My car has about 60k miles on it, and was wondering if the t-belt/chain is something that should start concerning me on this any time soon.

Matt

 

It uses a chain. Spark plugs are speced out to be replaced at 70,000. Upper intake needs to come off to do them so not a quick job. Do a search and you will find the procedure.

 

I figured it would use a chain. Excellent.

Wow the upper intake needs to come off? Thats not very friendly of them. I'll look into plugs then. Any recommendations?

 

85_305, when it comes to plugs for our cars, stick with something basic. A simple double platinum plug is all that is needed. Sure, you can use things like the Splitfires or the Bosch +4's, but the modern day cars don't benefit from them (trust me, I have tried the +4's, not change). Sure, you can step up to the iridium plugs, but that is only for slightly longer life of the plug.

As for replacing them. Is it a simple 20 minute job. No. Is it difficult. No. There are like 8 bolts holding the intake halves together. You will also need to remove the intake upstream of the throttlebody. I would also recommend unbolting the throttlebody from the upper half of the intake. This will prevent you from having to vent the coolant system later on. I would say you can plan on taking about 2 hours to do the plugs. Not hard. I heard the horror stories, but after doing it, it isn't that bad. Take your time and all will be fine.

 

Excellent advise, thanks for the step-by-step!

 

85_305, please note, I didn't mention the vacuum lines connected to the intake. But, that should be pretty obvious when you do this project. Nothing hidden that you need to worry about other than 2 of the bolts are on the backside of the intake (between the intake and the firewall). A standard 10mm wrench is all you need to take them off. Also, the vacuum connections to the intake require you to push down on them and then holding on to the little collar lift up the whole assembly as one. This will release the retaining clip.

 

Thanks for the info.. I was trying to figure out how to do that yesterday lol