Torque Wrench Setting For Spark Plugs

[Stella]

Hi All, does anybody know what the torque wrench setting should be for the spark plugs on my gs300 mk2? I have just changed the plugs and replaced the denso pk20tr11's with the same again. I recently bought this car and it does not have full history so I am doing some tidying up. The car now has just over 80k miles on the speedo (although not sure if this can be trusted. Can Lexus be clocked?) and I do not know if the plugs had been changed previously so thought I would do it just in case.

Changing the plugs was pleasingly straight forward including the throttle body removal and replacement. I decided not to worry about replacing the throttle body gasket as its a big juncky rubber jobby and was in good condition.

I felt that all 6 plugs that came out were in good condition with just a good clean even very light brown colour so I guess they may have been changed previously. I found when I removed the plugs that the sockets / holes that they were in were full of oil. I can understand how this might happen to the front 1 or 2 plugs (next to oil filler) but not all 6.

Anyway removing the plugs lost the oil (and who knows what else) down into the engine. When I fitted the new plugs I used a torque wrench at its lowest setting but just wondered what the correct setting was as I may just want to torque up to it if significantly higher. A mechanic might be happy to tighten up by hand and feel but since I am not I do not want to over tighten.

When I restarted the engine I had absolutely no problems at all and the expected cloud of blue smoke from the oil burning off quickly diminished to nothing. Car drives better than ever now.

Any help on this appreciated. The suns out so I'm off outside to change the brake fluid.

[Rob]

i norm tighten them until the plugs seat then another 1/2 turn to compress the washer/seal and i always put a very small amount of anti seaze on the plug threads to prevent any possible problems in future

[MacRS200]

As Rob said about 1/2 - 3/4 of a turn after the plug contacts the head will do it.

Torque is actually written on the side of the box, at least it was on my last set of IK20's. as a guide have a look HERE. For the first time ever I used a torque wrench at my last plug change and the correct torque was around 3/4 of a turn after the plug seated.

[gsportcars]

I also came across the oil problem you mentioned when changing the plugs in an old BMW 520i. All 6 holes were filled about 2-3" of oil. The only way I could see these holes filling with oil was through the rocker cover gasket although it showed no obvious signs of leakage. If I were you I would get it checked out or even fit a new gasket anyway just to be sure.