changing spark plugs

[jpg11124]

i tried changing the plugs on my versa the other day, and after taking off the manifold and getting to the plug hole, didn't have the right socket to get at it..found one on the snap on site, but it was 36 bucks and not in stock..i've been disappointed in the mileage i've been getting, and was sold on these pulstar plugs i read about, thinking they might make a small improvement..i went to sears and still wasn't sure exactly what i needed...thin walled, deep well socket?...and after failing at trying to change them, i saw in a service manual i was able to get on ebay..(pretty handy, was only about 10 bucks on cd) that i was supposed to drain the coolant..now i had the manifold off, but not completely removed, and since i didn't have the right tool, put it back together and it runs fine, no coolant lost...i have a feeling that if i'd got further along, i wouldn't have been able to get at the last couple of plugs, requiring me to disconnect a hose that would've had coolant in it...i'm not sure..any advice?..not enough room to write everything i wanted, but anybody had any experience with these plugs, and what's up with draining the coolant? i've never had a car that i couldn't change the plugs on

[Great White Versa]

not enough room to write everything i wanted

what do you mean by that?

[bucksnort]

Did somebody make all this up? What it sounds like is someone trying to market something. It reminds me of scammers asking questions on eBay from the Ukraine

[Versa Madness]

.... i saw in a service manual i was able to get on ebay..(pretty handy, was only about 10 bucks on cd) .......

Yeah, that manual is available for FREE here thanks to NissanVersa.org: http://www.nissanversa.org/dow...G.pdf

[frankoV]

also available from the Nissan web site.

[my_new_v]

Ummm...just a thought. When I bought my V, the sales guy said that the Versa's never needed new spark plugs or wires until 100k miles or something like that. Anyone else told that?

[frankoV]

as per maintenance schedule:

http://www.nissanusa.com/pdf/t...G.pdf

[Knightro2]

Yea, 100k is standard on most cars nowadays.

[07Vsdn]

which is why, OP, they don't make them easy to change anymore...

i'd leave them alone.

Yea, 100k is standard on most cars nowadays.

[my_new_v]

I thought so, so why would you want to change them if they are good for 100k miles?

Im starting to believe bucksnort now lol

[bucksnort]

I thought so, so why would you want to change them if they are good for 100k miles?

Im starting to believe bucksnort now lol

The other post for the Pulstar plugs is a scam too. They don't even make them for the Versa. If you could take the manifold off you'd know how to get at the plugs. How stupid do you have to be to believe this crap?

[my_new_v]

Seriously, and ive never seen ANY car where you have to drain some kind of coolant to change spark plugs

Spark plugs are by far the easiest thing to change on a car I think. As far as tune-ups go at least

Gatta hate the scammers

[Versa Madness]

Seriously, and ive never seen ANY car where you have to drain some kind of coolant to change spark plugs

Spark plugs are by far the easiest thing to change on a car I think. As far as tune-ups go at least

Gatta hate the scammers

Per the Nissan Service manual, the intake manifold needs to be removed in order to remove/change the spark plugs on the MR18. This requires the coolant to be drained as well. Since the iridium tipped factory plugs are good for at least 100k miles, this is not a major everyday thing.

[Dragonfly_girl]

Modified by Dragonfly_girl at 7:47 AM 3/28/2008

[jpg11124]

boy, you guys are a bunch of sweethearts...if they don't make these plugs for a versa, then i have a 100 bucks worth of the wrong plugs....maybe i have fell for a marketing ploy as far as the plugs are concerned, but they're real and i can hold them in my hand...a quick search on the internet and i believe any loudmouth a hole could find them...i realize that the plugs in the car are good for 100,00 miles, and maybe i have fell for some bs about these plugs, but oh well....have any of you guys actually tried to change the plugs before ridiculing somebody who actually has?....and thanks for all the real information, bunch of dwads..and oh, by the way, i like the idea of having the service manual on cd, it's portable and doesn't clutter up my computer even more

[my_new_v]

Per the Nissan Service manual, the intake manifold needs to be removed in order to remove/change the spark plugs on the MR18. This requires the coolant to be drained as well. Since the iridium tipped factory plugs are good for at least 100k miles, this is not a major everyday thing.

What coolant though? I have never seen a car where you need to drain some kind of coolant to change the spark plugs.

i like the idea of having the service manual on cd, it's portable and doesn't clutter up my computer even more

Yeah thats true. I have lots of clutter too

And I apologize, when bucksnort said all that I did agree. I just never heard of draining a coolant for plugs. So I apologize for my...inconsideration.

[jpg11124]

thanks, i feel a little better ....like i said, i never got to the second plug, since i didn't have the right socket, but i have a feeling if i had've been able to get any farther, i would've had to take some hoses off...i glossed right over the draining coolant part in the manual...i had the intake manifold off, and even managed to wedge a socket down in the tube that the spark plug is at the bottom of...luckily, i was able to retrieve it...my intent in the beginning was maybe being able to boost my mpg with these plugs, since i've never approached the 35 mpg it was advertised as....the service manager when i bought it said 40...but then again, i bought these plugs

[jpg11124]

i meant that trying to change these plugs was like walking into the gates of hell, and in my first post i wrote a short story on it and ran outta space

[Ever Victorious]

What coolant though? I have never seen a car where you need to drain some kind of coolant to change the spark plugs.

Obviously you've never seen a 6-cylinder Fiero. You gotta drop the whole engine to get to the rear plugs.

If you have to remove the intake manifold, as Versa Madness says, it makes sense that you need to drain the coolant. These days, there's very little that DOESN'T have coolant running through it under the hood.

[my_new_v]

Yeah Im used to working on slightly older cars. Mainly my 93' 240. lol

[jpg11124]

thanks for making me laugh

[my_new_v]

I dont get it lol

Sorry, 60 hours a week can do that to ya...im a prime example X(

[kcourtad]

and in my first post i wrote a short story on it and ran outta space

im lost on how you could have ran out of space on writing your story

[jpg11124]

i was being a little verbose when i first wrote it, and it seemed i ran outta space that you are given for each post...maybe it was my imagination, (i have a good one, i bought plugs that are supposed to boost my mileage and thought they'd be easy to change), but i got to a certain point in my dissertation and it seemed i ran outta space so i shortened it and cut it off before i ran outta space again, if that makes any sense...but i think i got everything in..by the way, i'm determined to eventually try these plugs, i just have to get the right tool...and i'm the last person to be a shill for either these plugs or ebay...there was a post back in july i think that also mentioned these plugs, and i'm pretty sure like i said before that if i had gone any further in my knuckle busting i would've had to of taken a hose off, hence the coolant draining....i did manage to get the manifold loose, and there wasn't any type of sealant (permatex) or gasket on it, which i found kinda strange

[Ever Victorious]

It takes a lot before you run out of input space on this forum. There are some single posts here that are at least 3 pages long on 1280x1024 resolution.. If you mean the little "blue box", it will automatically advance as you make more text.

so unless you were writing the complete works of Shakespeare, you weren;t out of space.

[jpg11124]

just like the spark plugs, i jumped in headfirst...i thought i'd run out of space the first time i wrote..anyway, i was just plain lucky i didn't screw anything up when i tried changing the plugs...looking at it closer, and reading the manual more thorougly, there are water hoses that would've come into play if i had got into it any further...luckily, i didn't have the right tool and and put it back together without screwing anything up...i think i could do it right if i tried again, but since i already have the plugs, and it was way more than i bargained for, i think i'll wait til the warranty expires before i try it again. i did change the in cabin air filter, that wasn't so bad, remove all the screws from the glove box, make sure the brackets in the screw holes don't come loose when you have taken it out, (little metal clips that catch the screw, looked like there were only two that had the propensity to come loose) disconnect the light wiring harness, (push in a little tab and it comes right off) and take a plain old pair of pliers and grasp the filter near the bottom, (couldn't seem to budge it with my fingers), pull it up to free the little tab on the bottom from the notch and then pull it down a little and out. i'd noticed a little musty odor in the air circulation and i'm sure it was from this. i'm not being a shill, bucksnort, but i got both the plugs and the cabin filter from auto parts warehouse online
Modified by jpg11124 at 4:21 PM 4/1/2008

[Vahagn23]

dude I dont know about the spark plugs or what not, but your posts are wayyyy too long to read lol

[l80_240]

well, good luck seems you answered/ finished on your own