How hard would it be to do this maintenance myself?

I

imported_stormsearch

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hey fellas.



I own a 94 Honda Accord LX. It's recently topped the 90k mile mark- and I thought it would be a good idea (in addition to the timing belt/gasket/cv axle crap I already had fixed) to change out the plugs. How difficult would this be? AFAIK, the biggest obstacle is the the wrench extensions to use. Can someone with experience give some advice?
 
I haven't changed the plugs on an accord before, but in general, if the plugs are visible from the top of the block (on some cars, the engine is rotated so some plugs are hidden behind or below other items) it should be no ploblem.



buy a spark plug socket from sears. if you get the right plugs first (make sure they are pre-gapped), you can take them with you to check they fit.



get some anti-seize and spark plug boot grease and coat the threads of each plug. remove each plug seperatle so you don't mess up the firing order and repace it.



that should be it. it's pretty simple as long as the plugs are easily accessible at the top of the engine.
 
Easy DIY.



Couple of tips:

Depending on how deep the holes are for the plugs, some people have trouble getting the plugs out because they want to fall out of the socks. Use some duct tape on the inside of the socket. This way there is a little "grab" to the inside and the plug won't fall out. Or some people use a little piece of rubber hose to fit over the top to pull it out after loosening it.



Personally I would suggets to get a torque wrench so that when you put the new plugs there is no danger of stripping the threads or over tightening the plugs.
 
You should be able to change all 4 plugs on your Accord in less than 10 minutes. Just use the 5/8" spark plug socket and a 6" extension.



BTW, invest in either a Chilton's, Haynes' or Honda Shop Manual. Well worth the money.
 
not hard, very easy. one tip, u can use a small hose that u can push over the spark plug if u have trouble pulling it out. 1) do the switch on a cold engine 2) do 1 at a time 3) when u install the new plugs, use antiseize on the threads 4) start by threading the spark plugs by hand to insure u do not cross-thread 5)finish off wit a torque wrench and torque to spec 6)always check the gap, dont trust the factory(should said this earlier):D
 
This will sound like bad advice to us "old timers" but on modern engines and most importantly for a beginner the following advice is appropriate, I didn't write it just pulled it from a Honda Board I used to frequent, so please don't flame me, I always used the stuff, back when plug changes were done regulalry



Do not use any type of anti-seize compound on spark plug threads. Doing this will decrease the amount of friction between the threads. The result of the lowered friction is that when the spark plug is torqued to the proper specification, the spark plug is turned too far into the cylinder head. This increases the likelihood of pulling or stripping the threads in the cylinder head. Over-tightening of a spark plug can cause stretching of the spark plug shell and could allow blowby to pass through the gasket seal between the shell and insulator. Over-tightening also results in extremely difficult removal.

These days I do not use anti-seize.



If your not using a torque wrench dont use any lube, you dont know your own strenth, you will overtorque very easily



This is also something I found on a GM (AC Delco) website
 
good point:xyxthumbs but....i always use anti-sieze on the spark plugs wit no problems. as for the not using any lubricant when torqueing, i find that hard to believe cuz u should use high temperature grease on caliper bolts for brakes. and 1 time, had to use sealer for threads that hit the water jacket when installing heads in a car. i know ur not flaming, and u might be right and honestly - well researched point of views are always welcomed in my garage:up
 
Gee, if you already did the timing belt, and CV joints you should be able to do the plugs I imagine. ;) I think plugs are probably one of the next most common things DIYers usually do behind things like oil changes....



PS: Transversely mounted V6 engines SUCK for plug changes! :angry (Hope you have a 4-cyl)



EDIT: Don't forget to examine the plugs' condition against the chart with pictures you'll see in all Haynes/Chiltons manuals to see if anything wonky is going on with your engine. Remember that spark plugs are the only part of your combustion chamber that you can actually remove! :cool:
 
just goto your local barnes and nobel and pick up a haynes book on your year make and model of car...its the best advise i can give you. I did that for my jeep and it was a piece of cake and i saved like $300! most things on a car can be done at home, at least the usual maintenance on a car. Look at it this way, give a honda dealer a call and get an estimate on a tune up and then goto a local car supply store and see how much the parts cost...the difference in cost is all labor that you oculd easily do at home
 
4DSC said:
Gee, if you already did the timing belt, and CV joints you should be able to do the plugs I imagine. ;) I think plugs are probably one of the next most common things DIYers usually do behind things like oil changes....



PS: Transversely mounted V6 engines SUCK for plug changes! :angry (Hope you have a 4-cyl)



EDIT: Don't forget to examine the plugs' condition against the chart with pictures you'll see in all Haynes/Chiltons manuals to see if anything wonky is going on with your engine. Remember that spark plugs are the only part of your combustion chamber that you can actually remove! :cool:
Click to expand...



You think that's bad? Try midengined where you have to spend your first 20 minutes pulling IC piping so you can even get to the plugs - and I get to change plugs every 3k miles :p



Ah, the joys of a MR2
 
As far as the plugs falling out of the sockets when you are trying to pull them up, us sockets that have foam inside them on the top. I just got to go thru this the other day on the Civic-I assume we have similar engines. I don't know what these sockets are called, but they worked like a gem. 1 plug fell off, but the 2nd time was a charm.



Also, while your at it, do your wires too! I changed the plugs and not the wires...it improved the performance some, but a week later I did the wires and it was like a brand new engine! just flipped 110k yesturday!
 
Ah yes, those tools - they're simply called spark plug sockets. They're really deep and have a rubber gripper inside them so they can hang onto the porcelain insulator. Get a good one though or try it out maybe, because I have one that grips so hard that it pulls the drive end of the rachet out rather than letting freaking go of the plug. :p





SickOfItAll - Heheh, yeah I've never done it on midengined cars but I hear ya!
 
4DSC said:
Ah yes, those tools - they're simply called spark plug sockets. They're really deep and have a rubber gripper inside them so they can hang onto the porcelain insulator. Get a good one though or try it out maybe, because I have one that grips so hard that it pulls the drive end of the rachet out rather than letting freaking go of the plug. :p





SickOfItAll - Heheh, yeah I've never done it on midengined cars but I hear ya!
Click to expand...



Thats what my plug sockets look like!



The little rubber donuts work a treat.



As for the grease/no grease on the plugs - I have a little advice:



Whoever said dont grease them forgot one important thing .....



By NOT greasing the threads it will actually mean the torque figure will be reached earlier, possibly allowing the plugs to be under tightened.

They would work loose and make a mess of the threads as each compression stroke rattled them about in their threads.

I myself WOULD put a little oil or grease on to make sure the threads remained corrosion-free and seated correctly.



Anyone whose had an alloy heads plug threads to replace will know better to slightly over-tighten than under-tighten and leave dry threads.

They have a little collapsible washer on them and you can actually feel when your starting to over-tighten.





I've changed ALOT of plugs in my time LOL.
 
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