Changing Spark Plugs

Changing the plugs is not too bad until you get to that last one on the pass. side rear. Thats a bi*ch! Your gonna cuss and break skin but you can do it. As far as the battery I just recently replaced my OE with a Sears Diehard SUV battery, seems great thus far. I also just last week flushed the radiator, I have a compressor and a mityvac, which made the job much easier. What I did was to "suck" out whats in the res. and radiator then refilled with clear water ran the engine til warm and "sucked" it out again and kept doing this until all clear water came out.This may be overkill but anyway! Then, I replaced with a 50/50 mix. I changed the belt and am thinking about changing the tensioner soon. The brakes I changed to ceramic pads which by the way are incredible! The stopping power of these pads are amazing! The tranny, well I haven't tackled that yet, but I think I will this summer.

Searcher1

About "> Then, I replaced with a 50/50 mix". I have learned the hard way to always add anti corrosion additives. My well water eats up heater cores and radiators. Last radiator replaced under warranty came with free advice "put in good additive" or no more radiators!

For what it costs and how much is needed, I just buy a gallon of distilled water to mix with the coolant. True, if the water you are flushing the system with is bad this only helps a little. And since I can never get all the water out of the system after flushing until it runs clear, when refilling I add the required amount* of straight coolant first, then top off with straight water. If you premix to 50/50 and then add that to the system, the water still remaining in the system will dilute your 50/50 mix even further, and you'll end up with less than a 50/50 mix. After adding the required amount of coolant I've rarely seen a vehicle where you can fit the same amount of straight water in after that - you usually end up with extra water, which means there was still some water left in the system (or the wrong capacity listed in the manual). Don't know if this is how the "real" shops do it, but it's worked well for me all these years. We keep our vehicles to well over 100k miles and with regular changes in coolant I've never had a problem with boilover, freezing, plugged tubes, or scale buildup. YMMV.

Steve

• To figure required amount of straight coolant, look up system capacity in your owner's manual. Multiply by .5 to get amount of straight coolant to add for a 50/50 mix. Multiply by .6 if you want to use a 60/40 mix (60% coolant increases resistance to both boilover and freezing). Most coolants recommend not exceeding a 70/30 mix.

the last plug isn't all to bad. What I do is install the plug socket, then get a 3/4" wrench and use the wrench to loosen the plug then spin the socket/plug out. Installing it the say way. One time I got a ratchet in there, before I realized.. I could use a 3/4" wrench and do the same thing. Works great and is just as easy as the other plugs.

thanks for the tip

searcher1

Sorry to beat a dead horse...I'm getting ready to do mine. It looks like I can get fairly close to that last plug if I remove the radiator overflow tank and the washer fluid tank. But then the ac condensor is crammed right in next to the plug. Do you have ac? I'm about ready to pay a mechanic to change plugs...but I really hate to do that cuz I luv doing my own work.