Spark plug replacement 2004 Toyota Sienna ?

[gwoodyard]

Does anyone know where

Topic

[college man]

good question. all they say is to remove the intake manifold.C8-)

[dreamer2355]

Welcome to the forums!

Well, i would check out the free Chilton’s online and see what the steps are there. I know on some mini vans, you can get to the rear plugs from underneath the vehicle but its alot easier that way with a vehicle lift.

Keep us posted on what works out for you.

[college man]

how many miles on the vehicle. toyota says 120 k before replacement. according to toyota forums you can remove the intake manifold or
if you have skinny but strong forearms they say you can squeeze in there to change them. if you do tackle it use ngk or deso plugs
for long life. you don’t want to do this one again. good luck and keep us posted. C8-)

[twiggy]

Funny I have a 2000 Sienna that I want to change the plugs this spring and was about to ask the same question.

When you take the intake manifold off, do you have to drain the coolant?

[J]

The three in the back are the tough ones. I was able to sneak a long-handled flex head ratchet and some extensions back there the last time I changed plugs on one, but I’m not sure it wouldn’t have been easier to remove the intake plenum and throttle body. There isn’t a while lot of room to move the socket and extensions back there, but it can be done.

[OnThe7ThDayFord]

Did one of these the other day. Losen the motor mounts / trans mount – get a jack with a block of wood – place jack toward middle of bank two as far as you can get it (place so that a little more then half the block of wood is under the oil pan) – jack slowly (IF or WHEN motor stops moving you are good) This will tilt the engine to the front and allow for room to get your hands and tools between the fire wall and Plyentium. takes about 30mins for the whole job.

Hope this helps.

apples to 90% of 3.3s also located in dodge vans.

[johnzcarz]

That’s what I was going to suggest – try tilting the motor forward a little.

[gwoodyard]

My Sienna has 105k miles. The dealer was pushing me to replace them and then I asked why do that if they are rated for 120k? Of course all I got was a dumb stare. The dealer wants $450 to replace them. The engine seems a little sluggish so it may be time to replace them.

I never heard if tilting the engine approach.

I know of two methods
1) remove cowl, get a skinny guy to reach under the intake manifold
2) remove cowl, remove intake manifold, replace back 3 plugs, replace manifold gasket

any other suggestions?

[johnzcarz]

Quoted From gwoodyard:

My Sienna has 105k miles. The dealer was pushing me to replace them and then I asked why do that if they are rated for 120k? Of course all I got was a dumb stare. The dealer wants $450 to replace them. The engine seems a little sluggish so it may be time to replace them.

I never heard if tilting the engine approach.

I know of two methods
1) remove cowl, get a skinny guy to reach under the intake manifold
2) remove cowl, remove intake manifold, replace back 3 plugs, replace manifold gasket

any other suggestions?

My suggestion is to try and tilt the engine – going through the trouble to remove the intake sounds like a whole lot of extra work to me…and potentially may create some problems.

I would search around in a Toyota forum – my bet is even if removing the manifold is called out in the shop manual, a tech trying to beat the flat-rate book has probably found a more ‘efficient’ way of doing it.

[Author]

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