs will have a service life of at least 5 years (say 50K miles), but there are likely to be other, possibly weightier, failures in that timeframe.

Why more failures ?  Have you had any already then ?   Spark plug change isn’t a failure it’s a necessity of proper maintenance !

Did u advise us the current mileage ?

Malc 

[johnatg]

1 hour ago, MartinH said:

Yes, car has Lexus service record since I bought it in 2011 — possibly the vendor, Toyota Rotherham, changed the plugs before it was sold to me at 50K miles and did not upload the work to the Lexus db? 

It is very unlikely that the plugs were changed at 50k/ 4years.

But what happened in 2013 - 6 year service or 2019 - 12 year?

The Lexus db won't show plug change as a separate item.

[cdmaskell]

My biggest concern after a possible 100k, would be making sure you could get them out easily.

[MartinH]

4 hours ago, Malc1 said:

Did u advise us the current mileage ?

 

Closing on 100K — modest for 2007 car. Note that it is not I who will face the task of removing them, if removed they are to be. I have not diddled around with sparkplugs since I owned a Morris Minor, and someone (who?) inducted me into the use of the gap gauge. Scouring the electrodes and setting the gap correctly quite perked up the performance, I recall, but that is far away and long &c...

[MartinH]

1 minute ago, MartinH said:

Best to let Fish Bros advise, I think

 

[Spock66]

1 hour ago, MartinH said:

I have not diddled around with sparkplugs since I owned a Morris Minor

Yes a 5-minute job, unless you forgot which leads went where....

[ColinBarber]

18 hours ago, Barry14UK said:

Are you sure you will still get Lexus 'Relax' warranty if Plugs not changed at specified time/mileage?  Lexus Cheltenham told me I couldn't pick and choose items to leave out.  Consequently, due to age, my plugs were changed at just over 40k miles, much too early! 

There is no time schedule on plugs only mileage, as per the vehicle's service schedule. Relax requires you to service according to the schedule so you are perfectly fine not to change them before 60k miles. Owners here have confirmed this with Lexus HQ in the past because dealers keep stating these lies.

 

 

But in this particular case, if the plugs have never been changed after 16 years I'd at least remove and inspect them - if for nothing else other than to ensure they aren't seized to the engine.

[Malc1]

it seems quite possible then from reading the above that the car has now reached 100k miles and the plugs have never been changed 

I wouldn't hesitate to have them changed at the next service if I was you

Malc

[Bluemarlin]

22 hours ago, MartinH said:

Yes, car has Lexus service record since I bought it in 2011 — possibly the vendor, Toyota Rotherham, changed the plugs before it was sold to me at 50K miles and did not upload the work to the Lexus db? 

I would assume that the plugs weren't changed at 50k miles. If they have been changed it's most likely it will have been done during your ownership, at either 6 years (2013) or 12 years (2019). If you have the service invoices for these years then check them, and if not ask the dealer for a copy of those invoices.

I'd be surprised if the dealer didn't do the change at one or both of those intervals, unless you specifically asked them not to.

[Spock66]

5 hours ago, ColinBarber said:

There is no time schedule on plugs only mileage, as per the vehicle's service schedule. Relax requires you to service according to the schedule so you are perfectly fine not to change them before 60k miles. Owners here have confirmed this with Lexus HQ in the past because dealers keep stating these lies.

That may be true, but the current Lexus pricing model is for either an Intermediate or a Full service, so with a Full service you may or may not get new spark plugs depending on years / mileage, but there is no difference in price so I would see no point in declining the spark plug change.

For example my next service due is 60k miles / 6-years but I will only be at around 25k miles, so unless I downgrade from a Full to an Intermediate service (which would probably negate Relax) there would be no point in declining a Spark Plug change (unless there is some specific option not listed in the pricing).  At 8-years I will pay the same price for a Full service but won't get new plugs.

[MartinH]

Plainly the onus is on me to scrutinize all my service invoices. However since moving from London to Somerset, a great deal of past paperwork has been purged!

[johnatg]

When I last had a full service they said the plug change would be about £250 extra over the base price for a full service - and that's for 4 plugs on my GS300h.

They charge extra for plugs at 60k or 6 year intervals.

[MartinH]

That's about the price Fish Bros (Lex Swindon) quoted to supply and fit the 6 plugs needed here

[Spock66]

7 minutes ago, johnatg said:

When I last had a full service they said the plug change would be about £250 extra over the base price for a full service - and that's for 4 plugs on my GS300h.

Yes that used to be the case, but the pricing structure changed about a year or so ago with a simplified structure of either Intermediate / Full and there are no options for any additional services other than MoT and Hybrid check (which is included anyway).  Spark Plug change is explicity listed on what is covered in my next service at 6-years.

[ColinBarber]

2 hours ago, Spock66 said:

Yes that used to be the case, but the pricing structure changed about a year or so ago with a simplified structure of either Intermediate / Full and there are no options for any additional services other than MoT and Hybrid check (which is included anyway).  Spark Plug change is explicity listed on what is covered in my next service at 6-years.

That's my understanding but I see mixed reports of people still being charged for 'extras', including the OP here.

Certainly if you are getting plugs changed as part of the fixed cost then there is no point in turning it down.

[Spottedlaurel]

I had no issue omitting the spark plug change from my 6yr service, when I had only done 40k. Likewise when I got them done last year at the 8yr service they were able to add them (or say I was having a 6yr/60k service?).

Regarding extra items, they had no problem adding an air-con regas onto the intermediate service I had done back in July.