What is that saying? The shoe-mender’s kids always have the worst shoes? … lol … here in Silicon Valley you can tell which is the professional engineer’s parking lot, b/c the cars are so old and decrepit. If you visit their homes for the super-bowl, you’ll likely be watching an over-the-air broadcast on a 21 inch tv , ask me how I know 
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These plugs have an anti-seize plating on them, They don’t seize.
George, you beat me to it! Some of the most maintenance needing, neglected cars I’ve seen are owned / operated by mechanics. Some have been personal friends. I guess if you do mechanical work all day long then you don’t want to when you get home… ha, ha. I see hair stylists with screwed up hair, obese doctors…
CSA 
I would say dealer though you will pay more. They know the engine and how to get at those plus without having to waste time . Have them do it and you will get the right plugs and it being a toyota will get you to at least 200000 miles . Good luck
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I think your V-6 Toyota still uses a timing belt. There should be a change interval for that in your owners manual and without checking, I believe it is 7 years or 105k miles. Since it is rubber and rubber deteriorates with time, and your vehicle is at least 7 years old, I’d suggest you get this done as soon as possible if you haven’t done it yet.
A broken belt can do serious damage to your engine. Typically the water pump and some of the oil seals are replaced at the same time. Most dealers have a package deal on that service that is competitive with independent shops and they usually have much more experience with this service. I’d worry more about the timing belt than the spark plugs.
It’s not cheap, but the alternative is a lot more expensive.
Edit: There is one more big ticket item to consider and that is the CV joint boots. At least have them inspected but they often crack or split at around 10 years now. Rebooting could run $400 or more, but if done before the boots split, then there is less likely to be any significant damage done to the joints themselves. The life of the CV joint can be measured in weeks after the boot splits, but reman axles and after market axles are available for about the cost of a reboot, so many people will just wait until the boots split and then just get replacement axles. I personally would rather keep my original axles and boot early.
I know this is getting a little overwhelming, but if you like the vehicle, you are looking at about $2500 in the next year or so, but that gives you another 7 years and/or 100k+ miles for less than 10% of the cost of a new vehicle. With a Toyota, you can confidently repeat the maintenance cycle at 14 years or 100k miles and go to over 300k and 20+ years if you want.
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The 2GR series engine used in the Venza has a timing chain.
Did not know that.
Keith, as Nevada said, I think my V6 uses a chain, not a belt.
Still, good advice about the boots, thanks.
Yes, the plan is for this car to be the last one I’ll ever buy. At 71, I think I’ve got 15, maybe 20, more years of driving in me. By then, driverless cars might be common. (I hope.)
Much as the new electrics intrigue me, the unbreakable Toyota drive train seems almost like an electric motor. All things mechanical will break, though, and if the Venza goes south on me, there’ll be an electric in my garage.
I have a favorite example. There was a large corner lot where I used to turn off a busy street to go home from work. A 30 inch tall hand made sign advertised: “Lawn mower and small engine repair”. About 3 months later the sign was nearly hidden by 2 foot high grass which covered the entire lot. LOL!
Not so funny: I was referred to an Orthopedic Surgeon who advised me to lose 10 to 15 pounds for pain relief of my bad knee. He was very thin and a marathon runner. A few months later he dropped dead from a heart attack at the age of 55.
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Years ago I had a job as a cardiologist’s technical assistant, and whenever somebody really thin came into the office, I was pretty sure they diagnosis wouldn’t be good. If someone a little chubby came in, not obese, but a little chubby, usually the diagnosis was “nothing wrong”. Those chubby patients tended to have anxiety problems more than the thin patients or the really obese patients.
Thanks a lot George. I’ve been trying to gain weight for 50 years.
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Remember the patients coming into the cardiology office had a reason. Definitely not representative of the entire population.
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As long as you have a healthy diet and no medical problems, don’t worry about your weight.
I cannot agree with that.
Obesity causes problems long term that may not show up until a body passes 45-50. I speak from experience.
I do, however, think it’s true that the standards used by most of the medical community contain insufficient allowance for normal variation. I also believe that most of the medical community isolates an anomaly and tries to pump meds into the patient with insufficient regard for the side effects and/or med interactions. Again, I speak from experience.
However, this being not even close to an automotive subject, I’ll resist the horror stories.
My motorcycle mechanic has a sign on his truck that says something like “will fix anything that uses a spark plug” and shows his phone number. I tried to hire him to do the head gasket on my Civic, but he was too busy.
Whenever I drop off my motorcycle, I drop off the repair manual with it, but only for the specs. Wynn doesn’t need the instructions.
Where are you getting advice concerning weight? I would qualify (and quantify) that and say that one does not have to worry much about weight so long as waist size (actual measurement) multiplied by 2 is a lower number than height (actual measurement). Otherwise it is a worry, definitely a health concern. Forget about BMI. That is not a good indicator of desirable body weight range for many people (especially people with low body fat and high muscle content).
Also, define “healthy diet.” From what I see and observe most people who think they have a healthful diet, do not and most doctors are not able to give beneficial advice. I’ve done lots of research on these topics and made major changes to my weight, diet, and life-style over the past decade.
CSA
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Find a new doctor. You may not have medical problems NOW…but being overweight can cause medical problems in the future. And by weight - I mean FAT.
I’m a firm believer that diet is only part of the solution…proper exercise is what is needed the most. Keeping weight now is very important to proper health. The strain the extra fat puts on you legs/knees and heart can really shorten your life and effect your quality of life. I know several people around my age who take the same attitude (eat healthy and no medical issues - I’m fine). Yet when they took their grand kids to Disney World…they could hardly walk one park. Huffy and Puffy after just 20 minutes of walking. Needed to take breaks every half hour. By the third day they were done. Grand kids weren’t too happy.
Wait a minute.
When did my question about changing sparkplugs turn into a health forum?
I think I’ve got my answer: to get some quotes from independent shops AND the dealer, but not to make my decision solely on price.
Can we keep Car Talk for cars – or, RIP Tom, for relationships – but not on diet or exercise?
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You get use to it.
We have some regulars on this board who have habits of digression.
Tester
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Steve, You are correct, you did get your answer and many helpful comments beyond that, possibly the best of any forum in which that question could have asked.
After a while we are just beating a dead horse and the conversation starts to drift a bit… In the true Magliozzi Brothers fashion, I might add. Ever listen to Car Talk (I have for decades)? Much of the conversation and puzzlers, etcetera, has little or nothing to do with cars. It’s what made the show! Car repair is boring to many people and after they get their particular answer they don’t want to be that bored.
Had the brothers been required to stay strictly focused on car problems the show probably would not have been successful and they probably would not have enjoyed it and it would not have been around long.
Same thing here, require strict adherence to the questions and cars and most of the regulars (You know, the ones who gave you your spark plug answers) would be gone from this forum, including me. I’d be long gone and not look back.
What were we talking about? Oh, yah! Spark Plugs. One of the things that makes spark plug replacement difficult on many of the vehicles that have plug wires, not coils-on-plugs, is getting the boots to come off after thousands of miles and many years of bonding to the plugs. It would be fairly easy if one could see them and grasp them, but they are often out of sight, buried under engine components, and often in deep recesses.
Experienced technicians, in a heated and lighted shop, very familiar with particular vehicles know the best procedures and the best tools and can salvage the wires and boots and remove the plugs without issue. For the driveway novice it’s a crap shoot.
CSA
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