jumpinjoe

Dealer wants $250 to change my spark plugs. Sound about right?
How tough is it and can I do it myself? I did my ball joints, tie rod, drag link and shocks. Are plugs more difficult to do or about the same?

Thanks in advance.

karls10jk

Absolutely a job you can do for yourself. Plugs were cheapest on rock auto the couple of times I've purchased them for the jeep. Google for a write up but pulling the passenger side flare is easy and makes the job much quicker.

brankz

NGK double platinum or densos get antizose. you can do the job in under 30 minutes, After you finish you will feel indestructible lol



Edit plugs cost around 5 bucks each at Oreilys auto parts

Mark Doiron

I found it not any tougher than the ball joints, Joe, but you don't give us much help here with what you're actually working on. THIS is what I had to pull in order to do mine because I have dual batteries and snorkel so the fender access didn't work.



Couple thoughts on plugs: Don't waste money on fancy ones, just get OEM. They are good for 100K miles. Believe it--if you're not there don't replace unless you suspect they are causing some problem. Some folks think because the gap widens that is bad. Not really--the engineers are smart folks and take that into account when they specify the initial gap setting. That's why, unlike when I was a kid and we pulled plugs to clean and regap, we don't have to do that anymore. Have a tube of copper antiseize handy and use it on the plug threads. Have a tube of dialectric grease handy and use it (check out a video on YouTube of how to properly apply if you've never done so before).

Replacing the plug wires is most easily done (on a 3.8 anyway) by taking a photo of both sides first (just in case you wish you had later), then pulling the entire set of wires out, laying it on a work bench, taking another photo, then routing each wire one at a time. And OEM plug wires are plenty suitable, and labeled enough that you shouldn't have any trouble getting everything hooked back up properly and the wires properly routed (don't change the exact routing lest you possibly cause spark-over between cylinders!). Once you have the harness rebuilt, feed a coathanger behind the block, hook it to the harness, then use that to pull the plug wire harness behind the block. Reconnect and you're ready to go!

jumpinjoe

Thanks for all the replies. My Jeep is a 2008 JK Unlimited Sahara with 130k miles.

Aragorn

I still need to change my plugs soon too.

If I get plugs from the dealer, do I need to gap these or are they already gapped? Should I double check the gap if they are already pregapped? And our gap is 0.05, correct?

karls10jk

You should always double check your plug gaps. I'd bet the price at the dealer will be much higher than a parts store which will be higher than rock auto. If you can wait 3-5 days then consider rock auto.

Anti-sieze and dielectric grease should go without saying.

webejeepin

Prior to plug removal I've always used a small wire brush or tooth brush to loosen and remove bits around the plug.
Then hit it with air, bit of brake clean and air again.
Finally soak them with PB blaster to ensure ease of removal.

jumpinjoe

Stopped by Napa on my way home from work Friday and $67 later I had 6 new Champion Plugs (OEM) and new Napa spark plug wires - and tackled the project this morning.

Wasn't sure if I should remove the wheel well lining (or complete fender) on passenger side so i figured I'd go one plug at a time and if I ran into trouble I'd start removing stuff. The good news is I din't have to remove the lining or fender to get to the plugs on the passenger side.

Getting the plugs out and re-routing the wires one at a time was easy. Getting the plugs back in on the passenger side was somewhat of a learning experience. Make sure you look closely at the angle the old plug is pointing at before you remove it. This will help tremendously when you are trying to get the new plug into the hole and doing it somewhat blindly. Same angle = plug goes in easier.

I have big hands and was worried about getting to the final plug but it was not that difficult. Just put the hook up until it rests on the windshield and you'll have plenty of room once you push some of the hoses and wires to the side and out of the way. Be sure to double check everything when you put it back together to make sure you didn't accidentally dislodge one of the hoses while moving stuff.

I used di-electric grease on new wires at both ends and a very light coat of anti-sieze on the new plugs but it probably was not necessary. The old ones came out easy but did show signs of rust around the threads.

Another tip - when removing the old plug wires twist the boot clockwise or counterclockwise before removing. If you try to pull it straight off it may break. None of mine broke and I had the new set waiting anyway.

So I took it out for a cruise and it seems like my acceleration is improved but that may just be in my head. It seems like before I had good acceleration out of the gate but when try to go faster I would press the pedal and nothing would happen for a few seconds until it was really down to the floor. Now it seems like there is consistent acceleration all the way through. I need to test this theory when getting onto the highway to see if true.

The slight ticking is gone when the engine is at idle - not sure if this was related to the old plugs/wires.

Total time was 45 minutes for the project and it was one of the easiest things I've done to the Jeep. Just need to take your time with the passenger side plugs/wires.

Thanks again for all the replies!!! Glad I did not have the dealer do this

jumpinjoe

Oh and I checked gaps on the new plugs and they were all pre-set to .050