What car was the most difficult to change spark plugs?

[G T Joe]

I would have to say my buddy's 68 Cougar with the 390 with air ,the flat rate was 8 hours I did it in 6 hours lucky I was blessed with small hands!

[bezhawk]

My buddy's diesel was a bear!!!

[Jett289]

Took me all day to change the plugs out on my 1999 Contour SVT . What a night mare . Glad they last over 100,000 kms between changes .

[8E45E]

Depends how one looks at at, but a Porsche Boxter. Not a DIY job unless you are able to lift the car and lower the motor to change them as per the manual.

Craig

[sweetolbob]

My buddy's diesel was a bear!!!

Bob

[Gary1953]

Didn't the engine have to be pulled to change the spark plugs on a Gremlin?

[jts359]

Sunbeam Tiger was not fun at all

[JimC]

Just about anything made in the last 15 years!

[bezhawk]

Heck, the Packard hawk wasn't all that easy! (with power steering and brakes)

[SilverHawkDan]

40 year ASE Master Tech.
1. 1969 Mustang and Cougar 390 and 427. 8 hours to lift engine or do what I did and use a hole saw and black trunk cap plugs after to access the plugs. First change 2 hours. After the holes were cut 1 hour tops. I got paid for 8. Just worked smarter not harder.
2. GM, Ford and Chrysler late model front engine V6 cars and mini vans. Have to pull the alternator and use a rack to remove and replace the rear plugs form under the vehicle. To make it deadly Ford decided top cut corners and save a penny or two by not deburring the sheet metal in the engine bay on the vans. Have to wear think gloves and a long sleeve shirt taped at the sleeve. Or look like you lost a fight with an angry cat.
3. Gremlin rear two plugs were under the dash. Nice design. NOT
4. Boxsters don't deserve to have plugs or any other thing changed. When it starts to run rough throw it away. The trash is where they belong.
5. You can laugh about diesels but they do have some real fun to get to "Glow Plugs" that are a bitch.
I content that a lot of things that were designed to be very difficult were designed by engineers who's daughters got knocked up by a mechanic. And since they didn't know which one, did it they figured the right one would eventually work on their crap design. TMHO

[woodysrods]

I had a 70 Cuda with a 383 Commando in it. I believe the book rate on it was 2.5 hrs. You had to up and down it on the hoist 4 times and either remove or loosen one of the motor mounts for one rear plug on one side. The other 7 only took about 5 to 10 minutes.
Similar to replacing 4 shocks on a 1974 Austin Mini.....20 minutes for the first 3 and 2 hours for the 4th. "Yes the gas tank has to be removed" was the answer I got when I talked to the laughing service manager at the dealership.
Good Roads
Brian

[JimC]

2. GM, Ford and Chrysler late model front engine V6 cars and mini vans. Have to pull the alternator and use a rack to remove and replace the rear plugs form under the vehicle. To make it deadly Ford decided top cut corners and save a penny or two by not deburring the sheet metal in the engine bay on the vans. Have to wear think gloves and a long sleeve shirt taped at the sleeve. Or look like you lost a fight with an angry cat.

I chuckled at that one. Our daily driver is a 2002 Ford Windstar Minivan, and you're right, it's a bear of a vehicle to service. I was swapping out plugs, and got the front three in 30 seconds. Somehow I managed to swap out the back three without removing the alternator or crawling under the van, but I very seriously got some nasty gashes all up and down my arm. Some cut all the way from my knuckles to my elbow. At the end I was worried that I wouldn't be able to pull my arm out, which would have been a fairly humiliating way for my wife to find me after work. I decided there and then that I must sell and/or total the thing before the next tune-up.

[Bordeaux Daytona]

I had an 83 Buick Regal T-Type with the carbureted 3.8 turbo. The driver's side was easy, the passenger side with the turbo exhaust pipes was impossible.
I seem to remember Ford Aerostar's being a real pain too.
Any car where you have to take the upper intake off to get to the plugs is bad design.
There's some GMs where you have two dogbone mounts that have to be removed and you have to put a tilting tool to move the engine forward.
3rd generation camaro/firebird V8s
GM fullsize and Astro vans.
Late 90's style Ford V8 trucks with those coil on plugs are a pain too. The 5.4's are worse because they're taller and the windshield sits over the engine.
I remember changing plugs in our 65 283 Wagonaire wasn't much fun compaired to a Studebaker V8.

John V.

[gmax336]

Dittos on the Sunbeam Tiger. The rear spark plug on the left side was accessed from inside through a hole in the firewall.

[StudHawk60]

I'll say my 60 Hawk just so this thread has some Studebaker content in it.