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Good ways of tackling rear spark plugs?

Pontiac Racer

Pontiac Racer

New member
car has 121xx miles and has never had a tune up which means original plugs. want to change them. rear plugs are a challenge though. any suggestions on how to "make it easier" cause it'll be hard no matter what. would going in from the bottom of the car work? help
 


Or unbolt drivers dogbone.. remove.
Unbolt passenger dogbone at motor, reposition into additional hole to hold engine forward.

Then man up.. reach down and do the work.
 
My first (and only) four wheel vehicle plug change was on my grand prix. It was some work but nothing to complain about; likely just a lot more challenging than other cars.

I folded up a couple towels and set them on the dogbones and just kneeled on top of the engine while working. I didn't move the engine and got it done just fine.

I would recommend removing the plug wires then blasting each plug with air to remove built up crud and prevent it from falling into the engine. It probably wouldn't hurt to break them loose and blast them again with air.
 
The first time I did rear plugs, I ratcheted the engine forward and all of that business... it's not a bad method of doing the OEM plugs if you only do them about every 100K.

Eventually, I just learned to do it by feel. It's tight back there, but not impossible. I find it easiest to (carefully) climb up on the engine bay and reach down behind the engine. You might just want to try that before going to the trouble of removing the dogbones and what not, maybe it won't be too bad.
 


It's not that bad. Do it with a cool engine though and hand start all 3 back there.


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ive taken out and re installed my plugs like 5 times in a week. not a big deal.

for old baked on wires, i like to wear leather work gloves, grab the wire end on the plug, twist it back and fourth, then rip it off. your hand will fly into something, whey the gloves are nice.

make sure your installing new plug wires too. (30 dollar parts store brand is fine) the old ones are old and dead and do come apart when ripping them off.

rocking the engine forward is a big help. i stand at the pass side fender and reach to the back to remove them all.
 
Should also mention just for kicks (Scotty can back me up on this) that SD headers make spark plug changes super duper easy.
 


GTP131 said:
Should also mention just for kicks (Scotty can back me up on this) that SD headers make spark plug changes super duper easy.
Click to expand...

id say its not so much the headers, but the fact all the brackets are gone now. lets you see right back down there. and i got enough room now even with my huge hands so i dont have to rock the engine at all now.
 
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