Thread: Rear Spark Plugs '07, Noobie needs help!

Hey guys, noobie here looking for advice on changing spark plugs. From everything I can find online it's as easy as plug and play (but not if you mess it up). I'm sick and tired of dropping thousands at mechanics, none of whom I trust in my area, with all the issues I've had with my car and when the guy at PepBoys told me it would be $650 to change out my plugs and wires when the cost of parts is like $85 I almost crapped my pants.

So long story short, if it can be done without something you'd find at a garage I'm planning on doing it myself from now on. The issue? Not a single living person in my entire family is car savvy, including myself. In fact I don't really know much at all including technical jargon.

I'm sure all of you are familiar with the placement of the rear plugs in a 2007 GP 3800. I'm hoping that someone can help me with a comprehensive strategy to changing them. Hell, I can't even see the damn things, but I absolutely refuse to pay someone almost $600 in labor to do it. I'm a broke college student who can barely afford rent and the gas it takes to get to school and back, never mind extraneous repairs.

The front ones don't look very difficult, I think I can handle that. My car is at 117k mi. and to my knowledge the plugs and wires have never been changed (bought it at 45k). According to every mechanic I've spoken to I should have done this at 100k. Is this something I should even bother with? Should I change only the plugs but not the wires? Only the wires but not the plugs? I really need some help here because I desperately need this car to last me another 3 years and with all the trouble it has caused me since I've owned it I doubt it'll last even one more year.

So again, if there's someone out there who is really familiar with spark plugs and wires and how to change them, and especially how to explain it to someone who doesn't really know much about cars, I can't even explain how grateful I would be.

Haha, I just dealt with this last week.

First thing you do, Google "Murphy's Law". If you rush this, that will happen.

The help I needed and got was for the worst case scenario, (broke 2/3 rears) but I got it.

http://www.grandprixforums.net/showt...ar+spark+plugs

REPLACE ONE PLUGGED AND WIRE AT A TIME SO THERE IS 0 CHANCE OF MIXING UP YOUR COILS.

Tip your engine forward, move the water reservoir, remove the alternator support bar, and the stud on the alternator.

Spray the area down (blindly, lol) with brake cleaner so you can get a good grip with the socket. Follow up the cleaning with a light shot of PB Blaster to each plug.

Use a designated spark plug socket.

Use a breaker bar, get at a good angle, and apply SLOW, but constant force. Once their bite into the head releases, they come out easily.

Switch your socket to any ratchet, or you may just be able to do it by hand at this point.

One plug at a time. Apply dialectic grease to the end of each wire boot, and a VERY light coat of antiseize to the threads of each spark plug.

Hand tighten, then Torque, or just ratchet them in until snug, and then some. Don't overdo it.

Thanks Thompsju for the insight. I did some researching and I came across the notion of tipping the engine forward but I have no idea how to do it. In fact, I don't even know what exactly it is that holds the engine inside the vehicle, like I said I'm an idiot when it comes to cars but I'm a broke idiot and going to a mechanic isn't an option anymore. So I'd rather not go unscrewing things that maybe look like it's the right thing and then before I know it my car falls apart haha

If there's any way you could dumb it all down, like REALLY dumb it down that would be excellent. Pictures would be a big help too so that I know exactly what you're talking about. I tried talking to everyone that works at my local Advance Auto and they pretty much laughed me out of the store, which is why I came here.

Bill, that makes me feel hopeful that I'll eventually be able to get this done. If, when you have the time, you could explain it in detail, I would absolutely love to read it. All the help I can get, ya know? Also, is this going to take more than one set of hands? Tipping things and removing things and whatnot it seems wicked in depth, more so than I was originally told by a friend who thinks he knows what's what about cars (but whose opinion and advice I don't necessarily trust on my own vehicle).

Thanks again guys.

I'm fairly certain that it's something that needs to be done. The manufacturer suggestion is 100k and I'm sitting at 117k. I've been told this could be why my car bogs down when I accelerate.

Unless someone else has experienced this before and knows for a fact that it's something else causing the problem? When I accelerate my car will sort of bog down and accelerate wicked slowly and the rpm gauge doesn't go up at all, sometimes dropping all the way down and just staying there. When I step off the gas and back down again it'll accelerate normally (though sometimes it takes 2 tries). It'll happen more frequently when going uphill and even more frequently when I've been driving for an extended period of time (~an hour or more).

It's hard for me to explain and when I took it to Pep Boys they essentially told me they had no idea what it was so I paid them $110 for absolutely nothing.

Either way I feel as though it's something that should be done, right? But if someone else has experienced this issue before I would LOVE to know what it is and how to fix it, or if it's even worth fixing. I would love to keep my car for a while but if it's anything like what I paid for a new power steering rack (I hear that's a common issues with GP's anyways) then it'll have to be a loss.

Any advice on how to do that and what I would need to make it happen? I've also heard fuel injector issues, but I honestly don't know and everyone I've paid to diagnose it has said something different.

Thanks dsmuts, I'll google something to find out exactly where it is so I don't go screwing with the wrong thing lol hopefully that fixes it.

tms- Yeah I watched that video like 9,001 times at least but he never actually shows how exactly he gets to the rear ones just kind of tells you a little bit about it since his engine was apparently wicked hot at the time he made the video. Unfortunately it was the most comprehensive video I could find on youtube or any other site. Watching his video I figured I would at least be able to open my hood and locate all of the rear ones but that wasn't the case. The general idea is that the engine should be tipped forward, I've found that idea on just about every site I've visited but he made no mention of it. Any idea how he did it without doing that?

To be completely honest I know that 117 isn't a ton of miles but I've had such serious issues with it in the past that when it bogs down like it does when I accelerate I just have the feeling of its impending doom.

Easiest way to find the plugs in the rear is just to use your hands and follow the wires. As has been said before, do them one at a time.

That, or they're always next to your manifold ports, never above.

Unemployed under the left bracket, another between the manifold ports, and the last is conveniently blocked by your hot o2 sensor. LOL.

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Apparently autocorrect knows I wanted to say unemployed instead of under.

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Thomsju, I sent you a couple messages - check your mailbox.

? No messages.

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Oops, I meant Kuja989. Got the original poster mixed up. Kuja989 - you have mail.