To change the plugs or not to change the plugs?

[nikonNUT]

Good morning all! So I'm sitting at the dealership getting and airbag teplaced and I'm pondering my spark plugs. I have a 2010 hatchback with 205k. I bought it as certified pre-owned with 75k. And one point I got some misinformation that the plugs were a lifetime kinda deal (what is lifetime?). So, if they were changed at 75k before I bought it I'm at 130k which doesn't scare me but if I'm at 205k that makes me nervous. The car runs fine (still gets 34 MPG) but it crossed my mind. If I choose to change them it I'll let the dealer do it. Better they break something IMHO but what are yalls thoughts? Thank for the input and sage advice.

[tmontague]

I doubt they were replaced before. I would have new ones out in. Iridium's last a long time but not forever

[nikonNUT]

I doubt they were replaced before. I would have new ones out in. Iridium's last a long time but not forever

Thank you! I'm tempted to try it myself but I'm still nervous. Any tips or let the dealer do it as planned?

[tmontague]

No tips really, I just always apply a small amount of anti seize on the threads when installing them, but people will be on either side of that fence.

If you are nervous about the spark plugs then you are probably better to let the dealer do it as planned. It's all straight forward as long as they don't strip which is not common on the 1nz motor

[Secretblend]

Only thing I make sure to do when changing plugs is to change them when engine is cold.

Do you do same or do you not care of temperature of engine when changing plugs?

[tmontague]

I never sorry about temp, but like I said, I anti seize my plugs.

A warm engine block expands and technically make them easier to remove

[bronsin]

I’m thinking if you let the dealer do it and the threads come out with the plugs it’s still going to be on you to pay for the repairs. You might want to bring that up with the dealer before they do the work. If it was mine I would leave well enough alone.

If you really don’t know if the plugs were done I have to think the dealer you bought it from has that information if they were change or not.

In an ideal world you get the plugs out at 25k And antiseize them and put them back. Then if you want you can leave them in as long as you like knowing you can get them out
Should that become necessary.

[nikonNUT]

I gave it a whirl and they came out easy peasy! Now I'm good for a while! :)

[bronsin]

Excellent! :headbang:

[06YarisRS]

I gave it a whirl and they came out easy peasy! Now I'm good for a while! :)

Good job! I did both my 06 and 08 and they came out fairly easily. We also replaced them on two Yaris sedans in our school shop. I did use a smidgen of Permatex antiseize when installing the new ones, like the others suggested.

[BennyLava]

Changed mine at 180k miles. They didn't really seem all that bad. :iono:

[bronsin]

Change the plugs in my wife’s Camry at 140,000 miles even though they were working perfectly. With the engine cold they were stuck but after warming up the engine they came out easily.

[07liftback]

In case you haven't changed them yet and planning to do it yourself, I'd recommend you purchase the Denso Iridium plugs from an authorized reseller. There have been waves of counterfeit Denso/NGK/OEM Toyota/OEM Lexus plugs all over ebay. I didn't realize this was such a big issue until 2015 or 2016 when a bunch of online forum threads popped up talking about fake plugs. The funny thing is you'll only save 20% or so but you'll have an inferior product which won't last as long and will probably get worst mpg.