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2012 Outback 3.6R 60,000 Mile Service - DIY

6K views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  mjohnson 
#1 ·
Hi all,

This is my first post here and wanted to share the results of my DIY 60,000 mile service on my '12 Outback 3.6R.

Like many of you, I experienced some serious sticker shock at the cost of the 60K service. My indy mechanic was ~$150 less than the dealer but still quite expensive so I chose to do what I could myself. Let me begin by saying that I am a white collar worker with some mechanical ability but well short of what a trained tech has. What skills I have are self taught through trial and error.

My indy mechanic listed the spark plug change @ 2.4 hrs and $264.00 in labor so that was my main reason for trying to change the spark plugs myself. I had the day off yesterday and so I set off to swap the spark plugs myself. I watched all the DIY videos youtube had to offer and noticed on thing, the only "professional" that made a video changed the plugs from under the car. I have a set of drive up ramps that lift the car about a foot so I decided to do the work from underneath the car.

Start to finish the project took me ~4.5 hrs to complete. My back is really glad I did this while laying on the garage floor vs. leaning over the engine. My rump is not so sure laying on the concrete garage floor was such a good idea.

1) Removing the under carriage plastic. Easy. Bought a fastener removal tool on Amazon and it helped. Main fasteners: pry center piece out about 1/4" then the entire fastener comes out. Phillips head fasteners, turn 1/4-1/2 rotation with screw driver then pull out entire fastener. Two metal fasteners simply unscrew and are removed. Drop the guard and set it aside.

2) Began with cylinder #5, rear passenger side. Difficult but not technical. Took me a moment to discover that the connector has a tab that needs to be pried upwards slightly to disengage from the coil. Coil removal was easy, one 12mm bolt taken all the way out then coil pack pulls out, rotates and drops free. Use a small 1/4" wrench and socket to remove the coil bolt. One of the great tips I read here was to remove the rubber gasket in the spark plug socket. DO THIS FOR SURE or I have no idea how you will retrieve your socket from spark plug after installing the new one. I also bought a set of swivel attachments for my socket, no way to do the job without them.

3) Feed the socket with the swivel attached onto the plug and then determine what combo of extenders will allow you to get your wrench attached. I used a 3", 6" and 10" extender at some point during the job. I also used them in combination to change the angle and approach of my wrench. Had to be aware of clearance to body frame at times and then removed wrench or switched to a different extender so the whole kit and kaboodle could make it out of the cylinder head and past the frame.

4) Installing the new plugs was pretty straight forward. My biggest worry was cross-threading so I put the plug in with my finger tips and gave it about a turn with my fingers until I could feel that the treads had properly caught. Then moved the socket back in place and hand tightened until the compression washer hit. If you are going slowly you can feel the compression washer beginning to compress and then feel when it hits bottom. I have no idea how you could get a torque wrench in there so I stopped turning when the washer hit bottom and did that by feel.

5) I did #5, #3, #1 the moved to drivers side and did #6, #4 and #2. (Back of engine to Front on both sides) I figured I'd to the hardest ones early in the job and before I became tired. I did one cylinder at a time then moved to the next one. I took my time and tried to be thoughtful as I went. The extenders and swivel were like puzzle pieces that I had to solve with each plug location as the angels and access changed.

I did think that #6 was a pain due to the electrical cables in that area. I disconnected them and unscrewed the flat square shaped "thing" from the frame. With that done I was able to get to #6 and my tired arms were ready for me to be done.

6) I also bought a gap tool and feeler gauges. I used NGK Irridium plugs and adjusted the gap on all 6 plugs to 0.044 They did not arrive @ 0.044 per my feeler gauges.

7) I changed the cabin air filter through the glove-box, and I changed the engine air filter. To do the engine air filter I recommend disconnecting the sensor and disconnecting the hose at the hose clamp. I tried to do it without disconnecting the hose and all I did was irritate myself.

8) Oil has been changed and the only thing left is the brake fluid. As the brake fluid requires special handling and disposal I will most likely pay my Indy mechanic to do this one. Oil change not included in my 4.5 hr time, that was all plugs and two filters.

I figure that doing the work myself has saved me a significant amount of money and I did feel pretty good about that first beer last evening. All in all, if you take your time and do not try and hurry this work is not that bad. I would do it again and hope this post helps.

Thanks!
 
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#5 ·
This is my first post here and wanted to share the results of my DIY 60,000 mile service on my '12 Outback 3.6R.
Good to hear it went well. Those plugs are in a heck of a place. Have you had your diff fluid replaced? Trans fluid as well?

As for the brake flush, just connect a piece of tubing to the bleeder nut on the caliper and send it to a jug/bucket, then drop off the fluid at a garage for disposal.
Not too hard to do; just suck out the fluid in the master cylinder with a turkey baster (preferably not your wife's good one) with tubing attached, refill with fresh brake fluid. Then you can do it old school with someone pumping/holding the brake while you open the bleeder nut until the stream slows, close the nut, pump the brake/hold and repeat. Work your way from furthest brake to the closest (to the master cylinder). You will have to keep track of how much fluid is in the master cylinder, you don't want it to go dry and throw air in the lines....
Option two is using a brake bleeder/pump and eliminate the second person pumping the brake pedal. It is also quicker.
 
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