It's for things like this that I thank god I have a family friend who is a mechanic. I can get these kinda things done for the price of parts plus a steak dinner.

 

I didn't see this posted in thread but appears to be a 16mm socket

Just putting things together to change mine in the next few months.

 

I have since bought a 5/8 magnetic socket from gear wrench. My biggest freakout moments were the rubber inserts that most spark plug sockets have. They get stuck on the plug and when you take the socket out, the plug and insert remain in the tube. A magnetic socket will help tremendously and is far superior to the regular 16 mm plug socket (5/8 and 16 mm is identical). I bought Gear Wrench 80546, it has a pretty strong magnet plus a swivel and I am very pleased with it.

 

I ordered one of these earlier today..

 

FYI - Has a 30% coupon for me at Amazon today! Makes it $11.19. I'll need to do my plugs soon-ish, along with Coolant, Trans Flush and PS fluid.

 

This is tentatively my Saturday project.... winter tires and TPMS reprogram on Friday. I have another vehicle to pull winter tires off of as well along with the GX

EDIT: Spark plugs will be a project for another weekend.. my Suzuki outboard needs some maintenance first

 

Hi guys, regarding the spark plugs and valve cover gasket leaks - is there a way to determine a valve cover leak without removing the spark plugs first? What is overall consensus on replacing the valve cover at the same time with the spark plugs. With 115K miles on my 2012 should I just consider paying extra for the valve cover job even though it may not be leaking yet to prevent it in the future?

 

There is no extra effort to first pull the plug and see if they are covered in oil (or not). At that point you can decide if the valve cover gaskets need changed. I would not change valve cover gaskets unless they are leaking.

 

I spent about 2 hours replacing mine. Hardest one for me was the one closest to firewall on driver side. Lots of swivels, wobblers and extensions. They could have gone another 50k miles but vehicle in service years is now at around 11. I am a little over 80k miles.

No oil residue anywhere as well.

Lighting may not show it but plugs were all healthy with tan residue on electrode and gap was still in factory spec.





This video can be helpful as well


I used this tool as well… I have a paranoia about cross threading :-)

 

A quick internet search indicates the specified gap is 0.044"

 

2015 GX with 117,000 miles. These are the original plugs. Only #7 felt a little sticky with dried oil.

What are your thoughts?

 

Humblebrag thread.

Replace them anyway, what’s the point of removing them without replacing them? You will only spend maybe $90.

 

They look fine. Check #7 tube for signs of oil leaking.

 

Sorry I didn't explain better.
I replaced them all. I just wanted to know what others thought of how they looked and if there was anything I should be wary of.
I agree, I think 7 is leaking oil, and maybe 8 too.

This could be resolved by replacing the valve cover gaskets and the sparkplug gaskets, too, right?

 

Those look great for a 2015 with 117,000 miles.