1994 Lumina APV Rear Plugs

[apvpsyco]

Good Day All

I had a problem with the van, where I had no power going up hills and no acceleration. The Van has a 3.1 litre engine. I changed the Feul filter, Cap, and rotor, Air Filter, and so on. I changed the first 3 front plugs, and have looked through the general forum on the Back ones. The posts all say tip the engine forward to change the last 3 plugs, but all the posts were about the lumina car. As you all know, the vans have less room over the engine. Can anyone help me with this.

Thanks

[LMP]

Yes the recommendation did apply to the Lumina Van, that is tilting the engine forward.

Originally Posted by knuckle ears

As far as the back spark plugs go...I saw on the net an appliance you use to bring the engine forward and then you can more easily change the plugs in the back. It looks like a wedge with a long adjusting bolt through it. Apparently you take out the front motor mount that you see above the rad that is attached to the engine. Usually called the dog bone. This appliance goes in it's place and you loosen the wedge so the engine tilits towards you. The access to the plugs are now easier to get at.
Haven't tried it so not sure. Maybe others have a thought about this.

I would say that just undoing the dog bone and gently tilting it forward with something to hold the motor from crunching the rad and all would be okay as well.

Some have said they do it blind, crawling over the engine.
However, I did mine from under (I have kind of a pit installation) by removing the front exhaust pipe shield, removing the rear two subframe bolts, and lowering the subframe 1 1/2" :easy visual access .

However, you did not mention any misfires so I think your lack of acceleration is caused by something else. Do you have any codes?

[A10ECGent]

I have a 94 apv and change plugs from the top. It is a little bit tricky but not to bad.If you remove the complete air filter housing you can reach over pretty easily.put a 6 in extension on your plug socket and get it on the plug before you attach your ratchet(you will bee able to see the end of the ext. and room to work). The trouble comes when you go to put the plugs back in,for this get a piece of fuel line (3/8) put it over the end of the plugand use it to screw your plug in then your ratchet to tighten only.It sounds bad but it's really not

BTW before tightening the back plugs remove the rubber insert in your plug socket,if you dont it WILL get stuck on one of the plugs and then you will be cussing trying to get it off

[Jeffi]

I did the "crawl over". Took off the air cleaner plus undid the hold down bolt. Really wasn't very bad. When it came to putting the new plugs in, I used one of the old spark plug wires. Worked like a charm!

[LMP]

This is easier done on the 3.1 than the 3.8.....

[twistedtech]

The best bet is a swivel head ratchet. it will help you out a ton. Do it from the top.