My 09 Outback has just about 40k on it now. I pulled the #1 plug and it looked good, but a lot of gap. I don't want to go through the hassle of pulling them all just to gap them, so I think I will replace the plugs on the next nice day.

 

My question is, would you replace the wires too? I usually do, but the plugs on my 97 used to go 80 to 100 thousand miles. It doesn't seem like I would need to do wires on this car every time I do plugs. Maybe every other. What does anyone think?

Unless you have an issue, I give the OEM wires five years.

Unless you have an issue, I give the OEM wires five years.

 

Same thought, wires should still be good. With 40K miles on original plugs, they should still be good. With high voltage going through plug wires, the gap can still be large, and the plugs still work fine.

 

 

99 OBW I bought several years back had original plugs and wires with 148K on the odo. Car still ran well, but I still replaced the plugs and wires. Gaps were really big on those old plugs, surprisingly still worked well.

Same thought, wires should still be good. With 40K miles on original plugs, they should still be good. With high voltage going through plug wires, the gap can still be large, and the plugs still work fine.

 

That's good news. My '97 used the really expensive laser platinums and they lasted forever. This car takes a more "average" NGK, so I didn't know what kind of milage to expect from them. I thought the maintenance schedule suggested replacement at 30k, could be wrong. The car is running fine, and the one plug I pulled looked really good other than the gap. Maybe I'll leave them awhile.

Changing all four plugs in your car is really a pita. It took me two night, and about 3 hours to change 4 spark plugs, and I have the same car as yours. Just a nasty job!!

Changing all four plugs in your car is really a pita. It took me two night, and about 3 hours to change 4 spark plugs, and I have the same car as yours. Just a nasty job!!

 

Really? It looks so much easier than the DOHC was. Those were hard, but I got used to it. It looks like I'll want to take out the air box for sure. Getting around the fuse box on the rear driver's side looks the worst. But I haven't done it yet. At least they seem to be at a little better angle, and it feels like a little more room in there over all.