Guys,

You won't believe this crap! I just was outside doing my 30,000 mile tune-up on my 4Runner I just bought it back in April and it had 60,952 miles on it. It has 62,575 now. I took the spark plugs out and one side was Denso and the other was NGK! These spark plugs were worn to hell in back and was on the way back to hell!! Who ever had it before me did not think to change the darn things out and I had to be very careful when changing them. New ones are all Denso and with Anti-seize, gapped to .041. Needless to say the only thing that looks to have been done was the oil recently by some lube place, but about to put some good old Mobil 1 EP in her with a Toyota filter. I was not surprised by it cause I was telling my fiance that I will know if the plugs were ever changed out when I start on the other side and they are different plugs! The cabin filter look like someone wipped their butt with it and the air filter was dark grey, not white. Tomorrow morning I change out the differential fluid. Mine is a 2wd, so not much lubing to do. Mobil 1 LS is going in there.

I will take some picks of the spark plugs as soon as my battery for the camera charges up.

Obviously, not everyone is diligent about the routine maintenance. At least the plugs and filters are easy to change out. I'd also recommend that you do the differentials, too -- it's nearly a certainty that they haven't been touched, either.

On the bright side, you take care of these things and the truck will run much better. Probably will double your mileage, too!

Um...actually I pulled my plugs to check them after only 8k miles, and they already look beat to hell. They may not be the originals. I believe that at some dealers that if they replace them, they are still being replaced by 2 different plugs just like they came with.

I just replaced my plugs for the first time at 100K miles, not that I didn't check them before, but they didn't need replacing. Even at 100K they still looked great.

V6 or V8?

Here are the spark plugs guys!!

This is the Denso Plugs..






Here are the NGK'S.....





We can see here that the Denso's wear better. The NGK's look like crap. I had enough time and did the differential tonight. Man was that magnet packed!!!!! Oil did not look too bad but it was needing a change. I have a question on that. I put almost 3.9qrts in and it still did not come out the opening. I stuck my finger in the hole and I can feel the oil not too far from the hole...maybe about 3mm from reaching the fill hole. Is it because maybe I had the backend up on ramps and the vehicle was at an angle?? I know it is suppose to take 3.2qrts in the rear on V6, I got damn near 4qrts in there. 4 bottles of the 75w-90 Mobil 1 LS. Will that be ok, or should I add some more?

Yes, having truck at an angle will position the fill hole higher than it normally is, leading you to put too much oil. Do not add any more oil, you are already over. It may actually damage the seals (at least that was my experience many years ago).

So should I open the fill bolt and see if any comes out after leveling the vehicle?

Yes, put a drip pan under the diff and open the fill plug and let the excess oil run out.

Thanks, will do that in the morning. It is too dark out now to attempt.

V6...those plugs really don't look too bad RunnerStunner. Check out this website, it contains a good guide for judging your plugs which are a great indication of the condition of your engine.

http://roadstarclinic.com/content/view/70/127/

Yeah, they don't look real bad and I know there have been worse, but these are the worst I have seen in a while. The gap on them is almost double what they should be.

it's because changing the passenger side plugs is easy breezy and driver side is totally pain in the butt. assume you have the 4L V6. at lease both NGK and Denso are OEM replacement plugs as long as they are the correct part#

Yeah, the driver side was a little bit tougher but it was not bad at all too me! Just have to think outside of the box on how to use the space that was given and have the right tools for the job.

Hello,

I am ready to change my plugs and have little over 33,000 miles on my V6 4 runner. I am looking to put in irdidum plugs. wha tyou guys all think? I am looking at the NGK LFR6AIX-11 and the Denso 1KH20. Do you think i can just use one brand for all 6 plus? Both of the plugs are premium class Iridium plus about $10-$11 per plug. Technically, Iridium plugs can last for 100,000 miles and more stronger than standard plugs. Also today i tried to take out the plus and for some reason it is in the tube after pulling out the long stick, how can i get the plug out of the deep tube? any suggestions greatly appreciated?