Finally changing plugs/wires/disty/rotor. Partly because I've been driving the truck for two years without doing it and I have no idea when/if the PO ever did it, partly because she's running a bit uneven, and partly as prep and "rehearsal" for an overdue valve adjustment.
This post is probably laughable - I mean does anyone need a long post on changing spark plug wires? I don't know... but I would have read it if it'd been here, so why not?
So... here's the shiny new parts. Apparently the plugs come pre-gapped - they were all correct out of the box. I was glad that the OEM wires (part# 90919-21503) came pre-attached to their routing clips - that turned out to be pretty handy, both since they were connected correctly out of the bag (made it much easier to figure out best/intended routing), AND the brittle original clips almost all broke despite my careful disassembly.
I originally considered trying to do this job with the intake in place, but before I even figured out if that's possible, I had to admit that fear of breaking part of the intake was the main reason I hadn't done the valves yet. Since this was a low-risk job I've done on several other vehicles, I decided to take the plunge and get some practice.
Main intake challenge was a couple of air and vacuum hoses that hadn't been removed before. I'd already replaced all the small diameter ones, but there's a larger one that went from behind the intake manifold to below the air cleaner (via a bracket on the intake hose). I used a small pick to work under the old hoses and break them loose, but after removing them in one piece, I decided the top half was way too cracked and brittle to put back, so I replaced it with some bulk vacuum hose of similar ID. I'm not sure the OD of the OEM hoses, but the new hose OD was too small for the spring clips, so I reluctantly left the clips off. I can't remember why I used all OEM vacuum hose for the small diameter pieces and couldn't come up with OEM for the larger diameter - if anyone has a tip on that I'm interested... even if it's to use smaller diameter spring clips.
The air hose that t's off the intake pipe behind the VAF and goes to the front of the intake manifold was also a pain to remove, mainly because I was paranoid about tearing the intake hose, and it's pretty brittle. I'm wondering OEM vs Aftermarket on these soft intake parts. I normally go OEM on critical (e.g. water pump) or harder-to-reach parts (e.g. valve cover gasket... or water pump) but these are right there. I dunno. I'm open to the "the original lasted you 230K miles, buy OEM and forget it" argument, just curious if there are experiences (good or bad) with other sources.
I ended up just taking off the air filter cover, VAF, and first section of soft intake hose and left the rest in place. I've been reading on MUD long enouh to be afraid of the VAF screws, but I had to come back to remember how to actually unplug the cable. Remove the wire bale, and it unplugs easy peasy, no traumatic wire-ectomy of the VAF.
By this time, I had already removed the rubber cover from the disty, wish I'd waited, but I managed to get it off in one piece. It's pretty rough, with the foam bits totally crumbly, but the rubber itself seemed in passable shape.
I disconnected everything from the disty because the labeling was so good, I had no worries about getting things connected in the correct order. The two vacuum or vent lines were obviously different sizes, so I wasn't worried about swapping those either.
At that point, I pulled the cap (part# 19101-61240) and rotor (part# 19102-61240) and swapped in the new, matching the original cap alignment and placing the new gasket (part# 19127-61240). Obviously, the rotor is keyed, so that would only go in the correct way. There was clear wear on the cap electrodes, though not enough to make me think anything was wrong aside from being old.
With a 12" extension on my ratchet I swapped out plugs 1-3 (part# 90919-01091), using a smidge of di-electric on the terminal end and some anti-seize on the threads. The existing plugs were WAY past due - Color looked fine, but the straps and center electrodes were so eroded I couldn't even measure the gap with my cheap gapping tool. I think the spec was .043", and I wouldn't be surprised if the gap was .09+ the way the .045 wire was able to rattle around.
The rest of the plugs went in the same way, just needing a wobble joint for plug #6. I connected up all the wires, and the pre-connected routing clips pulled the wires together in the perfect spots for the disty cover. I'd washed the cover gently with some soapy water and a brush, lathered it with some of the Gummi Pflege Stifft I bought for my window runs, massaged that in for a bit, then dried it off and actually applied a thin coating of 3M silicone grease - same stuff I use on rubber brake caliper parts. I wiped most of it off the outside so it wouldn't attract too much dirt, and left it a little more greasy on the inside. Basically doing what I can to preserve what I think is an irreplaceable part so I hopefully don't have to fabricate one down the line. Here it is, all spruced up...
So that's the bulk of it. At this point I re-assembled the intake, reconnected the vac lines, headed around to fire her up, and gave myself a brief panic attack when she wouldn't run. Of course, a quick glance revealed that while smarty-pants had been clever enough to listen to MUD about how to disconnect the VAF cable, forgetting to reconnect it had the same effect as damaging it. So, I smacked myself in the forehead, reconnected it, and once she cleared her throat, she fired up no problem.
She's much more steady now. Instead of sounding like a loud sewing machine with a dunk tailor running the pedal, she sounds like a loud sewing machine with a dead sober tailor. Hope this is helpful for someone, and interested in any thoughts about the process and about those intake parts.
Cheers!
This post is probably laughable - I mean does anyone need a long post on changing spark plug wires? I don't know... but I would have read it if it'd been here, so why not?
So... here's the shiny new parts. Apparently the plugs come pre-gapped - they were all correct out of the box. I was glad that the OEM wires (part# 90919-21503) came pre-attached to their routing clips - that turned out to be pretty handy, both since they were connected correctly out of the bag (made it much easier to figure out best/intended routing), AND the brittle original clips almost all broke despite my careful disassembly.
I originally considered trying to do this job with the intake in place, but before I even figured out if that's possible, I had to admit that fear of breaking part of the intake was the main reason I hadn't done the valves yet. Since this was a low-risk job I've done on several other vehicles, I decided to take the plunge and get some practice.
Main intake challenge was a couple of air and vacuum hoses that hadn't been removed before. I'd already replaced all the small diameter ones, but there's a larger one that went from behind the intake manifold to below the air cleaner (via a bracket on the intake hose). I used a small pick to work under the old hoses and break them loose, but after removing them in one piece, I decided the top half was way too cracked and brittle to put back, so I replaced it with some bulk vacuum hose of similar ID. I'm not sure the OD of the OEM hoses, but the new hose OD was too small for the spring clips, so I reluctantly left the clips off. I can't remember why I used all OEM vacuum hose for the small diameter pieces and couldn't come up with OEM for the larger diameter - if anyone has a tip on that I'm interested... even if it's to use smaller diameter spring clips.
The air hose that t's off the intake pipe behind the VAF and goes to the front of the intake manifold was also a pain to remove, mainly because I was paranoid about tearing the intake hose, and it's pretty brittle. I'm wondering OEM vs Aftermarket on these soft intake parts. I normally go OEM on critical (e.g. water pump) or harder-to-reach parts (e.g. valve cover gasket... or water pump) but these are right there. I dunno. I'm open to the "the original lasted you 230K miles, buy OEM and forget it" argument, just curious if there are experiences (good or bad) with other sources.
I ended up just taking off the air filter cover, VAF, and first section of soft intake hose and left the rest in place. I've been reading on MUD long enouh to be afraid of the VAF screws, but I had to come back to remember how to actually unplug the cable. Remove the wire bale, and it unplugs easy peasy, no traumatic wire-ectomy of the VAF.
By this time, I had already removed the rubber cover from the disty, wish I'd waited, but I managed to get it off in one piece. It's pretty rough, with the foam bits totally crumbly, but the rubber itself seemed in passable shape.
I disconnected everything from the disty because the labeling was so good, I had no worries about getting things connected in the correct order. The two vacuum or vent lines were obviously different sizes, so I wasn't worried about swapping those either.
At that point, I pulled the cap (part# 19101-61240) and rotor (part# 19102-61240) and swapped in the new, matching the original cap alignment and placing the new gasket (part# 19127-61240). Obviously, the rotor is keyed, so that would only go in the correct way. There was clear wear on the cap electrodes, though not enough to make me think anything was wrong aside from being old.
With a 12" extension on my ratchet I swapped out plugs 1-3 (part# 90919-01091), using a smidge of di-electric on the terminal end and some anti-seize on the threads. The existing plugs were WAY past due - Color looked fine, but the straps and center electrodes were so eroded I couldn't even measure the gap with my cheap gapping tool. I think the spec was .043", and I wouldn't be surprised if the gap was .09+ the way the .045 wire was able to rattle around.
The rest of the plugs went in the same way, just needing a wobble joint for plug #6. I connected up all the wires, and the pre-connected routing clips pulled the wires together in the perfect spots for the disty cover. I'd washed the cover gently with some soapy water and a brush, lathered it with some of the Gummi Pflege Stifft I bought for my window runs, massaged that in for a bit, then dried it off and actually applied a thin coating of 3M silicone grease - same stuff I use on rubber brake caliper parts. I wiped most of it off the outside so it wouldn't attract too much dirt, and left it a little more greasy on the inside. Basically doing what I can to preserve what I think is an irreplaceable part so I hopefully don't have to fabricate one down the line. Here it is, all spruced up...
So that's the bulk of it. At this point I re-assembled the intake, reconnected the vac lines, headed around to fire her up, and gave myself a brief panic attack when she wouldn't run. Of course, a quick glance revealed that while smarty-pants had been clever enough to listen to MUD about how to disconnect the VAF cable, forgetting to reconnect it had the same effect as damaging it. So, I smacked myself in the forehead, reconnected it, and once she cleared her throat, she fired up no problem.
She's much more steady now. Instead of sounding like a loud sewing machine with a dunk tailor running the pedal, she sounds like a loud sewing machine with a dead sober tailor. Hope this is helpful for someone, and interested in any thoughts about the process and about those intake parts.
Cheers!
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