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Coil pack problem


scar
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Hi All, its a few years since I posted on this site and it was always in the RAV4 section. Now I have my daughters former car which she has had from new. 2011 ago fire 5 door it has served her well for 43,000 miles and I decided to keep it as the px against her new car was poor.

Well thats the intro over.

Apart from the first couple of services I have always done the maintenance myself. On taking over the car I thought I would replace the spark plugs. I know these Iridium plugs have a extended life  but I am wary of leaving spark plugs in that long. You then find out they won't free off. It a quick job air filter off, coil packs out, plugs out, new ones in. Done. Well all the 6mm retaining screw for the coil packs didn't want to come out. Eventually I got 2 out but cylinder 1 refused. The brass female fitting that the bolt sits in just turns inside its housing. I don't know if it was a interference fit or glued but it just spun in its pocket. I cut the head of the bolt off which allowed me to draw out the coil pack. I then had to drill out the seized bolt and re tap it 6mm. It took awhile. The plugs were in pretty good condition but I put the new ones in.

So a word of warning, you may be unlucky like me and not be able to get a coil pack out. It may be worth removing the 6mm bolts and put your favourite form of anti corrosion paste/fluid on them. I was just unfortunate. Toyota put brass female fitting to prevent this happening but there has been some sort of galvanic reaction between the bolt and its brass fitting. I came close to drilling out all 3.

I filled the car up and on the first tank of petrol did 433 miles. 35.36 L of petrol went in. Now that surprised me as the official tank size is 35 L. Anyway that is 55.7 mpg all around town, pleased with that. Our other car is a Honda CRV petrol and we average 33 mpg so thats not getting much use at the moment.

 

Overall I am very pleased with the car. Its never been back for any problems usually attributed to this model,  the only big item was new front discs and pads which I did. Its  basic inside but as a cheap form of transport with 5doors, no road tax and cheap insurance it puts a smile on my face when I drive it.

 

Must sort my avatar info out, sold that car years ago.

 

Edited by scar
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Glad you got it sorted in the end. Getting my plugs changed by the Toyota dealer in December, at the five year point. Like you, I don't want the plugs getting stuck in there, for me or the next owner.

Wish i was getting 55 mpg though, I must have a heavy right foot :blink:

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My packs were quite troublesome to get out as well (although luckily without snapping anything), and I agree in changing them more often than the book suggests if only to re-lube eveything. I have always used copperslip in areas like this, having had a sparkplug sieze many years ago on an Escort Mk1 that I vowed I would never let happen again!

Funny that MPG should be mentioned - I just filled up the other day and checked MPG (I haven't done so for ages) and saw I had achieved 61mpg! I wouldn't say I was particularly light footed either, although I was getting around 55 when I was last checking. I have a feeling the cat removal may have helped though.

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According to the Toyota dealer full service schedule, which I had done last year, they are supposed to check the spark plugs. Whether they actually do or not, would probably mean sitting there watching them carry out a service. I had asked for a 'My Toyota' video of the service, but that never materialised.

The plugs are getting renewed on the next one, just to make sure.

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34 minutes ago, Planemo said:

My packs were quite troublesome to get out as well (although luckily without snapping anything), and I agree in changing them more often than the book suggests if only to re-lube eveything.

What interval does the book suggest?

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