The dealership recently suggested that I should replace the spark plugs on my G35 ('03 w/ 109k miles). The plugs were replaced at 60k. The dealer quoted a price of $400, which seems high to me. What have others paid for this maintenance?

Thx

 

I paid exactly $41.75. And upgraded the plugs at the same time. Bought these which a lot of members on here have used.

http://ngksparkplugs.ecrater.com/pro...hp?pid=2031849

Labor is free, will take me less than an hour to do it myself. They're going in tonight. This is a relatively easy job, you just have to be careful working around the wire harnesses that are in the way.

$400 makes me laugh. Is changing the plugs the only work they were doing for that price? What a rip off!!

 

Why is the dealer suggesting changing the plugs? You have around 50K miles on the set in there now. If they are OEM plats they can go longer than that.

Is there any underlying mechanical issue? Does the car stumble, missfire or hesitate? If it's running fine, you can prob drive another 20-30K before really having to worry about it.

But if you want you can change them now yourself for cost of plugs

 

do it yourself....
i did everything myself...
lol...
even the valve covers and the valve cover gaskets... (pita to do...)
spark plugs are easy! wired that i never had the stock ones, my first time pulled it out i was like, NGK?

 

Those are the stock plugs....NGK Platniums.

IMHO Iridium plugs aren't worth it. If you were running a power adder or nitrous or a high compression engine i'd say go for it...but for a stock motor with minor bolt ons, you are just spending more money for the hell of it.

 

^ oem NGK are the way to go, eh?

and is it a really easy DIY? i've done lots of sparks plugs in the past, but the G engine bay looks cramped. can everything be accessed from above the engine (no need to jack up)?

 

Here is a well done, step by step tutorial found in the DIY section..
https://g35driver.com/forums/engine-...ug-change.html

 

Looks a hell of a lot easier than my previous three vehicles. On my Explorer you had to take the wheel off to get to the rear ones. I didn't even attempt it on my F150 because they are known for separating in the head which can end up costing you $1000 to fix.

What is the typical mileage you guys are changing yours?

 

+1 on the NGKs.

Changing the plugs is easy, but a little time consuming. The plugs are probably fine with 50K miles assuming iriduims or platninum went in. The concern for me is leaving plugs in aluminum heads for long periods of time. It's always good practice to put a dab of antiseize on the plug threads and to loosen and retighten the plugs every 20K miles or so.

 

In my opinion, yes. I wouldn't bother putting iridiums in if you are basically stock. Factory plugs are plenty fine.

Basically spark plugs have been around for 100 years+. Everything's been tried and there are gimmick plugs all the time. I remember 10+ years ago Splitfires were the plugs to have..now its NGK Iridiums.

Not saying they aren't good plugs, but it's not really neccessary.


I wonder if anyone really knows why Iridum plugs came about? Well the melting point of iridium is much higher than platnium resulting in more wear resistance. But it also allows the manufacturer to make a smaller center electrode therefore requireing less voltage to fire the spark. This also enables the plug to fire a leaner mixture that other plugs can't.

Now again, on your average stock gas engine with some bolt ons, there is prob no difference going from plats to iridium. The difference i say is when you take an engine and start tuning it. I'd recommend Iridiums for booster apps, nitrous, or modified N/A setups running custom tunes.

 

Anybody know the part number of the stock spark plugs off hand?

 

^ Go to http://www.sparkplugs.com, type in your vehicle info and you should find the stock part number for the NGK plugs in your car.

 

The NGK iridiums I have are LFR5AIX-11 4469.

 

theres ultimate, premium, super, and regular class spark plugs for the coupe.. so what.. for a stock coupe get regular?

 

Cool thanks for that website!