Spark plug rant and oil change question

Changed the plugs - what a pain in the ass. I’m sure dealers and independents alike will really enjoy their sky high revenue from something that should be every 120k but are for some reason every 40k. It’s like 1991 all over again - except in 1991 they were easier to get to.

Also - was going to change the oil but now that I have skids I really need to use a tube for the oil filter drain nipple. Does anyone know what size tube is needed to fit that?

 

How did the plugs look? How many miles do you have? I’m curious if it was absolutely necessary

 

15mm or 5/8" ID tube to drain the oil filter catch pan nipple. Skids don't make any difference. I need to remove my TRD skid entirely to drain the oil and remove the filter. Still need to use the tube to keep oil from getting all over the frame.

What was so hard about doing the plugs?

 

with iridium plugs he shouldnt have to replace them until 90-120k miles depending on usage.

 

well at least toyota got everyone there. thats not a cheap item to replace every 40k.

like $300 for 6 spark plugs at retail. and thats not including labor

 

well good thing the wife doesnt drive a lot. i mean we only put 45k in roughly 6yrs on the 2018 before we traded it in yesterday.

 

yeah here is our fuelly stats on the 2018 at last fill up before we sold it last night. i guess i was way off on the years, guess it was 5 yrs intead of 6.

 

yeah but the gas cost compared to my 2014 4runner is nuts. my 14 4runner is at $13,369 fuel cost at 9yrs 2 months at 93.3k miles

and my 15mile 1 way commute is 10miles at 74mph 4 days a week.

really have to see the gas savings on this tundra compared to my 2018 in a few years

 

big spender with the 93


i only run 87 with 10% eth

 

You guys are doing 1k miles per week?? Damn. I love my Tundra, but if I were driving 1000 miles a week it would be in something else! Like a RAV 4 Hybrid.

 

ok hightower

 

I was going to say, the Youtube videos would get a lot of hits.

 

You might could do the hay bale, maybe if you split it up and crammed the pieces in. Probably would't work with the cow, though! ;-0

 

My wife has a turbo Hyundai and it calls for plugs every 45K miles. There were about shot at that point.

 

unless someone stole it using a usb drive, then you wouldnt have to worry about it

/s

 

$300 for 6 plugs? I saw them for $17.99 each.

 

So this is the time when everyone calls Jerry and buys the prepaid maintenance from him to let dealer change their spark plugs at 40k miles

Although I have a feeling this crowd isn't dealer friendly lol

Any idea what dealer charges for spark plug service in our Tundra?

 

Just split it up and cram the pieces in, same as the hay bail… Frozen cow works best but to each their own.

 

I tried that prepaid maintenance same when I bought my truck. Brought it in for diffs and t case and the told me it would $500. I showed them my prepaid maintenance invoice and the service schedule in the manual. They still refused to do the service so I asked what exactly I had paid for (I asked them to spell that out for me when I bought the truck and they explicitly confirmed diff service). Service manager got mad, started shouting, and stormed off like a dufus. I ended up getting a refund on the prepaid service.

But $300 for plugs that need to be changed every 40k?? Ouch. But the service interval makes sense even if I don’t like it. Used to be 30k on anything older than 2000’s with copper plugs.

 

Yes spark plugs need to be changed more often. You’re asking a 3.4L to make as much power and torque as a large V8. They are exposed to far higher temperatures and pressures.

A lot of the Ecoboost guys with tunes will do theirs every 20k, although its like $80 for plugs

 

I'm going to dealer tomorrow to replace the driver window seal and will ask them if spark plugs are covered.. Will report back

 

What type of plugs were used? Torque specs ? Gap? Thanx

 

I can confirm this, when I had the Raptor it was suggested to me by my tuner (well regarded in that community), so I changed them out at 37k miles, although the original plugs didn’t appear to have excessive wear I went through with it anyways

 

So I asked Toyota service advisor today if spark plugs change covered by the prepaid maintenance.
He looked into it and said that his system shows it's not covered.

I asked isn't spark plugs part of emissions warranty, for regular service at 40k miles? He said yes, but computer shows it won't be covered... He's not sure why.

I'll keep looking into this and will escalate. I'll report back what I find. Not too thrilled about this

 

are accessory belts covered? i am guessing not since that would be considered wear and tear item and spark plugs would fall into that same category just like wiper blades.

since it a normal wear item like other items on a vehicle it wouldnt be covered.

 

Interesting, but if the maintenance plans don't cover normal use and wear items what is the point? Warranties cover the stuff that breaks, maintenance is specifically FOR the use and wear items. One would think.

 

the point is the dealer taking more of your money and keeping it for a long time until you get to all your oil changes and check this and check that

pass on the prepaid maintenance

 

I am surprised people aren't talking more about this. GM and Ram are 100K intervals for spark plugs right? Was the 5.7L 40K spark plugs or 100K? This is an added maintenance expense over the old V8 that no one is talking about. $1,000 for spark plugs before 90K miles is a huge expense vs. the competition, that can buy a TON of gas. Thanks OP for bringing this to my attention. Finding this out only makes me that much more upset about my 2022, if I could trade it and not lose 5-10K on it, it would have been gone already. Pretty sure I'm done with Toyota after this truck.

 

6 spark plugs can be found online for less the $100 and can be done in an afternoon, so to me, that equates to $200 in spark plugs and not $1000. I'm not sure what the big fuss is over this? It could be worse .. it could be 2004-2007 F-150 5.4L that had the worst design 2 piece plugs ever that froze into almost every cylinder head and cost a ton to extract (hoping that parts of it don't drop into the cylinder).