Alright I'm trying to do a spark plug change in my 96 3.8 V6. First off the spark plugs are located under the headers????? Who the f*ck designed that? From what I can see they are damn near impossible to get to. I've got a socket with a swivel but I'm looking for some advice on the best way to change the plugs. Somebody hook me up...................

 

Ok, i know it sucks.. lol. I hope this helps.
I did mine about a week ago..
Anyway the front two (number 1 & 2) you should be able to get with the swivel and socket from under the hood. It may be a little tricky but once you do it you'll get the hang of it. As for the other 4, I found it was easier to get them from under the car. On the driver's side the number 3 and 5 spark plugs are kinda tricky.. ok, really tricky at first. It might help if you take off the guard that goes over your starter. Anyway I used the swivel and socket with a rachet from underneath for those two, it took a while but I got them. As for the other two on the passenger side, numbers 4 and 6, once again go from under. But, this time I put the socket on the spark plug, then used a wrench on the end of the socket to remove them. If you have some help you may be able to use a swivel on the back one from above, if you can have yourself or someone else under the car to get the socket on the spark plug completely.

I recently talked to a guy at a parts store and he said it's a lot easier to take the tire off and go through the fenderwell. Maybe he was kidding, but he seemed serious and it does seem like it would be easier.. I'm just not sure if you could access them from there without messing anything up.

I know that was long, but i hope it helps. It took me nearly 2 and a half hours to do it myself but once i got the hang of it it was ok.. But, once you do it the first time it should be a LOT easier the second time.

Edit: After thinking about it, using a wrench on the end of the socket on the back 2 on the driver side (numbers 3 and 5) might be easier than a swivel. I didn't use it, i used a swivel because I didn't even think about a wrench until I got to the other side.

 

Oh yeah, it helps a lot too if you get some good lighting and just get under the car as best you can. It helps a lot more if you can see what your doing rather than just by feel. And im sure you know, but just be careful with jacking up the car if your going to be under it. I don't know about yours, but mine is low enough so that if it fell, I would've been dominated..lol

 

If you're crawlin under it I got two words for you:

JACK STANDS

Never ever ever ever ever ever get under a car just on a jack. The risk isn't worth the 5 minutes you save gettin the stands out and placin em under the car.

Or you could just get ramps.

 

Smart man..I dig your style.

 

Dad, is that you? Very good advice though, I use jack stands even if I'm doing the brakes. Whenever I can't use the Rhino Ramps, I always use jackstands when the car is jacked up. Alsobe sure to use chock your wheels. About the spark plugs though, I read a while ago on herethat some guy helped his neighbordo it in like 10-15 minutes, might wanna search around for that. I'm dreading when I have to change my spark plugs too, which will probably have to be done sometime in the near future.