formula31

I almost fell over dead at the dealer yesterday. They quoted me $499 to replace spark plugs and wires on my 98 Eldo Northstar! Anybody know the procedure for getting at the back plugs on this beasty?

Airpacker

Remove the coil packs and bracket and the evr solenoid bracket.remove plugs.HAVE FUN

wannabe

Formula

Cut that in 1/2 almost to get the true cost what a reliable shop would charge (non-dealer). The expense in parts is the plug wires, they go from each individual coil to the plug. If you take off the cover over the intake/injectors you will see what I mean. The problem is the EGR valve is in a difficult place and is EXPENSIVE if you muck it up.

Wannabe in Motor City

formula31

Thanks for the replys. Geez, even $250 seems like a lot. From the sounds of it, maybe I dont wanna mess with it now. Have a slight rough idle at startup when its cold and wet, especially wet, sounded like plug wires to me. Otherwise runs good. 77,000 miles.

Airpacker

rough idle cold and wet,yep sounds like wires.change em before you hurt the cats due to miss fire.

Ratchet

This may or may not help, but I used to own a couple of pontiac grand prix's which were front wheel drive, and what you used to have to do to change the rear plugs (I only did it once per vehicle ) was put the car in nuetral (ignition off of course) and you could loosen the motor mount brackets in the front (they look like dogbones). You could then basically pry the motor forward (rotate it) about 15-20 degrees. There should be a second hole in one of the "dog bones" that you can put the bolt back through and then through the part where it was mounted before you rotated it. This would hold it in place.

I found this out by buying a chiltons maual for the car at Murrays. It seems to be pretty common with front wheel drive GMs, or at least it was a couple of yrs ago.

If you consider doing it yourself, the manual is well worth the 20 bucks.

I bought it cause they wanted 189 plus tax at the dealer for my 6 cylinder

Cost for me - $20 chilton manual, $10 for the platinum plugs, and $40 for the wires..........anyways, once i figured out how to get to the back plugs it only took me 15 minutes or so.

Like I said, this may or may not help.............but if you do it yourself, those norhtstars have aluminum heads I believe, so you may want to put a dab of anti-seize on the plug threads - but watch out that **** gets on eveything.

RJ

Gearhead99

Suggest you have the wires and plugs changed.

If you let it go, besides hurting the cats [$$$} you can ruin coil too [$$$].

It's a job to do, I have a repair shop, but is worth it.

P.S. Don't buy cheapo wires and use platnum plugs.