Yukon plug & wire install price

[gride]

A local place quoted me $200-250 for oem replacements and cleaning the throttle body. Seems high to me. Thoughts ? 2005 v-8 Yukon.

[azeus17]

I don't know exactly how it relates to the 05's, but on the current body style, I would pay every penny of that happily after doing it myself. Seems like a pretty straight forward job, right? Wrong! I changed 7 of the 8 plugs and wires in about 30 min. The 8th took me a solid 3 hours. Either they planned this to make you take it to the dealer, or they just really missed this somehow, but the last one is located on the passenger side all the way back, and behind the air conditioning condenser. I had to use two extensions and two U joints and the majority of my knuckle skin to get that sucker in and out. Probably at least an hour just to get the wire off the plug with the very limited room for movement. Take a look and if yours is the same, let someone else do it.

[gride]

Ya I ended up getting two quotes from non corporate shops and they were both @ 200-250 with platinum plugs and cleaned throttle body.

[Rick]

The wires cost about $125. I had my shop do my 2005 Tahoe and it was $230.

[AirTool]

I don't know exactly how it relates to the 05's, but on the current body style, I would pay every penny of that happily after doing it myself. Seems like a pretty straight forward job, right? Wrong! I changed 7 of the 8 plugs and wires in about 30 min. The 8th took me a solid 3 hours. Either they planned this to make you take it to the dealer, or they just really missed this somehow, but the last one is located on the passenger side all the way back, and behind the air conditioning condenser. I had to use two extensions and two U joints and the majority of my knuckle skin to get that sucker in and out. Probably at least an hour just to get the wire off the plug with the very limited room for movement. Take a look and if yours is the same, let someone else do it.

Did you consider taking the front wheel and inner mud flap off? I've done several cars and trucks that way in a few minutes as opposed to hours. Sometimes you can just crank the steering all the way to the left.

[BT]

Hi gride, I own an auto repair shop. That is the going rate for labor and using good parts. War Eagle!!!!

[azeus17]

Did you consider taking the front wheel and inner mud flap off? I've done several cars and trucks that way in a few minutes as opposed to hours. Sometimes you can just crank the steering all the way to the left.

Actually, no, I did not think of it at the time, but I do not think it would have helped.

[ers906]

Not to hijack the thread, but anyone who has a 2004 (i think even 05, 06) Ford F150 and wants to change the plugs be careful. The OEM plugs they used these years have a tendency to break and lodge in the headers. There are special tools that are used when this happens, but there are horror stories of needing to pull the headers off etc to get them out. I typically do this type of maintenance myself, but with the stories I read on forums for Ford, I just had the dealer do it. They also state that the plugs need to change out at 100,000 miles, however, the mechanics I have discussed this with state the earlier this can be done the better since it will decrease the likelihood of them breaking. Just an FYI

[BT]

Not to hijack the thread, but anyone who has a 2004 (i think even 05, 06) Ford F150 and wants to change the plugs be careful. The OEM plugs they used these years have a tendency to break and lodge in the headers. There are special tools that are used when this happens, but there are horror stories of needing to pull the headers off etc to get them out. I typically do this type of maintenance myself, but with the stories I read on forums for Ford, I just had the dealer do it. They also state that the plugs need to change out at 100,000 miles, however, the mechanics I have discussed this with state the earlier this can be done the better since it will decrease the likelihood of them breaking. Just an FYI

Definitely not a job for the faint of heart, but it's not that bad when one breaks off if you have the tool and experience to get the broken piece out. In fact, I have not seen all 8 plugs come out in tact on one single 3 valve triton engine we have serviced. Usually anywhere from 1 to 3 will break off, but I have seen as many as 7 of the 8 break off. We charge .5 hr to 1.0 hr extra per broken plug to extract depending on the location of the plug (the back cylinders are harder than the front ones). It's also a good idea to replace all of the coil boots at the same time. Never had to pull a cylinder head to get one out yet (knock on wood).

[Rick]

My neighbor has a 2 valve Triton. He was coming home and thought he had blown an exhaust gasket. It turns he had blown out a spark plug. Stripped the threads and all apparently it happens all the time because Snap-on makes a tool that uses an impact wrench to drill out the hole then a tap to tap it and an insert without taking anything apart. The tool is about 250.00 and includes 8 inserts. Be careful though the 2 and 3 valve heads use different kits.

[azeus17]

Good to know! Thanks for the info. I just sold my 07 Tahoe and picked up an 04 F-150...something tells me I will not even be attempting it this time!

[AirTool]

My neighbor has a 2 valve Triton. He was coming home and thought he had blown an exhaust gasket. It turns he had blown out a spark plug. Stripped the threads and all apparently it happens all the time because Snap-on makes a tool that uses an impact wrench to drill out the hole then a tap to tap it and an insert without taking anything apart. The tool is about 250.00 and includes 8 inserts. Be careful though the 2 and 3 valve heads use different kits.

Last night I read the post about the plugs breaking off ( i assume below the hex head) and laughed because it is well known that the previous design (2 valve) had the problem where the threads blew out like you describe above. one can google "f150 plug poppers" for fun.

So its funny they go from one extreme to the other. I had a 4 valve and didn't have problems with the plugs but I did have a burned valve that caused rough idle and misfire codes. I now own two of these 3 valve but one I may trade soon. On my wife's, maybe I need to loosen and re-torque the plugs every year.