Hey guys,
On my wife's 06 Sienna minivan I want to replace the plugs. I bought new plugs the other day, and just popped the hood to look at the job. After getting the stupid plastic cover off of the engine I can see the three front coil packs really well as they are right in front of me. However the three in the rear look like a total nightmare. I can see two of t hem sort of, but the middle one is not visible, and even the two can sort of see don't look like they will be easy to access. Does this job require removal of the intake manifold like it appears? If so how much of a nightmare is that? Do I have to drain the cooling system to remove the manifold? Any gotchas for this job? By the way the van has 98k miles and the service manual only calls for plug replacement at 120k, but I really want to do it soon.
Any help would be appreciated.
Chris
Reading the service manual will be best. Some of those cramped V6 bays you can unhook the torque mounts and rock the engine forward. Others you remove the cowl. Some you just have to do blind or pull the upper plenum off.
Pull the manifold, no gaskets are required and the only coolant that can leak is a couple hoses going to the throttle body that can be pinched off. There's three hidden bolts on the backside that are fun to get to on a Camry, I haven't tried a sienna yet. Book time on plugs is 2.4 hours, iirc.
zipty842 wrote:
Pull the manifold, no gaskets are required and the only coolant that can leak is a couple hoses going to the throttle body that can be pinched off. There's three hidden bolts on the backside that are fun to get to on a Camry, I haven't tried a sienna yet. Book time on plugs is 2.4 hours, iirc.
It's REAL fun on the Sienna.
2.4 maybe if it's your fifth one...
Maybe best to have someone else do it?
At your mileage, its time to consider replacing the timing belt.
I did plugs and a timing belt on a 2002 Sienna. I also pulled the cam covers and cleaned all the sludge out of the top end of the engine.
It ain't easy, but it isn't imposable. I pulled the upper intake manifold and cowling off to gain access.
sergio
Reader
8/4/13 12:59 a.m.
It's not that bad. Take pictures of every vacuum hose and solenoid mounted to the intake and throttle body just in case you fubar it.
Not sure if yours has an EGR valve but it's piping needs to come off the intake. There are a couple of brackets on the back that bolt to the side of the heads and manifold. I think theres a power steering hose attached to one of the brackets too.
fujioko wrote:
At your mileage, its time to consider replacing the timing belt.
I did plugs and a timing belt on a 2002 Sienna. I also pulled the cam covers and cleaned all the sludge out of the top end of the engine.
It ain't easy, but it isn't imposable. I pulled the upper intake manifold and cowling off to gain access.
We did the timing belt last year at around 85k miles along with the water pump.
Why do manufacturers make a car that needs to have the intake removed in order to be able to change the sparkplugs? Its stupid.
Cars aren't built to be worked on, only replaced.
It really bothers me that this thing requires the intake to be removed for a relatively simple part replacement. I can do the plugs in my RX-7 in about ten minutes if I really drag my feet.
Slippery wrote:
Why do manufacturers make a car that needs to have the intake removed in order to be able to change the sparkplugs? Its stupid.
Put in 60K-90K mile platinum plugs and you can get the plugs done at the same time as the timing belt.
If you want to fit a transverse V6 under a low hoodline, but still have a decent plenum for the intake manifold, you pretty much have to slope it backwards over the rear cam cover.
It certainly isn't a low hoodline.
Dealer says it pays 3.3 hrs at $95 an hour. I guess I am going to learn how to do this job.
Slippery wrote:
Why do manufacturers make a car that needs to have the intake removed in order to be able to change the sparkplugs? Its stupid.
People think they want DOHC engines which put the spark plugs in the middle and they think they want engines that have decent power in usable parts of the rev range so the intake runners are long and they also want to cram it all into a small engine bay to maximize interior space so the bank angle is narrow and the manifold has to loop over and around everything.
Popping the upper intake off is child's play compared to a lot of things. Hell, there's a RAV4 that requires you to drop the engine a foot or so in order to get spark plugs out.
Mazdax605 wrote:
It really bothers me that this thing requires the intake to be removed for a relatively simple part replacement. I can do the plugs in my RX-7 in about ten minutes if I really drag my feet.
Spark plugs aren't regular maintenance items anymore, any more than 15,000 mile valve job intervals are.
Are we also going to be concerned about how we can't adjust the lash in the valvetrain anymore, or how the cheap-skates don't put shims in the connecting rods anymore so when the tolerances get loose you have to replace the whole bearing?
