Sunday, June 5, 2011

Sonata 2006 v6–Changing Spark Plugs

First of all, disclaimer:

I’m not responsible for any damage you may cause to your car or, even worse, to yourself using instructions provided bellow. I’m not a professional mechanic and whatnot, so use these instructions at your own risk. Read entire post first and be sure you understand everything before you start it. If you’re in doubt – seek professional help.

Stuff you’ll need:

  • Please refer to this post for most of the tools required;
  • In addition to that you’ll need 10, 12, 14 mm sockets
  • needle nose pliers

Well, here are couple useful links from hmaservice.com that contain some information on how to remove intake manifold and spark plugs. This post is not a replacement and its recommended to use official manual as primary source, but those links below are not compete (some steps are missing, some are irrelevant and can be accomplished in a different way):

OK, let’s start.

  • Pop up the hood and disconnect the battery’s negative terminal. Using the 10mm socket remove engine cover:

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  • Remove brackets that hold engine cover, you’ll need 10mm socket and needle nose pliers to detach wires, blue arrows are pointing to the places where those wires are attached. Just squeeze them with pliers and push them through.

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  • Loosen spring clamps securing hose coming from airbox to throttle body (red arrows). Use pliers to squeeze the spring clamp on a breather hose, slide it off and disconnect breather hose (yellow arrow). Do not disconnect mass airflow sensor connector (green circle), just unfasten the airbox cover and leave it as is. Those connectors are pain in the *ss.. Remove the intake hose.

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  • breather hose disconnected

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  • “disconnect” oxygen sensor. Well, its not necessary to disconnect them, just slide them of the W-shaped bracket (surge tank stay), and leave them hanging.

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  • Disconnect camshaft position sensor (in fact its not necessary, but it would be easier to move airbox cover, since MAF sensor is connected).

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  • Slide off injector connector (left) and ignition coil connector (right) from its bracket and remove bracket (or leave it there).

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  • Remove surge tank stay bolt (14 mm) and W-shaped bracket.

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  • Yet, another connector (which must be the one for variable intake solenoid, but I’m not quite sure).

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  • Disconnect manifold absolute pressure sensor (MAPS).

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  • Remove 10mm bolt holding purge control solenoid valve in place (red arrow), disconnect its connector (yellow) and remove spring clamp and hose (blue one). Don’t disconnect another coming from it, disconnecting from surge tank is enough.
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  • Time for throttle body. There are 3 10mm and one 12mm bolts holding it in place. Remove the bolts, don’t disconnect any harness or hoses as there are no reasons to do that (unless you want to). Be careful, as this ‘thing” is somewhat fragile…
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  • Disconnect the two hoses (se below):
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  • .. and there are couple more bolts to remove – 2 10mm and one 12mm at the back of the surge tank.

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  • Now, the fun part – removing surge tank. There are 2 10mm bolts with with white rings on them and there another 3 10mm bolts and 2 nuts holding surge tank in place.
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  • Once the surge tank is removed, cover intake manifold with some rag or towel immediately.

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  • Now you have an access to the rear spark plugs(!).

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  • Replacement procedure is straightforward for engines with coils, and I described it in details here, but in nutshell:
    • Disconnect coil wire;
    • Unscrew the bolt that keeps coil in place;
    • Remove coil;
    • Remove old plug;
    • Take a new plug, put anti-seize lube on it and install it;
    • Put a little of dielectric grease in coil, secure it with a bolt;
    • Attach the wire;
    • Repeat for all 6.

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  • Once all plug are in place, reinstall everything in reverse order.

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That’s pretty much it. Time start to finish: 3 hours (give or take half an hour).

20 comments :

  1. Wow! Let me start off by saying "THANK YOU!!!!".
    This in an awesome post and a huge help for me!
    I have a 2007 Hyundai Sonata with a 3.3 V6 with about 108,000 miles on it.
    I have been putting off changing the plugs because the dealer wanted $450 to change them!! When I asked why so expensive they said because you have to remove the upper intake plenum to get to the back plugs.
    I have been trying to muster up enough courage to change the plugs myself, but I am intimidated by these newer cars. I was a teenager in the 70's and the cars back then where so much easier to work on! LOL!
    When I saw your DIY posting for the spark plug change I finally decided to change them myself.
    I bought NGK Iridium spark plugs and a surge tank gasket set from Rock Auto for $77!
    It took me about 4 hours to change them, but I took my time in order to try and avoid making a mistake.
    Thanks again for your help!
    You saved me a lot of money, plus I have the satisfaction of doing the work myself.

    Excellent posting!

    Take care!
    Patrick, from Texas.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Patrick , you only replaced the upper intake manifold gaskets correct (not the lower)? The gasket is replaced on the cylinder head port openings as pictured directly above in the last picture? The gasket's I'm looking at at parts stores online appear to have a different gasket design than the one pictured above for the same model year so I'm concerned about buying the correct one. Also was wondering whether you relieved the the fuel system pressure from the fuel pump relay before starting this job? Not sure whether this is required, but the Haynes service manual recommends doing it.

      Delete
  2. Thank you for your informational blog about changing the sonata spark plugs. Very helpful!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for putting together this article and sharing it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Here it is 2015 and this post is STILL a life saver ( and dollar saver too). Thank you for posting such a detailed description on how to change the plugs on our NF Sonata's. I even learned how to use a torque wrench during this adventure.

    D Woods
    New Jersey

    ReplyDelete
  5. Here it is 2015 and this post is STILL a life saver ( and dollar saver too). Thank you for posting such a detailed description on how to change the plugs on our NF Sonata's. I even learned how to use a torque wrench during this adventure.

    D Woods
    New Jersey

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Very well done. I wish all Technical writers were this clear. Took about 2.5 to 3 hours following your direction. Would have taken much longer without them. Thanks very much.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Very well done. I wish all technical writers were as clear . Took about 2.5 to 3 hours following your blog, would have taken longer without and maybe some broken parts. Thanks very much

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thank you for your information I too was scared tackle this I just got finished today with but for some reason another I'm getting water in my cylinders because I can smell it burning antifreeze and also I'm getting codes that all six cylinders are misfiring

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you for this post! Just changed the spark plugs today with this as a guide. It took quite a while, but everything is running well and the check engine light isn't on anymore. I'm a very poor graduate student, and am glad I could save some money!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Before and after this guide: https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=J6RlgNv0sXk

    Awesome guide FLUID. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Before and after this guide: https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=J6RlgNv0sXk

    Awesome guide FLUID. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Before and after this guide: https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=J6RlgNv0sXk

    Awesome guide FLUID. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Before and after this guide: https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=J6RlgNv0sXk

    Awesome guide FLUID. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks man, your blog was very helpful.

    ReplyDelete
  16. You were very helpful to me. I was able to change the plugs without any problems..
    Thanks much,

    ReplyDelete
  17. Great post! Appreciate your experience..

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thanks to your excellent photos and coherent explanation of the process, I was able to remove the surge tank and discover the bad coil pack on #1 cylinder. The repair budget for this year is blown, and it was essential to investigate it myself. I appreciate your concise, engine-specific roadmap (Haynes description is not sufficient) and feel as if I owe you at least an hour labor. If I could pull this off, anyone can. Thanks again! GRATEFUL IN TEXAS

    ReplyDelete