How do you change the spark plugs on a 1998 Subaru Legacy 4-cylinder wagon?

Answer 1

everyone i know has their own way of doing it but i just use a 6" extension on a 3/8 air ratchet. if you work at it a bit you can finangle it down in there and get them out. you have to remove the air box that holds your air filter out of the way and remove the washer fluid bottle on the otherside. You should replace plugwires, coilpack and plugs all in one go. Plugwires and a coil pack are $65 & $100 at the dealer, respectively (you can do 30% to 50% better buying them online if you have the time). I bought $8 Autolite APP3924�s in place of $30 factory original NGK PFR5B11�s, but suit yourself. Gap s/b .044�. Buy some anti-sieze lube too while you�re at it. Driver�s side: Remove the battery (10mm wrench) and set aside. Take out the two 13mm nuts holding the window washer jug and lift the vessel to free it up. Don�t bother disconnecting it, just rotate it onto its side and place it where the battery used to be. Passenger side: Loosen the clamp that attaches the flexible boot to the airbox. Undo the two springclips that retain the aircleaner cover. This should free up the connecting section from the air cleaner to the airbox. Lift it up and gently rotate it out of the way; no need to undo any electrical connections. Note the second airhose hidden under the flexible boot. Be sure to reconnect that when you put things back together or the engine won�t run � guess how I found that out? Remove the two 13mm bolts holding the lower half of the aircleaner box and gradually pull the box away from the fender (there�s a rubber plug holding it in). Now you can get at the plugwires. Note how they are routed � the ones nearest the firewall go to the plugs nearest the firewall. Remember that when you put things back. Now is a good time to clean things up so you won�t shovel crap back into the hole later on. You�ll probably need large pliers to remove the wires from the plugs; you can see them but a firm direct grip is �problematic. They won�t want to come out but they can be persuaded. Before you start pulling, free the rubber from the head first - a stick or even a bent screwdriver helps there. Once they�re off the sparklugs are exposed. You�ll have just over an inch and a quarter of space between the head and the body. Using a 3/8� drive set, if you insert a 5/8� sparkplug wrench and then a short extension, the end of the extension will be just visible. Connect a breaker wrench to that and pray as you loosen. Switch to a ratchet once things are freed up if you want. After the plug is free, remove the wrench parts one at a time, and then the plug. Put a clean new plug (washer and top-nut included) with a tiny amount of antisieze smeared ONLY on the threads and none on the ceramic into the plug wrench. Feed into the sparkplug hole followed by the shore extension. Use your fingers to get it started then add the ratchet. Once you hit bottom, you want to torque to 20 in/lbs. or until the washer collapses. Repeat for each cylinder. Remove and replace the coil pack now if you were going to (10mm), then re-route the plugwires. Make very sure they are fully seated onto the tops of the plugs. If you do any twisting (don�t) twist only in a clockwise direction so as to not unscrew the little nut on the top of the sparkplug. All done but reassembly now, so in reverse order from the directions above, put the aircleaner back together, put the window washer back in place, reinstall the battery, look everything over carefully, and take a test drive.