"Pistol Whipped Cream" (heynickhere)
02/19/2018 at 10:13 • Filed to: DIY, Camry, Tools
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"Pistol Whipped Cream" (heynickhere)
02/19/2018 at 10:13 • Filed to: DIY, Camry, Tools | 2
| 10 |
First I want to premise that this post is for the me of 4 years ago. 4 years ago I wasn’t in my mind very mechanically inclined. Up until that point I had only ever changed my own oil. Not that I am much of a mechanic now; but I am 100x more confident now than I was then. I owe most of that confidence to this blog. Big up OPPO!
an essay in photos...(some of which I couldn’t get oriented right because kinja)
First off, time to gather the necessary parts and pieces for the job.
Plugs
Anti-Seize
Torque Wrench
10mm Socket
Spark Plug socket and extender
Vacuum
It also wouldn’t be a bad idea to unhook your battery before messing with anything electrical. Just in case. I won’t know if you don’t though...
Remove Engine Cover
I tried so hard not to break the ignition coil clips. i was 2/4. I guess 7 years in the AZ sun+engine heat is a bad combination for such small clips.
Ignition Coils un-clipped and the bolts removed with a 10mm socket.
Ignition Coils all removed
Time to vacuum up to make sure no loose dirt falls into the engine after the spark plugs get pulled.
Out with the old plugs!
I try to stay organized
New VS Old
Setting the torque
applying some anti-seize to the new plugs
i always start the plugs by hand to ensure I don’t cross thread anything. That would be BAD.
Then I bring out the torque wrench.
Ignition coils back in
I add a little threadlocker on the bolts before putting them back in.
Torque the bolts to the proper spec. Here it was 7ft-lbs
Engine cover back on. I cleaned it up a bit before I reinstalled it.
After getting everything put back together it’s time to fire her up! No check engine light is a win in my book! The Camry should be good for another 100K trouble free miles!
arl
> Pistol Whipped Cream
02/19/2018 at 10:56 |
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Nice work!
facw
> Pistol Whipped Cream
02/19/2018 at 11:00 |
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Out of curiosity, why even disconnect the wires from the coils? Seems like you could just pull the coils with the wires still attached and move them out of the way?
Also, I’m the opposite, I’ve done spark plugs before (without incident), but I let the shop do my most recent change because I’ve looked at Just Rolled Into The Shop too much, and am now terrified I’m going to break one.
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Pistol Whipped Cream
> facw
02/19/2018 at 11:03 |
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Well, what sucks is I could have just pulled 3/4 of them out without disconnecting. Hindsight is 20/20. The good news is that this seems to be a universal problem and people tend not to replace the clips. If one fails in the future I will just replace the plug. It takes a special crimp tool that I don’t currently have though.
merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
> Pistol Whipped Cream
02/19/2018 at 11:20 |
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Nicely done. Yous guys and your 4-cylinders crack me up. Those are great engines to get your proverbial feet wet in auto maintenance. The steps are all similar for bigger engines, you just need to remove more crap to get to the plugs to do those steps. Good on you for giving it a go, and not skimping on the torque wrench portion. It gets easier as you do more to not have to be so precise with all the fastners, but it’s always good practice to use the torque wrench if possible. I’ve gotten crap before for looking up odd bolts torque values. But I’ve said it to others, there is a torque value for every bolt, so might as well use it. Either that or you can use the ratchet handle method... for a 80-100ftlbs, you’d go with a 1/2 ratchet at full handle length, then if you want 50-70 ftlbs, you size down to a 3/8 ratchet at full handle length. Now if you want something in the 10-40ftlb range, you can go with a 3/8 at half or less handle length to get you there. And for the 10ftlb and under your right choked up on the ratchet head. ;)
Funny story, my dad used to work third shift at champion spark plug many many years ago on a screw machine. He would crank on all the fastners with enough force that the guys who followed him got so pissed off that they cut all his wrenches in half. They told him, that’s all the more wrench you need to tighten stuff down. To this day, I rarely use a full handle on any wrench for tightening any fastner. If I need more than half handle, I’m grabbing the torque wrench to set the torque properly.
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merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
> Pistol Whipped Cream
02/19/2018 at 11:22 |
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Oh yeah, and why the loctite on the coil pack bolts? Did they come out with some Loctite on them? Cause I’m normally putting anti seize on those bolts if they are run into an insert in the plastic valve cover, or into aluminum. I normally don’t want any trouble with removal in the future.
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Pistol Whipped Cream
> merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
02/19/2018 at 11:39 |
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That is a funny story. This was actually my second time doing plugs. This was my wife’s car. Not that I drive anything more exciting (V6 accord). The plugs took double the time on that guy.
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Pistol Whipped Cream
> merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
02/19/2018 at 11:40 |
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Just out of habit I suppose.
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merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
> Pistol Whipped Cream
02/19/2018 at 11:48 |
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Transverse v6 engines can suck it IMO. That back bank is always a bear to get to.
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merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
> Pistol Whipped Cream
02/19/2018 at 11:54 |
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Sometimes you can just purchase an empty connector, or go to the salvage yard and cut one off a similar vehicle. Then you can repin the connector. I’ve still got to do that with my S8 after doing the decarboning of the intake valves. The first two connectors to be removed were on the Throttle bodies and I broke both. Some creative zip ties got me down the road until I could source replacement plugs. But now I have them and need to do the repin. Not too tough. I’ve done a couple other simpler connections already. After those two breakages, I was super careful with the rest. Still managed to break another, but was able to source one from the local u-pick lot and repinned it the next day. Easy-peasey.
But don’t count out the salvage yard for those connectors. You could also grab one with enough wire to do a wire splice if you don’t want to bother with the repin.
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merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
> Pistol Whipped Cream
02/19/2018 at 11:56 |
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Gotcha. Wondered if the old bolts had threadlock on them when you pulled them out.