So.... where the heck are they? On my 08 they were easy to find, and now I'm lost with this new engine. I read something about each plug gets it own ignition coil too? Any pictures would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

-Mike

 

look on the right side ( passanger side ) of your engine / valve cover you will see 3 little black boxes with some wires going to each one of them. those are your ingition coils. the spark plug is down in the head directly under them.

 

Ok I suspected those might be them... but if those are 1-3-5, where are 2-4-6 & how do I access them?

 

Same thing on other side? Lol

 

 

Thanks for the pics! I'm assuming the drivers side is 1-3-5 and pass is 2-4-6?
Why would these engineers make this so complicated and difficult to access?! Checking & changing spark plugs used to be so easy.

 

Because the spark plugs will outlast the cylinder heads they are mounted into? Haha. Dunno? The plugs should last well beyond 100k miles. The ones in my wife's Honda Pilot were the iridium style and her manual said to replace them at 125k miles. I pulled hers and installed new ones at 110k and they honestly looked better than any plug I've ever removed. Hell, my riding mower burns up plugs in one mowing season.

I guess cars ignition systems are just far better than they used to be and the need to change plugs isn't on the engineers list of "user friendly" design criteria.

Sent from the fast lane while driving one handed.

 

The spark plugs on the 3.6 L Pentastar are recommended to be replaced at 100K miles. Generally the tips on the plugs are platinum coated or some other exotic metal that resists being eroded by the electrical voltage. My wife's Ford Edge, I replaced the plugs at 100K and the color of the plug was beautiful. The gap was significantly eroded [which I was surprised]. The gap was double what it was supposed to be. I was surprised it ran so well. 3 of the plugs were easy to get at, and the three others I had to remove the intake manifold.

Putting the coil pack on top of the plug is cheaper for the engine manufacturer (less parts). Also manufacturers don't make cars so they are easy for Harve the Home Mechanic to work on anymore. With a 100K change interval - why should they? Most owners are likely to sell it before then.

They are also trying to reduce the Total Cost of Ownership of the vehicle. This one of the reasons why oil changes are at 6K mi intervals.

 

On my Sportage, I have to remove the intake manifold (runs across the top of the engine) and a plastic cover from the top of the engine, then remove the coil packs and use an extension to get to the plugs which are buried in the top middle of the engine. I changed them at 93K and the gap was pretty bad, but she was still running like a champ. Changing the timing belt requires removing the thermostat housing because it's right in the middle of the TB cover. Can't really blame Kia though because they used a Mazda FE3 engine.

 

I started out with a flooded 2012 Wranger so I wanted to check the spark plugs before ever starting the jeep. So I ran into the same problem. Where the heck were they......????

I went to jeep to ask and they showed me that they are under the intake manifold. It wasn't too hard to get to them oncethe manifold was off. At jeep they did suggest replacing the manifold gaskets when the spark plugs were changed but I did not do that myself snce they looked brand new still.