40k spark plug change evaluation

Got my T3.0 in jan 2022
Put nearly 78k miles on the odo
(Never changed plugs at 40k,
Sue me....hehehe)
I pulled one plug to take a peak....
Gap is very close to spec

What yall think?

 

Probably peak emissions epa bullshit

 

Cross-posted your post content into the ongoing plug thread we have here:
https://www.tundras.com/threads/spark-plug-change-how-difficult.119633/page-4

 

Nice the gap is consistent. Plug looks way older than two years and 78k miles but that’s boosted life.

 

So should it be changed or not?
Any benefits to still change it at 40k?

 

My local mechanic told me not to change plugs unless they start throwing codes/misfiring.

 

I wager, right or wrong, this is what the vast majority of people do for their vehicles.

 

By the way, are these OEM plugs Iridium or not.

 

I agree with this statement. My Nissan frontier went 11 years/130k and I never changed plugs.

I’m anal about oil changes, coolant changes, trans, diff fluid changes. But I never change brake fluid. Frontier 11 years original fluid. I do remove, clean and feline the sliders twice a year when I swap out winter/summer tires. Easy peasy, and takes an extra 2 minutes a corner

 

Boost IS life!

 

^ agree but with the engine failures is this something Toyota could use to deny warranty? Something to consider?

 

Almost certainly. From the warranty and maintenance manual:



I agree 100% that changing Iridium plugs at 40k would be like changing synthetic oil at 3000 miles. It’s throwing good money away. But do you risk getting into a pissing match with Toyota with a warranty claim?

 

OEM plugs are Denso Iridium per the manual.

 

i,don’t care about the emissions warranty. I’m more concerned about the engine warranty.

 

I would disagree with this. Vehemently. This was one of my plugs after 60k miles; I suspect it to be a counterfeit plug (thanks Scamazon...) and it was on my 5.7l. But it was not throwing codes and I didn't have any misfires that could be detected. My idle wasn't super smooth sometimes but not at all what I would consider a rough idle; kind of felt like an intermittent miss at 600 rpm in gear. Technically it was prolly misfiring but not enough for the computer to detect and I'd wager 99% of people wouldn't have a clue or a care about it either. Once I changed them out (at half the mileage interval of the original plugs), the vehicle ran better, had better power, idled better, and got improved mileage.




I'm not saying you don't have cause for pause changing out the originals at 40k miles, but it wouldn't bother me to do so. Flame out on a NA engine is inconvenient and bothersome; flame out or incomplete combusting from bad plugs on a forced induction engine can cause bigger issues. More fuel is dumped in to each individual cylinder under load which can was the cylinder walls and throw off o2 readings. Yes, this happens on NA motors as well, but under boost you are literally adding twice the fuel - or more - per cylinder than a NA motor would see.

But that's just my 02 cents.

 

Some thoughts from my end
& your comments please
1. Is it possible toyota recommends this service not so much for plug deterioration but rather a health check for the motor internals
2. When I removed the coil pack (prior to removing the plug) it come out in two pieces.
Sadly I'm running 5 cylinders atm
New coil pack arrives tues...
Is it possible that the plug service interval is recommended to prevent seizing of parts?
3. At roughly 60k miles (20k miles ago/Aug 2023 timeframe) 2 of 6 coil packs failed....although I was out of warranty coverage, my local toyota dealer (kfalls toyota in oregon) covered the repair 100%
($1200 savings for me).....could missing the 40k spark plug swap interval have caused coil packs failure?....is it strange that 2 packs failed at the same time?

Crash test dummy racking up the miles over here....hehehe

 

That's not a bad supposition, IMO. If a gap erodes, it requires more power to bridge that gap which can cause a coil pack to be overworked and burn out. I was honestly surprised my coil back wasn't toast after pulling out the spark plug above. I do find it strange that you had two packs fail at the same time; for some 90's and 2000's vehicles, a single coil pack was connected to two cylinders. Later, I recall some vehicles using two coil packs but firing them simultaneously. Waste spark system, I think?

Anyways, I doubt the new tundra uses that system so that spark timing can be better controlled for each cylinder, but when I've seen multiple coil packs fail, they usually had some environmental commonality: they were in adjacent cylinders where one cylinder was running hot and it took out the second coil pack; an exhaust heat shield or splash shield was removed and those two cylinders saw excess heat or road grime/water/snow/salt; etc.

 

^ so you,went through 3 coil,packs in total? Maybe a bad batch?? I’ve never replaced a coil pack.

how/where did your break when taking it out?

 

Seems odd that Toyota would warranty (out of warranty) coils and not try to sell or at least inquire about spark plugs if it was that big of a concern
Thats awesome Toyota covered the coils not verry many positive stories about stealershipes

 

To be clear: 2 coils failed separate of the one that came out in two pieces yesterday
(So nothing to do with bad batch, unless you mean all my coils from factory are subpar & prone to fail....if so, I will find out when I do all 6 plugs, I was going to do them yesterday but after the first one was problematic I decided to revisit the plugs after tday....I need my tundra for tday)

This past Aug I had CEL, error code that I got from my code reader (that I can't recall atm), & I sent the truck to kfalls toyota....they (at no cost to me & out of warranty at 60k miles) diagnosed & replaced two of 6 coil packs

Then I drove 20k miles
No issues

Yesterday I pulled one plug for evaluation
In order to remove plug, coil pack must be removed...as I took it apart, it came out in two pieces....I then removed the plug on the opposing side of the motor to see if the same thing happened....it came out as one piece, so I ordered a replacement unit
Screwed & pushed back together as best as I could, reassembled & test drove

Got a misfire going on, pretty sure if I keep driving it will throw CEL again

Toyota life yo!

 

I bought $100k in autos from this dealer
& I know many on these forums hate the dealer mark up, but I tend to buy most of my parts at kfalls toyota....I like old fashion face to face biz & supporting my local small community/econony

As far as the plugs & dealer inquiry
I probably have one of the higher mileage T3.0's in my area & very few people have reached 40k to make the dealer aware of the odd ball interval
Usually folks go with 100k for interval on iridium plugs, so they probably didn't even consider it

Now I'm wondering if I'll be replacing the remaining 3 coil packs next weekend
F me hahaha

 

On my 2000, I’ve replace 4 bad coils over the years so with fourth one I bought new Densos for the remaining 4. I pulled the plugs at 150K and they looked fine.Currently @ 250K and don’t see need to change plugs just yet

 

‘yup, I was going with “bad batch from factory”. But who knows. The whole Covid thing, shutdowns, lockdowns, I have no idea. Just seems weird to have 3 bad coils. Unless turbo = coil destroyer??

 

This was my thought. Does the turbo engine create more heat on top of the engine externally?
Just spit balling I have verry little knowledge on turbo engines
It does seem odd I dont recall seeing any thing about 3rd gen coils on the forum

 

Until your $60,000 truck doesn’t pass emissions inspection.

 

I’m in Canada. We worry about gun control for hunters.
As for emissions we don’t do emission inspections. We’re more worried about plastic straws, and plastic spoons/forks (for real)


Also I’ve never had any emissions related stuff go wrong. It’s the engine itself I’d be more worried about being denied warranty cause spark plugs when the problem was bad bearings, or oil flow

 

I can’t say I disagree with a single word you said about being a Canadian!

 

^ but we drink maple syrup, and wrestle polar bears. Oh and we live in igloos.

 

Maybe you can answer an age old question…if the Montreal hockey team are the Canadiens, what in the name of Geddy Lee is a “Hab”? Inquiring minds to your south want to know.

 

“Habs” is short for “Les habitants”. Or I guess “the habitants” in English. It’s a reference to the early settlers from France that came to Canada.

somewhere it just got shortened to the “habs”