In prep for this work I watched a disappointing You Tube tutorial that only made me realize there was not a good how to on this generation of Outback. Or at least I did not find one.
I decided to write a detailed tutorial for the next guy to contemplate.
I believe I have put together a list of the very best tools to do this job as easily as possible. I want to share this information so anyone who looks to see what works best can determine if they want to obtain these tools to have them for this job.
I have an unfair advantage when it comes to the tools I can choose from. I am a mobile tool dealer here in San Diego. I raided my tool truck for what I used today.
All the tools are available thru all kinds of tool outlets and of course through Amazon. Ill explain what and how what I choose helped me.
The following is the list of 10 tools I used.
1. one Grey Pneumatic part# 910Mg Description: 10mm x 1/4 drive MAGNETIC 6 point impact socket https://a.co/d/4q7Oitr
2. One Gear Wrench part number 81030. Description: This is a 12′ long ratchet wrench that accepts a large variety of bits. One of the bits it accepts is a 1/4″ ball detent socket holder. Effectively it then becomes a fine tooth, very thin, very long 1/4″ ratchet. This wrench has a very thin head that swivels and can either be locked to hold a specific head angle or left unlocked to adjust the angle on the fly. The ratcheting mechanism is fairly fine. IMHO this long reach thin bit wrench is worth 10x its weight in gold for how much simpler it makes dealing with the tight space this application has....I robbed mine from the Gear Wrench Kit with part number 81032 but I have bought them separately before. The kits are very nice and a good value so I typically stock it and not just the single wrench https://a.co/d/0eWA1q0
3. one 18′ standard prybar such as https://a.co/d/aRzXxQS
4. one 14mm x 3/8 drive 6 point socket
5. One 3/8 x 10″ extension
6. One Gear Wrench Ratchet pt # 81218 Description: 3/8 x 8″ QUICK RELEASE ratchet https://a.co/d/4jFRYMn
7. One Gear Wrench 14mm double box wrench pt# 85914 Description: It is Long, one end of this wrench is a ratcheting box the other is a stationary box. https://a.co/d/0eWA1q0
8. One spark plug socket CTA pt # 1061B Description: 3/8 drive 12pt, 14mm magnetic spark plug socket with an incorporated wobble joint. https://a.co/d/gqoZwiX
9. One Williams branded 3/8 x 1-1/2 extension part # B101 https://a.co/d/2bZM40v
10. One typical 1/4″ wide flat blade x 6″ shaft screw driver
Proceedure:
1. Remove the battery and the battery tray. Despite what some think its much quicker and smarter to just get this stuff out of the way.
1a. Use the above listed #1 & #2 to remove the battery terminals and the battery hold down and then remove the battery
1b. Use #7 to remove the two 14mm bolts that horizontally hold the battery tray to the frame
1c. Use #’s 4,5 &6 to remove the remaining four 14mm bolts that hold the battery tray and then get the tray out of there
2. Use #1 & #2 to remove each of the 10mm bolts holding the two coil packs to the driver side cylinder head (cylinder number three and number one in the firing order). The reasoning for using this magnetic socket will be obvious. I started with a typical non magnetic chrome socket and realized the small 10mm coil pack holding bolt was likely to fall and be lost once all the way untreaded so I went back to my inventory to get the magnetic style so I didnt have to experience dropping a 10mm bolt.
3 Use #3 to gently coax the coil pack to lose its suction grip on the spark plug. Once the suction is gone the coil pack will be able to be moved around to find that just correct position to get them out and out of the way. That driver side rear most coil pack (cylinder one in the firing order) only comes out one way…you do not have to raise the engine to get it out…keep trying you will find just the right position to have it out of the way….
4. Use tools listed above in 5,8 and 9 to remove the spark plugs. The CTA spark plug tool with its short wobble is just too short to do the job by it self for the ratchet to reach it to connect. Adding the Williams 1-1/2 extension places the ratchet in a perfect position to do its work.
Cylinder number one in the firing order, aka the rear most cylinder on the driver side, has very little space to work with. Remove the ratchet just after breaking the spark plug free and continue to remove that spark plug by hand. If you dont remove the ratchet it will end up jammed up against the frame before the spark plug’s can be unscrewed. Using a quick release ratchet is the way to go because of this one very tight area. Dear Subaru engineers all of us hope you will make provisions for this type of maintenance work in your next endeavors…a millimeter or 3 of additional space would have made replacing the spark plug in this cylinder a lot easier!!
5. Goop a bit of Dielectric Grease inside the coil pack boot and then reverse the procedure to install the new NGK spark plugs and coil packs. There is no room to use a torque wrench so do your best to torque the spark plugs to 15-16 ft lbs. No anti seize is to be used on these brand new plugs. They are coated with something from NGK already. This is apparently true if you dont remove a plug that has been in service and then try to reuse it. I wonder if say the plugs are in the engine for 10,000 miles and you decided to preform a compression test, would you have to use anti seize then when reinstalling the now used spark plug???
6. Go to the passenger side. Use the flat blade screw driver, line item 10 in the list of tools above, to loosen the clamp holding the air intake on at the throttle body. Remove the electrical connector for the air flow sensor there by the air filter. Remove the plastic push button fastener holding the air intake tab to the bracket next to the throttle body on the driver side. Swing the sir intake out of the way.
7. The Coil pack 10mm bolts and everything else on this passenger side are removed the same as the stuff on the driver side front cylinder. There is a nice amount of room to do what you must on the passenger side.
8. Reverse all of what you did to remove everything to install the new spark plugs
