Hey guys,

I just want to know if there's anything I should be aware of before changing plugs and wires on the 2200.

I know what to do in general and from what I've read, there shouldn't be anything complicated about this one. I'm just looking to find out if I should know anything up front like how to reach a difficult plug or any such thing.

Thanks all!

well its pretty straight forward, the plug by the alternator is a little tricky, just need to move the alternator wires out of the way. Other than that just make sure the right wires go to the right cylinders.

Use a proper spark plug wire removal tool for the one by the alternator otherwise it's damn near impossible to get the wire off. other than that one of the easiest plug removals i've seen.




I was happy when I heard my car ran 10s. Then I found out that was 0-60.

Excellent. Thanks guys! This is exactly what I was hoping to hear!!

I'll definitely have the wire removal tool on hand.

my spark plugs where covered in oil because my valve cover was leaking so alot of crap got onto the spark plugs so the first one came out when i went to put the new one in it wouldint go in so i had to by some tool to clean the threads off.

wire removal tool HA HA HA... oh man.
take it off with your hands. geez.

1. buy a chilton's or a haynes manual for your car dude.. it will answer questions like this.
2. whatever you do... don't get bosch spark plugs okay? our cars like NGK's and autolite and such. I like NGK v-powers. Bosch are horrendous and they make a lot of j-bodies more prone to stalling and crappy idling..
3. put anti-seize @!#$ on your plugs before you put them in okay? this prevents them from getting embedded in your engine block which... does not make for good times. you can get it at kragen for eh.. 99 cents?
4. i don't know if you'll have this problem but make sure you aren't cross-threading ( putting in sideways ) your spark plug slots.


Sadly, no more..

here is a pointer, take an airhose and spray the area around the plugs your going to take off. if you dont and remover hte plugs, all that crap will fall in the hole. use a spark plug socket to remove them, do them one by one and match up the wires as you take them off. and i hope you got the AC Delco plugs. there has been a big debate about them but i like them and they are reliable.

heh. I've already got the manual for our cars and I already know how to do change spark plugs, but thanks for the full run-down.

I was just looking for the sort of info people would only have if they'd actually done them on this particular engine before.

J H wrote:Use a proper spark plug wire removal tool for the one by the alternator otherwise it's damn near impossible to get the wire off. other than that one of the easiest plug removals i've seen.

That's the sort of thing that doesn't get printed in a manual and was what I was looking for. As I said in my first post... I know what to do in general.

same motor i have in my car. same process.

Just be sure the engine is cold before you remove plugs. Do NOT try and remove them from a hot aluminum head. I would also use a spark plug wire removal tool because my boots were almost impossible to remove by hand and I damaged one of the plug wires by pulling too hard on the boot. This was on a used Cavalier I bought that had over 100k on.

The plugs were also difficult to remove because they had obviously never been checked in that time. Despite what the manufacturer says, it's a bad idea to leave plugs untouched for 100k miles. They tend to freeze to aluminum after that time. One should remove after say, 25k miles, check them, put a small amount of anti-sieze on the threads and then carefully screw them in by hand and finally tighten with a torqe wrench to NO MORE than 15lb ft.

Vincent Morris wrote:here is a pointer, take an airhose and spray the area around the plugs your going to take off.

right. i had to change my valve cover gasket because it was leaking and i had all kind of debris around the boots. i had to clean it all off first to make sure that nothing would fall down into the cylinders

Sorry, I've just checked the specs for spark plug torque. It's 15lb ft for dry plug threads and 12lb ft for plugs with anti-sieze on the plug threads. The anti-sieze is also a lubricant and it is easy to overtorque the plugs.

Would it be ok to spray down the area with brake cleaner instead of air? The engine bay on the car I'll be working on has been thoroughly mucked up with that sticky rust-proofing gunk.

hmmm i would think so but id still blow it out with air afterward to get as much garbage out as possible. Id still use air no matter what.

If you have no air use use air in a can sold at computer stores. You can shove the tube nozzle right down the plug well and give it a good blast of air.