I am the owner of a 1998 GS 400 Lexus and want to know what's the best inexpensive ignition coils to use and spark plugs?

 

Look on rockauto and pick the most popular ones

 

Best are NGK and Denso. NGK plugs from the factory and Denso for the coils if I'm not mistaken. If you are going to an auto parts store, Napa is your best bet on a quality coil. They will re-badge Dorman parts sometimes which are ok. Autozone and their Duralast line can't make an electrical devise to save their lives. Since NGK Iridium is OE for the car, I wouldn't recommend going with anything else. They are probably the finest plugs in the world. And the engine is meant to run them. I can understand all the coils being a problem to replace.. that's expensive.. saying which, why are you replacing coils? Was there a diagnosis done, or is this a shotgun attempt to stop misfires? If you are experiencing multiple cylinder misfires, you may have a bad vvt solenoid if it's one bank, a MAF issue if both banks.. many possibilities. Not stepping on your toes if you know the coils are needed. But don't jump on a set and blow all that money if money is an issue and you don't need them all..

 

Yes, please confirm why you think you need new coils.

For Toyota/Lexus, we just go with stock. Pre-gapped, come with a sleeve to protect the gap. Yes, we paid $108+ for all the plugs for our GS4, yet since you do it every 100k miles, worth it to us.

 

I'm just looking for what may need replacement. I just got the car, it's at 200k and as far as I know, the dealer stopped servicing it at 150k. So I'm trying to prepare for when things start needing to be replaced. I want to up my mpg as well, the car says it's averaging 15mpg and it starts but takes a second to start. I was told replacing sparkplugs and coils would help.

I'm just trying to give the car whatever maintenance it needs. Also want to start making a list of the parts, and where to buy them, so when I need them I can just look at that list. It's just much harder finding them on my own lol. I love the car so I want to keep it around for as long as possible.

 

Well being a pretty easy vehicle to do plugs on, I'd just do the plugs and leave the coils until one starts to have a problem. They don't typically get replaced as maintenance, just when they go out. You won't experience a fuel economy change form them either. If they are working they are working. The gap of the plug is the final say in everything ignition and determines the spark so to speak. If you have a misfire occurring from time to time and can narrow down a cyl, you may need to replace that coil. But usually you'd just do that one. It's not something that would give you a "different spark" or more or less powerful if that makes sense. So you don't have to do all. That's just my advice on it.

 

The Denso Iridium Power plugs or Iridium Twin Tip plugs are still the best plugs to run in a 1UZ. They work great and last forever,
Unless your upgrading to an aftermarket ECU then you’ll be limited to what coils and injectors work. One option to upgrade the coils would be swapping out the “big” coils that came on the 1UZ VVTi over to the “Skinny” coils that came on the 2UZ and 3UZ. They are more powerful and all around better coil. They will bolt right in place of the big ones. You will have to replace the wiring plugs which is pretty easy. Just pick up a set of the plug shells, you can depin the original ones, and they will switch right over, just reverse the center wires when u do it.