Hey guys I just picked up an 01 taco 3.4 4x4 5 speed with 160,xxx miles on it. She runs great but seems to be a little fuel thirsty. So just for maintainence sakes I'm changing the fuel filter, plugs and plug wires.

I got oem replacements plugs from napa NGK BKR5EKB11 and now I'm wondering if they really need to be gapped? I don't have the special wire type gapping tool for these dual tip plugs, any ill effects of putting them in right out of the box?

Also I'm going to buy the plug wires from the Toyota dealer directly. Any idea on price before I drive over and inquire?

 

I will probably get berated for this but i just throw them in, ive been an auto tech for 14 years now. i trust NGK to know what my toyota needs. Matter a fact they are the only plug i trust in my yotas and hondas. You can but NGK wires from Advance auto parts if you have one, worked great on my 98 $runner

 

Well I'm changing the plugs right now and to my surprise the po put in some NGK BKR5EGP plugs that are only single tipped and these show definite signs of wear!! The replacements I'm putting in should make a hell of a difference.

On another note, has anyone had trouble removing thr fuel filter that's mounted on the drivers side frame rail?? I can't get the nuts to budge so I sprayed the threads with wd-40 and am letting them soak at the moment.

 

you're not supposed to gap those dual tipped ngks. they should be gapped correctly from the factory. The toyota uses a waste spark ignition system thus the need for dual grounds.
The usual, tire pressure, lube up the drive train, air filter and also clean your MAF, those should help improve the fuel economy a bit.

 

Well I changed the plugs and here's the situation:

5 out of 6 plugs looked like they had normal wear on them although they were the incorrect single tip plugs. But the middle spark plug on the drivers side showed a lot of corrosion like all over the plastic boot that goes down the spark plug cylinder as well as the plug threads itself. I blew the cylinder out with compressed air and sprayed some wd-40 to prevent future corrosion. Now what would cause this issue in only this plug??

 

Anyone care to comment on the above question?

Also can someone share thier expereince with changing the fuel filter on one of these trucks ??

 

You might need to get something a little better than WD-40 to spray on there.


I had a fuel filter on a T100 that I could not break loose that turned into a night mare replacing fuel lines and the fuel filter with one from Summit racing.

As to your plug could be a bad wire some one could have spilled some coolant down that hole just see what happens.

I always never seize my plug threads and use dielectric grease on the boots

 

I forgot to mention I coated all the plugs with anti sieze on the threads to make sure they come out easily the next tune up. Now the fuel filter worries me, I couldn't get the nuts to budge and I'm afraid I'll round them out if i try harder , is there a special trick to this or are these filters just sucky to replace?

 

how did yhe old plugs look? have service records, im assuming not.

 

This truck sat in upstate New York allowing all the winter slop to really work in.

Most times they break loose with only a little trouble using a 14mm line wrench on the line and a 17mm wrench on the filter .

I ended up having to replace the steel lines with rubber FI lines it was a mess till it was done.

That truck fought tooth and claw every step of the way.

 

I have no service records which is why I'm also going to change the timing belt soon, but all.the plugs looked like they had normal wear if anything running hot, they all had a light white glaze to them. I can send pics to someone to post up if anyone would volunteer.

 

PB blast works the best from my experience. Spray those fuel filter nuts twice a day for a couple days and they will come loose. I changed my filter a few months ago and didn't have much of a problem with them. The fuel filter is considered a non servicable (no change needed) part from toyota but I had them get me one anyway. I got 4 miles more a gallon with my spark plugs and fuel filter change.

 

I haven't had that good of luck with blaster in the past but I got my T's fuel filter out even though it looked like a huge ball of rust. I'm not sure if all the filters come with the bracket? It sure made things easier to have it.

 

The OEM filter did not come with a bracket. The advanced auto one did but I took it back to use the tortuous filter instead.

 

You will need to use some penetrating fluid on the nuts as stated above. WD-40 is a W ater D isplacer... Formula attempt #40 funny enough. lol

As for the plugs. Don't worry about the wear on the incorrect plugs. Install the proper ones and drive the truck a while then pull them out and compare wear. Does the engine run smooth? Any signs that it may be missing at all?

 

I'll pull the plugs and look at the wear soon but when I originally bought the truck it had thr check engine light on with 2 codes saying mis fire on cylinder 1 and 2. I then cleared the codes, cleaned my maf sensor, cleaned the throttle body, and changed the plugs. Since then the light has not come back on but I do notice that at idle the motor has a very subtle shake sometimes that does resemble a misfire.

 

gk5: my motor idles like that too. Been like that for as long as I can remember. There will be a random stumble in the smooth idle at times but I haven't seen any issues in driveability. Let me know what you find out.

 

Just an fyi my truck has been running great since the minor tune up I did. No more check engine light or idle shake and I'm getting around 20 mpg. So far I've gotten 311 miles out of 15 gallons so im very happy.