Nissan Almera Latio Spark Plug Replacement

 

When come to the spark plug replacement, Nissan Almera, Latio or Gran Livina owner with HR15DE and HR16DE engine may feel the cost is a bit expensive when the Nissan service centre quoted them the price, it may cost up to over RM500 for a spark plug change, when the normal engine oil change service may just cost around RM400 plus. 

So what is the reason for this model will need to pay more on the spark plug change compare to other vehicle, let see from the above photo, to access to the spark plug removal, you need to remove the plastic intake manifold which cover the rocker cover as you can see from the above photo.

Above photo is the view when the plastic intake manifold assembly is taking out, and the intake manifold assembly can be seen at the photo below. 

Photo above you can see the intake passage holes from the engine head that connected to the plastic manifold assembly, and here come the answer, whenever you change the spark plug for this engine, you need to replace the intake manifold gasket and the throttle body gasket as well.

Photo below just show the different between old spark plug and new spark plug.

From the below photo you can see the intake manifold gasket for HR16DE intake manifold gasket and the Nissan Almera is using 4 pieces separate o-ring design, both of them share the same throttle body gasket.

The Nissan original parts for the intake manifold gasket can cost up to RM160 to RM190 a set, which when include the spark plug cost, throttle body gasket and labour charge it easily reach above RM500.

And it seems many car owners is ok with the original spark plug cost but feel the pain when they heard the cost of original parts for this gasket. So they might buying the original spark plug and use the after market gasket for their spark plug change purpose. 

Apart from the HR series of engine, the MR18DE and MR20DE engine which found in Slphy, Serena C26 and X-Trail T32 model may using the same design which you need to remove the intake manifold assembly when changing the spark plug.