How To Change Your Spark Plugs on a Chevrolet Malibu 2000/2001

This is meant to be a comprehensive how to guide on changing the spark plugs on a Chevy Malibu.  Oftentimes, you can get good videos or written instructions, but they don't always do you justice.

Spark plugs on your Chevy Malibu should last 100,000 miles.  If you're car is getting close to 100,000 miles, you're having trouble starting the engine in the cold, or if you are getting an OBD-II Code of P0300 (the P0300 or is a general cylinder misfire code, but you can tell which cylinder misfired specifically based on the last digit, so a P0301 is a misfire in the cylinder #1, a P0302 is a misfire in cylinder #2, and a code of P0303, P0304, P0305, P0306 are misfires in cylinders 3, 4, 5, and 6, respectively) then you may need to change your spark plugs.

The good thing about changing your spark plugs for a fuel injection engine like the Chevy Malibu, is that its theroetically as simple as unscrewing a bolt and screwing on a new bolt.  As we will see though, its not always that easy when working in a tight space under the hood.

Another word of note.  I was quoted $130 to change the spark plugs.  If you already know how to change your spark plugs, then you don't need to read this and can change them yourself.  If you don't have any experience working on cars (like myself) then I would recommend that you just pay the $130, unless of course you want to gain proficiency in working on your car, in which case you don't need to think strictly in terms of money saved/pain in the ass and time spent.

So, enough talk, lets see why we need new spark plugs.  This is a picture of one of the spark plugs replaced in my Chevy Malibu at 116,000 miles.  This is probably 16,000 miles and two years overdue:  

As you can see this is a worn out spark plug.  The tip of the central electrode is worn down and the gap is too wide.

Here you can see a comparison of an old spark plug next to its new replacement.  Here you can really see the difference in the central electrode and the gap on the old spark plug versus the new.

So now that your ready to change your spark plugs, lets discuss the tools you will need.

You will need 6 new spark plugs, a gauge to read the gap in your spark plug, a special socket to fit a spark plug, ratchet set, pliers, dielectric grease, and thread lubricant.  If you decide to remove your alternator (to free up room to reach the back three spark plugs) you will also need a 13mm ratchet and a breaker bar.

Enough exposition, let's get under the hood.  

The first step to changing your spark plugs, is locating you spark plugs.  If you are a dumbass like me, the diagram below will be helpful:

 In the box on the top is the ignition coil or coil pack.  The ignition coil transforms the low voltage from the car battery to the high voltage needed to create the spark in your spark plug to ignite the fuel to make your car go vroom (wikipedia).  

In the box below, you can see clearly the three spark plug boots, which are connected from the ignition coil through the spark plug wire, which are called high tension leads.

Here is a closer picture of the ignition coil.

It is worth mentioning that an engine misfire could be due to a bad ignition coil.  You can see that the ignition coils are clearly labeled to show the firing order.  From the ignition coils are 6 wires, each heading to a separate spark plug (assuming you don't drive a four cylinder).

If you couldn't tell where the spark plug boot was in the picture above, this picture should close that gap.  In this photo, you can clearly see that I am holding the spark plug boot.  You should now be able to see the three front spark plugs and the high tension leads.

Now all you have to do is unplug the spark plug boot from the spark plug by pulling on the spark plug boot.  Easy, right?  Wrong.  Remember your car is 15 years old and you live in the MidWest where the summers are over 100 degrees and the winters are below 0.  This is going to be a struggle.  Please know this going in.  You have to wrestle this stupid thing off by wiggling it, twisting it, and pulling it (and cursing it).  They market specific spark plug boot removal tools, but I never bought one so who knows if they work.  You can also use a set of pliers. I should stress that you should only pull from the boot and not the wire, unless you want to replace the high tension leads, then I guess you could try to just pull the boot off from the wire.  

So now you should have the spark plug boot removed.  From here its as simple as removing the spark plug using a spark plug socket and plugging the new one back in its place.  This is pretty simple, but back inside first and let's go back to the beginning of this project and ensure our new spark plugs are properly gapped.  I believe the factory specified gap is 0.060 (in thousands of an inch).

This is the old spark plug, which is gapped at .070. If your gap is too large or too small, bend the ground electrode closer to or further away from the center electrode. If you don't what the ground electrode is, it is the pointed out in red in the photo below:

After you checked all your gaps, or said fuck it I'm sure they are gapped correctly out of the box,  I would like to show you why you need to have the special socket.  Bascially, it just big enough to clear the insulator and locks into the terminal. The next series of photos is meant to illustrate this.

The socket is big enough to house the plug.

See

Be sure to lock it in.

This photo is here to make sure you have a ratchet extension.  If you don't, go out and buy one.

So there you go, buy this socket and remove the spark plug and replace it with the new.  But before you do, spread some dielectric grease on the terminal, this should help you to remove the spark plug boot in the future, if you ever need to, and some anti-seal thread lubricant around the threads (this may be snake-oil for all I know, but its cheap).

Then replace your boot and continue for all three spark plugs in the front.  Although the process is the same for the back three spark plugs, the level of difficulty is increased by the space constrictions.  

To be continued...