Spark plug change on 3.6 penstar

[CooperBokeh]

I’m having trouble. I’m changing the spark plugs for the first time in my JL and all videos online have made me realize, I have a different engine than most JLs. I got a 3.6L Penstar in mine. Changing the plugs are hell!! It took forever to get the intake housing off, and now that I’ve finally got it off, the spark plug coil connectors won’t disconnect. I’m beyond upset, I’m bout to put it back together and say……well you can imagine. It’s Christmas and this is just ridiculous!!!

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[Old Jeeper]

WOW that looks like a TRAIN WRECK when you think about it.

 

[NULL POINTER]

I haven't found an electrical connector on my Jeep yet that doesn't take many views on utube and posts on this forum to find out how to disconnect them. The engineers who design the connectors are crazed, maniacal, sadists and will rot in Hades for what they have done.

 

[Vanburi]

I was unable to find anything on the JL 3.6. There are videos for the JK 3.6 that mentioned removing the fuel rail. That scared me off, I know I'm weak.
Let my mechanic do this deed to avoid what you are going through.

 

[AFD]

I only found one 3.6L video for the JL from this forum, and it was set to private since it was posted. Everything else on Youtube is for a JK or 2.0T JL.

Closest I could find was a supercharger install on a 3.6L JT. Not sure if anything would be different from JL/JT, but this might help get you most of the way..

 

[Jeep Wick]

I’m having trouble. I’m changing the spark plugs for the first time in my JL and all videos online have made me realize, I have a different engine than most JLs. I got a 3.6L Penstar in mine. Changing the plugs are hell!! It took forever to get the intake housing off, and now that I’ve finally got it off, the spark plug coil connectors won’t disconnect. I’m beyond upset, I’m bout to put it back together and say……well you can imagine. It’s Christmas and this is just ridiculous!!!

They don't make this easy. The service manual describes what he's doing in the above video... On the left side remove the EGR tube, and upper intake manifold. The manifold entails a bunch of hoses, harnesses, and connectors. On the right side drain some coolant, remove heater hoses, then coils and plugs are right there. If you get the chance, pick up the JL service manual on CD from ebay. Not many of these left, you will need an internet explorer compatible browser and flash plugin. I find this works better than the USB versions.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2561877375...ZoxgNLaVV9abn9cYSRy8jqo8bQ==|tkp:BFBM9vbJt5Rj

 

[txj2go]

Why are you changing them? The change interval is 100k miles but if you are past that and don't have any problems you can probably keep going.

I just changed plugs in my LS motor at 140k miles and they still looked fine. The plug wires would not come off of the original plugs. I've worked as a mechanic and changed spark plugs on a lot of engines. Normally getting the rubber boots off is the problem because they get melted onto the plugs but on my LS engine it was the metal connectors that would not come off of the plugs. Most of the plug wires came apart leaving the metal connector on the plug. Trying to remove the metal part with pliers I could tell how well they hold on. Since I had already damaged some wires I decided I had to replace all of the wires along with the plugs.

 

[BruceyZ06]

I don't care what anyone says, plugs are not efficient at 140k miles in my opinion.

 

[txj2go]

I don't care what anyone says, plugs are not efficient at 140k miles in my opinion.

It might take some pretty good testing to figure this out. In my case I couldn't tell any difference by seat of the pants. The plugs looked very close to new. To be fair there are platinum plugs, iridium plugs, I don't know what else. Apparently some of them last longer than others. When I started working on cars you would be doing good to get 12k miles from a set of plugs.

 

[CarbonSteel]

In the photo below you have to slide the white clip away from the yellow marks. Once it clicks, then take a very small flat blade screwdriver and insert it at the base of the clip and GENTLY work the connector away from the coil.

Take your time and work very slowly or you will break the connectors.

The aluminum clamps have to be removed to gain clearance by moving the hoses out of the way.

While you are there check the VVT sensor o-rings to see if they are leaking and replace them at the same time.

 

[Deleted Member RoadNomad]

The new platinum and iridium plugs are easily good to 100k miles. Replacing them any sooner is a waste of your time and money.

If your ride is a highway vehicle and you racked up this much mileage in a short period wire replacement may not be needed. When you get ready to do the job has some spray silicone with the small straw. Work the straw between the wire and the boot and spray for a few seconds.

Leave it sit overnight, most the time the boot will easily slip off the plug. If the metal band in the boot is stuck on the plug the boot will pull up the wire then you can grab the metal band rotate it and remove without damage.

With that said replacing the wires with the plugs at 100k is a good idea. Especially if you past the 5 year mark. Wires do break down with age and can cause some additional problems, ie misfires, radio noise and other issues.

Not only that changing the plugs is bad enough, imagine having to go back in again just to replace wires that are failing just for a small amount of money.

 

[CooperBokeh]

Im going to try to find the CD. I see so many JL videos on YouTube but none have the 3.6L penstar. I’m just like WOW. I’ve never had to pay someone to change spark plugs, but With all the metal hoses over the passenger side plugs, and the pigtail refusing to disconnect from the coils…it’s just plain old ridiculous.

But there’s no way I’m running my jeep to 140k on the same plugs. I’m already getting crappy gas mileage because the original plugs are still in. 40k miles is reasonable, not 140k. Even with the NGK Iridium’s I am putting in there, I’m not running it with those miles. That’s basically like saying “the oil isn’t black so I don’t need an oil change yet” in my eyes.

 

[CooperBokeh]

In the photo below you have to slide the white clip away from the yellow marks. Once it clicks, then take a very small flat blade screwdriver and insert it at the base of the clip and GENTLY work the connector away from the coil.

Take your time and work very slowly or you will break the connectors.

The aluminum clamps have to be removed to gain clearance by moving the hoses out of the way.

While you are there check the VVT sensor o-rings to see if they are leaking and replace them at the same time.

Thank you!! It’s kind of hard. I unscrewed the 10mm bolts holding on these metal tubes, but they didn’t budge much, the tubes have to actually be removed. I tried on the driver side on the tubes which are unobstructed and still couldn’t disconnect them.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Thank you!! It’s kind of hard. I unscrewed the 10mm bolts holding on these metal tubes, but they didn’t budge much, the tubes have to actually be removed. I tried on the driver side on the tubes which are unobstructed and still couldn’t disconnect them.

You should not have to remove the tubes, just push them to the side. On the passenger side, remove all of the nuts/bolts holding the aluminum brackets, there are 3 sets of them if memory serves. It will give you enough slack.

On the driver's side, you have to disconnect the EGR tubing and move the EGR cooler tubing out of the way.

I changed mine when I replaced the oil filter housing/cooler. It is a royal PITA to do this work.

 

[JLfromCA]

Wow , guess I better get ready to trade in at 99K miles. Lol

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