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2003 SSEi Plugs and Wires

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 6:26 pm
by Riptide
I was wondering if anyone knew about the replacement of plugs and wires. I looked up a couple of videos and haven't really found anything solid telling me about the general replacement of them. if you have any tips or tricks on getting to the rear three that would be amazing. I thought i knew what i was doing but it looks a lot harder then it probably is. thx in advance. :beerchug:

Re: 2003 SSEi Plugs and Wires

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 8:58 pm
by AnthonyK
I just did mine today, after you do it once or twice it's pretty easy just by feel. The front 3 are really self explanatory so you got that. With the rear 3 I usually stand on the passenger facing forward and use my left hand to reach under the alternator and go forward til you feel the first boot, pull it off and you can feel the end of the plug. Now get a short extension with your spark plug socket and put it over the plug, then take your ratchet and connect it to your extension and socket and remove. Repeat in the same position for the next going forward by feel. Dont overtighten them just snug them up

Re: 2003 SSEi Plugs and Wires

Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2020 11:05 am
by Sirius
Removing the factory engine hoist brackets may help too. Just gives you one less thing to maneuver around and, as a bonus, the weight savings is like a .000000000000301% horsepower gain. :)

Re: 2003 SSEi Plugs and Wires

Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2020 12:47 pm
by 96 SSEi
IF YOU GET N TOP OF ENGINE, you can easily reach all 3 - 2, 4, 6. are the rear - follow wire from coil to plug boot - remove the engine cover to leave a bit wiggle room.
#6 is very close to trans dipstick - I pushed it a bit to clear the rachet - front 3 - 10 min. rear, took me under 1 hour.

be careful of the thin vacuum line from throttle body that runs along the front of engine - it breaks easily.

Re: 2003 SSEi Plugs and Wires

Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2020 3:28 pm
by nos4blood70
You can always remove the front transmission mount with a jack under the oil pan, and let the motor tilt forward for a little added room for the rear bank.

Re: 2003 SSEi Plugs and Wires

Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2020 2:24 pm
by Riptide
I took all of your guys advice and tried to make everything work, the front three are super easy which i kinda figured they would but the back three were the tough ones i started by working from the top of the engine and ended up breaking a wire off which made everything a lot harder and i worked on it trying to wiggle and shake to pull the plug out but it wouldn't budge. I put my car on my buddy's lift and got to them from the underside of the car. now this is where I'm gonna make some of the more mechanically inclined people cringe a bit, I took a knife and started cutting up my plug end trying to get the insulator off of the end of plug then i took a pair of pliers and pulled the insulator off and continued cutting all the rubber off the plug until i could fit a socket around it putting everything back together was simple and now my car runs a lot better. also one more question when i took my old plugs out i noticed that three of my six plugs the electrode was completely missing but the car ran decent before hand i couple misfires here and there but no ticking of clicking. How back will this affect my pistons I'm a little scared that i dented or scratched my block wall.