2002 Montero XLS 3.5L, 85,000 miles, 4x4.

Don't have the time to do them myself soI went to a shop for a quote. I figured it be a bit more of ajob since you have to take the plenum off. They quoted $350 in labor, $162.00 for a set of premium wires (since ya don't want to have to do this anytime soon again),$28 per plug (6 Iridium plugs) and the plenum gasket.

Just wondering what you all thought about the quote. Total bill for the plugs, wires, plenum gasket and labor = $729.00

Coments please.

Jake

 

That is the biggest crock of **** I have ever heard. **** those guys.

I did this job on my ex girlfriends, moms mini van. The whole thing cost me $26.

First off, you don't need iridium plugs. Get some good ole classic NGK plugs at $2 a piece. I have seen race cars run them with no problem. The wires, you COULD get from autozone for about 20 bucks (Duralast), but I hate Duralast. I would go to you're Mitsu Dealer and pick up a set.

Seriously dude, it is so easy to do this yourself.

 

How complicated is removal and replacement of the intake? Has anyone done one of these?

 

You mean, to remove and put it back? It takes about 5 mins to remove it, maybe a lil more to put it back. I had to do the same thing on the mini van.

That stupid V6 setup where 3 of the plugs are under the plenum, is actually pretty common. A lot of the 3rd generation Eclipse guys have the same problem, but they all do it. I have not personally done it on a Mitsu V6, but previous experiance tells me it should be fairly easy. Its really not hard dude, its just a few bolts.

 

I don't know about 5 minutes, maybe after a few times of going through the process you can do it that quickly. I have not done my plugs/wires yet. http://www.monterosportonline.com/diy-perf2.html

I am not sure if you have to do the plug wires or not at you milage, but the iridium plugs are *supposed* to last 75K miles IIRC, so if you don't change the wires now you may have to change them before your next plug change...if you go iridium. But yeah, $700+ is steep,the dealer around heretold meabout $350 not including the wires and an independant shop told me $250 (not including wires).

The write up doesn't look too difficult, but definitely time consuming.

 

For $600I could (hypothetically)order your parts(quality parts, no 30k mi $2 plugs) fly to Chi, rent a car, do the work, fly home and still pocket a nice chunk of spending money.

Plenum removal's not abig deal--half hour or so for someone who's done it a few times, about an hour for a novice. 5 minutes for a pro is probably about right.

I did plugs wires twice on my 3.0, and once on my 3.5. Nothing I'd consider an "expert required" job (or even much experience).