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Replacing spark plugs on pontiac 97, its easy! don't take it to the shop!

Haulero

Haulero

New member
Hi guys, I've replaced spark plugs on my car and I can't believe how easy it is! the first time I got them changed, I took it to the shop cause I thought it would be really hard to remove the spark plugs on the back. So this time, I called a few shops and one of them was charging 90 dollars to do the job! Well, I started with the back ones and I can't believe it, its really easy! you have room for your spark plug socket, extension and the ratchet! I didn't even have to remove the engine mounts to move the engine forward a little bit to make more room (looking for info on the web, some people suggested to do that) Give it a try, I know some people would be looking for info on how to do it, and may be affraid to do the job, but I just can say: try, you'll be surprise is not hard!

Shops charge way too much, and that is not good for them (but I guess they don't think so) cause that make us to do the job. If they didn't charge too much, we would take it to the shop instead of trying to do it on our own. Some of us have no time or knowledge to do it, but they push us to work on our cars by charging too much
 


Good on you for doing it yourself :th_thumbsup-wink: I know some people complain about the rear plugs but they're really not that bad as you have seen. All you have to do is be sure not to let #6 plug wire rest on the O2 sensor and you're good to go. The front plugs/wires are cake. If I can fit my big hands back there to do them without rocking the engine forward then I know others can too.

As long as you do them one at a time you can't mess up the firing order either (been known to happen, lol...)
 
It is even easier to get to the rear spark plugs when you take off the rear engine lifting brackets that like to so much get in the way. Gives much more room to move around.
 
The guy from the shop told me it is a 2 hours labor and will cost 90 dollars..... it didn't even take me 2 hours and I have no experience lol. I tell you, is hard to trust shops now a days, they always want you to spend more than what you really have to
 
next time it will take less then a hour. as you found out, its just nuts and bolts, nothing to get scared of most of the time.

theres a how to on the web somewhere for just about every repair job for every car out there. read the how to, then go attack the repair job.

shops need to make a living, and keep their doors open i get it, but im not funding them. the only real shop my car has seen is for front end alignments, i just cant do that myself yet lol
 
Now I need to work on replace o2 sensors, I need to find out how many and where. check engine light says o2 is bad
 


bank one if the one that was in your way doing the spark plugs, you know what im talking about. :th_winking:

bank 2 is after the cat in the pipe.
 
Scottydoggs said:
correct, up stream, and down stream o2 sensors.
Click to expand...

Cause this is the code I got: P0141 "heater condition (heated oxygen sensor bank 1 sensor 2) The powertrain control module monitors the oxygen sensor heater. The computer has recognized a failure in this circuit"

Got cylinder missfire but I already fixed that :) got code P1406 EGR Valve, I cleaned it
 
I had the same code a few weeks ago. I cleared it, and it never came back. Really you could just leave it and you won't see any negatives besides having a check engine light on. It's just there for emissions, and the heater circuit is there to make the sensor work before the exhaust has the chance to heat it up. If the code came back, I'd replace it just because I don't want a SES light.
 


02NavyBlue said:
I had the same code a few weeks ago. I cleared it, and it never came back. Really you could just leave it and you won't see any negatives besides having a check engine light on. It's just there for emissions, and the heater circuit is there to make the sensor work before the exhaust has the chance to heat it up. If the code came back, I'd replace it just because I don't want a SES light.
Click to expand...

Yep I think I don't need to worry too much about that, because my car runs a whole lot better after I replaced the sparkplugs and wires, so, sparkplugs was the main problem
 
I tried to do plugs on NA 2001 GT and was doing well, until I got to the hardest to reach one. I could not get the boot off the plug. Apparently there is a tool that you slip around the bottom and somehow yank it upwards (can't see them just pulling the wire until it released). Anyways I was getting other work done at my mechanic and they didn't charge me just for that.

I also did the front o2 sensor and you need a special socket with a slot on the side, so you can slide the wire attached, out of the way (there is no way to get a spanner in there that I could see). I got it at Canadian Tire and you need the longer one for the front sensor (not sure about the back as my mechanic put it in when I was getting the plug wire other work done- I had it sitting on the front seat and he just put it in for me-sweet).

I'm no mechanic, just giving my 2 cents worth.
 
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