tune up fun: past weekend, I decided to give the daily driver PROJECT D a tune-up and oil change. I figured since the last time the plugs had been changed was 2 years ago at the dealer, that it was high time to get to it. Well, family life intervened ALL weekend, and I didn't get to the plugs till like 7 in the evening sat nite. Keep in mind that I have a little toyota with the I-4, and the plugs are straight down thru the top of the valve cover. it shouldn't be real hard, right? Well, that's when things went horrbily wrong. Plug one, no problem...plug 2, no problem....plug 3 was an iron bitch to get to, and had wires from the fi and the intake all over, around, and on top of it. No prob, go for # 4, then get back to it right? Get to #4, which is closest to the firewall, not hard to get to from the side, tho. Plug takes a while to come out...no prob...pop the next one in, and can't get it to seat....SOB, the thread is screwed....literally! The only other people that touched this engine were the service folks at the TOYOTA dealership, when I handed them 500 bux for their "recommended 100k checkup" 500 bux to tell me nothing was wrong, although an acc short had damn near started a fire in the car, and the bright orange check engine light was still on. "oh, but an o2 sensor and catalytic converter don't just die, sir....we'll reset the computer, and if it comes on again, let us know." light came on again 15 minutes later, and they were trying to get me to make an APPOINTMENT to take another 100 bux for an "engine diagnostic" What do I need a diagnostic for, if u already told me nothing was wrong? Being the only toyota dealership in the city, they can do this sort of thing, it seems....Which is why I've never been back. But that's beside the point. The fun really began as I went back to plug 3. As I said before, a whole bunch of other stuff was in the way that I didn't feel like taking apart, so I loosened, and pulled and prodded....and finally got the #3 boot off. get the plug out a little later, and am ready to drop the last one in. Getting dark, better hurry! Mosquitos....eating me alive gotta hurry! Hurried too much and dropped #3 plug in the wrong way....doh! what made matters worse....didnt' have one of those handy little parts grabbers to snatch it back out. No prob, call the parental unit (known as mom) "Hey, feel like comin over for dinner?" "WHY? why don't u wanna come over here? Is your car not running or something?" "look, are u comin over or what? i wanna borrow the car for 5 seconds!" get said car, go and get parts retriever. get back under hood....gee it's pretty dark. I'll just turn the outside garage light on....well, couldn't do that, cause I locked myself outta the garage! DOH! good thing I called the parental unit instead of walkin up the street to the parts store....walkin back twice woulda pissed me off! Back at the parts store..."gimme a shop light and an extenstion cord" "weren't u just here?" "ya, but I locked myself outta my @#$#% garage" "u look tired dude, grab yourself a pop" bonus. finally got plug in, and parental unit on her way home...all BEFORE midnite. Only in my case, does it take $50 to change ONE spark plug.....;)