pontiac sunbird sparkplug replacement

i have a 1994 pontiac sunbird that needs spark plugs [6] my dealer wants $100.00 ca. to installthem as he says it is about 1/12 hours to replace plugs. the front 3 are easy to see, where the heck are they at the back of engine that takes so long and do i need special tools to replace them myself? thank you Joe

Reply to
joemcdonald
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I am no mechanic by any means, but my Mom has a '94 Sunbird with the 3.1 (I am assuming that by you saying that your car takes 6 plugs, you mean it is the 6 cylinder 3.1, cause I don't know of any other V6 that came in those cars), and I have also owned 2 Pontiac Grand Prix's, both with the 3.1 V6. I can say that for me, doing a spark plug change is not the most entertaining thing in the world to be doing, but I can do it, with little help. Actually, I found the best way to do it was the way my uncle (he is a head mechanic at a Pontiac dealership) showed me. He unbolts the 'dogbone' or 'the black thing that looks like a dog bone and holds the engine in place' (sorry, I am not much for words, or part names), pulls the engine forward, and bolts the dog bone back in, with the engine in it's new temporary spot, that way you have plenty of room to get at those pesky back spark plugs. I must say, this works great, and though he uses the car itself to move the engine forward (unbolts the dogbone, has me put the car into gear, and the engine moves forward), I don't *totally* recall the exact way he did it, so I didn't want to send my engine through my rad, so I just unbolted the dogbone's (the Grand Prix's have 2, as opposed to the Sunbird's 1), got a friend to pull the engine forward, and I bolted the engine into its new temporary spot. The rest, is just using a Spark Plug socket, a ratchet and some muscle and taking the old plugs out, and putting new ones in. Just be careful, as I have found that the plugs break easily lol I broke 1 the last time I did a tune up, and the car ran like total crap (obviously) until I realized what I had done.

Sorry if that was more of a big rant then actual help, but I am sure someone else around here can help you a lot better, I just wanted to give it a go. :)

BTW, I live here in Ontario, Canada, and back when I knew even less about cars then I do now, I paid a Canadian Tire store up here almost $200 (Canadian) to do a plug change on my '92 Grand Prix. All and all it took me about 45 mins to an hour to do, but a good mechanic, such as my uncle, can do it in around 10 mins.

Reply to
80 Knight

Be sure to have the wheels blocked and the transmission in neutral. GW

Reply to
Geoff Welsh

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