chuyrobles

Changed mine two days ago with 117900 miles, subsequent to the engine light going off. Code was P0057 - an O2 sensor malfunction. I immediately suspected the plugs because of the mileage. They had crud buildup and most of the plugs had gaps of 0.034 or less. If gapped correctly, that means they had .010+ of crud buildup. I cleared the codes and installed NGKs. After two days, the engine light has remained off. I hope that was the problem and fix, otherwise I'll be buying an O2 sensor next.

The front 3 plugs were easy to do. Took me 15 minutes. The rear 3 took an hour and a half. That was a PITA! But, I prevailed. I don't see how Frankbcnt did it all in 15 minutes. I would like to see the youtube video of that! I had purchased replacement plugs at 80K and was waiting for 120K or any reason to swap them out. These will be changed at 75K next time.

Paul3637

There should be no crud build up if you use toptier gas (texaco, shell, concoco phillis, etc.) AND run something like the strong techron super concentrated fuel system cleaner every now and then.

www.toptiergas.com

You probably got a bad tank of gas that fouled your plugs. If you support Hugo Chavez by buying CITGO, that may be your problem.

chuyrobles

The wife drives it - she usually fills up at CostCo - don't know what gas they carry. And, I use fuel cleaners every so often - though probably not enough.

From Costco website: "Costco buys fuel from major refineries and distributors in each area."

jcat_350

yeah...definitely don't buy gas from costco. I don't know for sure, but I know around here Cumberland Farms and lots of little indy gas stations were getting busted for selling watered down gas. I also don't put regular gas in my ES, I usually stick to 89 octane.

I personally would stray away from techron too often. It's the recommended additive for Mercedes v8s, but they say to only use it once or twice per oil change cycle, leading me to believe it might be a bit too strong. If you want to use it for a deep clean, I think it's recommended for 10gal or 12gal to the bottle of techron, and I'd do it right before I was planning to change the oil, then stick with lucas every couple tanks in between.

I've had great luck with Lucas fuel system cleaner, and it's much cheaper than techron at about $6 per bottle. I've had cars with noisy injectors (ticking) that after 12-15gal of fuel to one bottle of lucas quieted right down thanks to it's lubricating properties. It also gets water out of your tank and lines in addition to cleaning.

No, I'm not a lucas oil salesperson nor sponsored by them haha. I've just had excellent luck with it in any car I've ever used, so I stick with what works.

skizz1

Does anyone in the Houston area know someone who I can take my ES 350 2007 to who can change my plugs and not rip me off? Please help before I go down like a fool!