Toyota PITA
So yesterday was another fun experience with helping a friend out. I changed my plugs and wires within an hour and a half, with pizza and beer breaks... Then came the stupidest engine in the world. 2004 Toyota Solara 3.3L, first it has coilpacks instead of wires @ 60+ dollars each, suck number 1. The front three plugs are similar to the cougar, really easy to get to and change the back ones are about 10 times harder to get out. The air intake comes in on the top of the engine allowing you to see only one of the other plugs... not getting to it just barely seeing it. SO after we removed that part, 7 bolts most of them hidden between the intake and the firewall and the engine, you still need tiny hands a mirror and two people to pop the wire harness off of the coilpacks to get them out and get at the plugs. Another 4 hours after we start we get them changed and put the POS engine back together, my buddy has a friend that works for toyota in KY that we had been talking to and he said it was about the only way you could do the change, which Toyota recommends at 120,000 miles. Somehow he forgot to mention the dumbest hose connection in automobile history, between the engine and the upper intake which without fail comes off almost everytime you change the plugs. We get the car back together about 5 hours after starting, only 1 beer and no pizza... huge vacuum leak that you can hear in the car when you shut the engine off. Needless to say tomarrow we get to rip it all apart which should be a bit easier since we know what we're doing, but still why do you put plugs under an intake and have a hose without a clamp where you can't see it when the intake is on... I hate Toyota's and my back does too.
Oh my plugs were running a gap of .040 to .080 with almost 43000 miles
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