2010 Toyota Corolla - Plugs?

Maintenance/Repairs
1

I drive a 2010 Toyota Corolla with 208k trouble-free miles on the odometer. This car still gets 32.5 mpg (now mostly city driving) and always starts and runs well. I’m more of an “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” guy so I have never replaced the spark plugs in this car. My question: if I ever NEED to have them replaced will they be difficult to remove?
Thanks!

2

The only answer will be revealed when someone tries to remove them .

3

You should have replaced them 108,000 miles ago. Reading the maintenance scheduel in your owners manual is useful and informative. They may very well be difficult to remove by now.

I would suggest you change your philosophy about cars to, “maintain it more often than Toyota suggests”

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4

Those plugs are good for about 120,000 miles according to the owner’s manual. You are about 80,000 miles overdue. A knowledgeable shop will have no difficulty changing your plugs. Make sure they put in the original spec Iridium tipped plugs. My 2007 Corolla at 65,000 miles is of course still on its original plugs.

5

If you want to replace the plugs, you have to approach it the right way

In other words, slow and steady and use penetrant

remove the coils

Blow the dirt out of the spark plug tubes

spray penetrant into each of the holes, and hopefully it’ll start to work its way down the threads

now slowly start to loosen them, going back and forth until they’re out. If you go too quick, they might break off on you, at which point you’ll have to use some kind of extractor and might get upset . . .

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6

I replaced the plugs in my 2006 Matrix (same engine as Corolla) at 10 years old, about the same age as yours.
I was worried they would start to lock in after so long, even though they only had 60k miles.
They came out easily; and the electrodes looked like new.

7

I had the plugs replaced in my 2009 Corolla at about 110K and one plug was bad at that point. I’d be surprised if you’re still getting optimal performance by now. I had the plugs replaced by a mechanic in conjunction with replacing a bad coil so I don’t know how difficult it was. My bill didn’t reflect anything out of the ordinary.