Technical Twinair spark plug replacement - HOW MUCH?!

[Mark Hurst]

Had a MoT / service today at Halfords Autocentre and they recommended replacing the spark plugs, based on time (6 years), not mileage (18k). They quoted £190 . I declined, since I didn't see any real need to change them. I know the plugs are expensive, but good grief, how hard can it be to change them?!

 

[UKRMedic]

Cost of plugs - £9 each maybe (From a motorfactors). The tool - £10. This is the easiest job ever. I replace mine yearly. Look it up on youtube. And it comes with the satisfaction of doing it yourself!

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

Spark plugs for the TwinAir are a little more 'special' - but not that much! Shop4Parts price £14 each for the genuine item (so £28 parts bill). Bit (not much!) time to reach to them...

Fiat Panda IV (2012 to ) 0.9 TwinAir Turbo Spark

www.shop4parts.co.uk

 

[Marcus Daly]

Halfords, LOL.

 

[UKRMedic]

Spark plugs for the TwinAir are a little more 'special' - but not that much! Shop4Parts price £14 each for the genuine item (so £28 parts bill). Bit (not much!) time to reach to them...

Fiat Panda IV (2012 to ) 0.9 TwinAir Turbo Spark

www.shop4parts.co.uk

They look like regular sparkplugs to me... no, wait... longer thread?

 

[Goudrons]

As already stated the plugs are expensive for the TA, they are Iridium plugs and should last 60k.
When I had my TA is did start to cough and run rough at around 18K, I swapped the plugs which seemed to cure it.

It isn't particularly hard to change them.

Removing The Spark Plugs On A Fiat 500 0.9 Turbo (Twin air)

There's only two spark Plugs to change on a Fiat 500 0.9 Turbo (Twin air).

www.fiatworkshop.co.uk

The clip on the Turbo Induction pipe is a Clic R clip, if you haven't the Clic R pliers, just open it with a screwdriver and replace with a large Jubilee clip, otherwise you'll struggle to retension it when refitting.

The plug key needs to be long and thinwalled and preferably magnetic, a Lazer 3682 is ideal.

I would also say as airbox is coming off, it might be wise to replace the airfilter as well if it hasn't been swapped recently.

 

[ben]

Don't forget the forums own guides section!

Twinair air filter, spark plugs & coil replacement

Hello all, I've just discovered a similar guide existing in a text only version but I thought I'd add my version with the pictures. This is a very simple job, I'm in no way mechanically minded and tend to approach everything with a ham fisted...

www.fiatforum.com

 

[Mark Hurst]

As already stated the plugs are expensive for the TA, they are Iridium plugs and should last 60k.
When I had my TA is did start to cough and run rough at around 18K, I swapped the plugs which seemed to cure it.

It isn't particularly hard to change them.

Removing The Spark Plugs On A Fiat 500 0.9 Turbo (Twin air)

There's only two spark Plugs to change on a Fiat 500 0.9 Turbo (Twin air).

www.fiatworkshop.co.uk

The clip on the Turbo Induction pipe is a Clic R clip, if you haven't the Clic R pliers, just open it with a screwdriver and replace with a large Jubilee clip, otherwise you'll struggle to retension it when refitting.

The plug key needs to be long and thinwalled and preferably magnetic, a Lazer 3682 is ideal.

I would also say as airbox is coming off, it might be wise to replace the airfilter as well if it hasn't been swapped recently.

Thanks. I might even try that as and when it's needed. I'm not going to do it for now.

P.S. I suppose my 'how hard can it be' was more of a 'how can they be charging £120+ for labour?' I would have thought it's less than half an hour for someone who knows what they're doing.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Had a MoT / service today at Halfords Autocentre and they recommended replacing the spark plugs, based on time (6 years), not mileage (18k). They quoted £190 . I declined, since I didn't see any real need to change them. I know the plugs are expensive, but good grief, how hard can it be to change them?!

Who do they think they are kinkidding The plugs are not cheap but thats not much different to a full dealer service with plugs ! I hazard that must be at leat 25 minutes work! One has to pity soemone who is so inept and useless that they budget a couple of hours to change two plugs..... Even an hour at dealer rates is obscene. One presume they have hooves and not hands. Name and shame!!

 

[Goudrons]

I would have thought it's less than half an hour for someone who knows what they're doing.

If you presume that's Halfords, you might be seriously mistaken.

But in all honesty you are forgetting VAT.
If the plugs are £14 each, you would have to add VAT which is £5.60.

Also labour attracts VAT at 20%.

So they have effectively quoted around £125 labour to do the job.

I think that's still a little too pricey if they were doing them as part of a normal service, but I reckon if you rocked up and asked them to just replace just the plugs it wouldn't look nearly as expensive and I think you'd pay more for the job at a dealers, for a start they'd charge full price for the plugs not S4P's discounted price.