Silverado Tune-Up. Changing the Spark Plugs in the 2005 Chevy Truck.


I am approaching 100,000 miles in my 2005 Chevy Silverado so I figured it was time to do some maintenance. I bought a new serpentine belt, an air filter, and some new spark plugs. I have not installed the serpentine belt yet, but I did put in the filter and the plugs.
The filter is a piece of cake as long as you have the right size star bit. The plugs were a little more challenging but still pretty easy. I purchased Autolite double platinum APP605 plugs. They are really inexpensive but should do the job just fine. I have a 6 cylinder engine so there are a total of six plugs to change. There are three plugs on the left side of the engine and three on the right (driver's side). Change them one at a time, do not try to take all the plugs out at once as you may get confused on which plug wire goes to which plug. I needed a 5/8 inch spark plug socket to remove the plugs. Don't put too much pressure to remove them as you may just pull the threads right off. Don't remove spark plugs while your engine is hot (I waited a few hours since I just drove my truck about 30 miles). You WILL need a tool called a wire/boot puller to remove the rubber boot. Just twist the boot to the right & left a few times and then pull hard (from the boot) and it should come off. The gap on the plug needs to be adjusted to .60. I would recommend adjusting all the plug's gap before you even start so as to make sure you don't forget to do one later. Make sure to use some anti-seize on the threads so removing these will be really easy. Also, use some dielectric grease on the tip of the plug to keep water out and also to make it easy to remove for your next plug change.
The three plugs on the passenger's side were really easy to remove and install but the last plug closest to the cab on the driver's side was a bit more difficult to get to. I felt like a contortionist trying to get the right angle to get to the difficult plug. I did not change the wire set (probably should have at 100k). For Chevrolet, AC Delco are the original type of plugs and wires which are very high quality OEM parts. I used Autolite plugs from AutoZone, but I would recommend Bosch products if you want a higher quality of parts and don't mind spending the extra money.