first tune up

[Melissa_M]

I want to do my own ‘tune up’ – my first time ever!

The List
New spark plugs (NGK coppers)

New ignition wires (Autolite 96870; I trusted the parts guy that this set is right for my car)

Clean the coil packs

Remove and clean throttle body; install new gasket

Remove and clean EGR (did this a year ago, not too thoroughly; hope to reuse that gasket)

New air filter & PCV

I am thinking about doing this work in stages, partly because of time issues, but also as a way to do one thing at a time and make sure I did it right before going on. My big question is about splitting up the coil packs, spark plugs, and wire set.

I hope my question makes some sense….I am so nervous about this stuff for some reason, although I have done other repairs over the last year.

Melissa_M
99 SL2

[Low Saturn]

Originally Posted by Melissa_M

I am thinking about doing this work in stages, partly because of time issues, but also as a way to do one thing at a time and make sure I did it right before going on. My big question is about splitting up the coil packs, spark plugs, and wire set.

I hope my question makes some sense….I am so nervous about this stuff for some reason, although I have done other repairs over the last year.

Melissa_M
99 SL2

Why do it in stages? All of that should take a first timer less than an hour. And experienced person, maybe 20 minutes.

[ShawnV]

Doing it in stages might work well for you.

As far as the plugs and wires, leave everything together and replace each plug individually. Once replaced, connect the old wire back on. This will keep everything in order as you go, pretty much eliminating the chance to get things mixed up. My car has a spark-plug-wire holder right above the coil packs. This keeps the wires in order, even when you take all four off the coils.

Also, look up the how-to on each of these individual procedures, study them, then go tackle them. I recently replaced an engine, which was something I thought was out of my capability. My car sat for 6 months because I thought I couldn't do it. But, I read up on it and went at it. You can too.

Good luck! Let us know...

shawn

[dorisSL]

Originally Posted by Low Saturn

Why do it in stages?

one bonus is that, should anything get messed up, its a lot easier to figure out what went wrong.

[Low Saturn]

Originally Posted by dorisSL

one bonus is that, should anything get messed up, its a lot easier to figure out what went wrong.

I wasn't suggesting that they take off the throttle body, then one spark plug wire, then clean one coil pack tower, then take off a second wire, clean the throttle body, replace a spark plug, take off another wire, ect.

They were implying that this would take a long time and doing each part a different day. I was just saying it ALL can be done in a few minutes.

[quantumech]

If going to do it in stages, I think this would probably be a good order to go in:

1. plugs and wires: They should just be done at the same time.

2. Clean the towers/ICM: Now you can tell the difference between dirty towers, and bad plugs/wires.

3. Air filter/PCV: Now see if fuel economy increases due to new plugs/clean towers, if it it wasn't getting enough air.

4. EGR/Throttle body: do 'em at the same time, since the air intake needs to go away to get to them. Although, I don't know I would play with them unless it was acting up.

[Ghettoracer]

I would probably do what Quant said. First plugs and wires cause they are the easiest. IMO I think I would get NGK V-powers instead of Autolites. Don't get me wrong but NGK is a step up from Autolites. When you are going to clean your coil towers, make sure you label which wire went were just in case you don't know how to put the wires back on the coils. You should not worry about taking the coil packs off the ignition control module cause they are the same and go on only one way but it shouldn't really matter how you put back coils back on. I just took some sandpaper and cleaned the terminals and took a wire brush to the towers.

If it was me doing the tune-up in "Stages":
1. Air Filter/PCV
2. Plugs/Wires
3. Coil pack cleaning
4. Throttle Body cleaning

[Melissa_M]

Originally Posted by Low Saturn

They were implying that this would take a long time and doing each part a different day. I was just saying it ALL can be done in a few minutes.

You're right - it should not take a lot of time for the average person. Stuff just takes me way longer to do, in general, for a bunch of reasons.
More importantly, not having anybody to look over my shoulder, I figure the step-wise work would help me isolate problems.

Wires and plugs are 'easy', LOL. For y'all, I'm sure! I am really paranoid about doing the plugs, actually.
I still haven't decided if I should hunt down a torque wrench (I do have one, but it may not be the best for that low torque) and what to do about anti-seize on the plugs, just based on all the debates on the forum.


Melissa_M

[Signmaster]

Just go by the manufacturers instructions, and plugs are a no brainer. You can use antiseize and do the "hand tight + 1/4" or whatever they suggest, or you can use no antiseize and a torque wrench. Either works. A lot of plugs these days have an antiseize coating on them, so most of the time you don't need to add something else. But if you do it won't hurt anything.

If in doubt, do 1 plug and 1 wire at a time. After replacing the plug, replace the wire, routing it the same way the old one was.

There is nothing wrong with using caution until you're comfortable with what you're doing. And 50 years from now people will still be debating on what is the best way to do it, when in fact most things have more than one way that will work just as good.

[Ghettoracer]

Yeah he's correct. Many use the hand-tight method and usually don't have a problem. Just make sure that your threads are lined up when you are going in or you're going to have to re-thread the head and that's a big pain in the you know what. A little thing I do to make sure the threads are seated is putting the plug in the hole and turn counter-clockwise until it kinda drops in and turn it clockwise to tighten it down. If you notice that you are having issues with turning the plug before its all the way down, say you have 3/4 of the threads not going in, back out and start again cause you probably cross-threaded.

[quantumech]

Originally Posted by Ghettoracer

Yeah he's correct. Many use the hand-tight method and usually don't have a problem. Just make sure that your threads are lined up when you are going in or you're going to have to re-thread the head and that's a big pain in the you know what. A little thing I do to make sure the threads are seated is putting the plug in the hole and turn counter-clockwise until it kinda drops in and turn it clockwise to tighten it down. If you notice that you are having issues with turning the plug before its all the way down, say you have 3/4 of the threads not going in, back out and start again cause you probably cross-threaded.

Don't try to force it. Go finger tight with the socket and extension until the plug is seated. If it gets tough right away while finger-tightening, then you're starting to cross-thread it. You'll know it, it just won't feel right. Back up, try again.

As for anti-sieze, I've never had a problem without. Most plugs seem to come with a nickle or zinc coating on the threads that act the same way. I know the NGK's do.