I took an L today from a GM product

[sonikaccord]

Man...what in thee entire fack...

I opened my mouth and just had to say, yeah I work on cars. I got the opportunity to attempt to replace spark plugs on a Chevy Uplander this morning. The fronts are easy, we won't discuss those. The rears?? Oh God the rears!!

So yeah, I had to give up due to time constraints. Has anybody here done a spark plug change on a transversely mounted GM v6?

[illinois_erik]

yes it sucks, i think I got 2 from the top and the last one from under the car reaching up. it was on a chevy 3.1
did some on a v6 minivan luckily there was enough room to fit my arm behind the engine and kinda fumbled them back in..reminded me of my virgin days trying to find the clit

[F22Chris]

I have. It was a Montana though. Took me way too long. I put it on stands, removed the front strut mounts, alternator, and MAF/intake box. Then lowered the whole thing with a jack. I had to just feel around to get it done. I also broke all three of the wires cause they were crispy. My legs and back still aren't the same. If you need an extra jack or something let me know.

[deevergote]

I never even tried on my Grand Prix. My CTS-V has a longitudinally mounted LS2, and the plugs on that are a bitch as well! I paid to have them done. I tried, and I just wasn't having it. That was $100 well spent!

[wed3k]

you have to take the upper intakes off on the lexus rx300's

['93CB7Ex]

should just be able to reach around the back of engine and get to them. i did plugs on my beretta at one point, its not bad. BUT those mini-vans probably have a big cowl overhanging the engine a good bit.

[GhostAccord]

It is a PITA but I have the process down on the Pontiac 3400 V6 now. It's all about getting the right extension length and the ability to do the job 100% by feel...lol I can get all three from the top on the 60°V6's.

[Fleetw00d]

Long time ago. Not fun on my 1982 Chevy Citation X11 (2.8) or 1987 Astro (3.4) from what I remember.

[Crankshaft]

This reminds me of my old Thirdgen F body i had, i actually got my arm stuck trying to remove the passenger rear plugs as i tried doing it thru the top instead of underneath the car. I was screaming for almost 30 minutes until my dad came out and passed me some used oil to lubricate it and get it free from in between the well and air injection tubbing. Needless to say, i removed all the emission stuff and installed Edelbrock Headers by the next weekend, after they were installed i just had to customize a socket to facilitate spark plug removal to avoid using short spark plugs. someone mentioned toyota plugs where the intake has to be removed, i found out you can simply use different size extensions to avoid such problem or at least in the 3.0 v6

[sonikaccord]

Good to see I'm not the only one! I could have eventually replaced them, but I would have removed the alternator, coil pack and the intake manifold out of frustration. I feel like I need a rematch with beer this time.

[Raf99]

Good to see I'm not the only one! I could have eventually replaced them, but I would have removed the alternator, coil pack and the intake manifold out of frustration. I feel like I need a rematch with beer this time.

Makes you wonder what auto manufactures are thinking when they make these. And not like they didn't know. The same part(s) failed in the past 5 models, but let's keep using it and putting it in a hard to reach spot. I would hate to be in the board meeting/conf. call to debate to keep fuel pump A (*cough... or ignition unit). One side about to quit as this dam part could cost lives, the other half only in it for the money but play it off as a positive for the company and output upside-down graphs to upper upper management. It's nice to see new car manufactures come into the scene and mix things up. Even if it's a current company with an off-brand (Scion).

[sonikaccord]

It has to be assembled easily and fast, it has to be cheap, it has to be somewhat easy to work on(grabs smallest childlike employee, ask them to reach between the strut tower and engine, their hand fits, it's a go).

But seriously, I work for a major automotive supplier and our customers, the auto manufacturers, like to maintain relationships with their suppliers no matter how bad something is malfunctioning. It takes a few design cycles for them to completely axe a supplier.

Then there is the grilling and questioning that goes on about why the product has failed and what have you done about it not failing anymore. Sometimes it gets *really* messy.

[cb7 calling]

Have not changed them as I know better, also the Lexus IS300.
Had to put two cents in though cause I have heard the same thing a couple times from unreliable resources. "You unhook a couple engine mounts and roll the engine to get at the plugs is the easy way" same people say they hate jap junk cause there is no room to work on them.