by collector, March 28, 2007
Hi all
2003 Corolla Ce owner here, and I was looking at the owner's service manual intervals for replacing spark plugs, etc. I was aghast to see that the replacement interval for my plugs is at 190,000KM! 
Is that a true estimate, given the fact that it is a VVT motor, or is it kind of optimistic?
Hi all2003 Corolla Ce owner here, and I was looking at the owner's service manual intervals for replacing spark plugs, etc. I was aghast to see that the replacement interval for my plugs is at 190,000KM!
Yes, you really can go 190,000 KM with Iridium plugs. I've got friends with cars that have 110,000 miles on them and are still running their original Iridium plugs with no problems.
Toyota wouldn't tell you it was ok if it wasn't.
Bikeman982
Normally the recommended replacement time is on a conservative amount.
The plugs could go even longer, but it is best to check them at the recommended interval.
Hi all2003 Corolla Ce owner here, and I was looking at the owner's service manual intervals for replacing spark plugs, etc. I was aghast to see that the replacement interval for my plugs is at 190,000KM!
It's 192,000 kms to be exact 
I believe it's optimistic, but there are lot of people that got good mileage from the stock plugs. I have a 2003 Corolla CE as well and I replaced mine with OEM Denso Iridiums at 100,000 kms. I wanted to take a look at them at least and for my car they looked pretty worn. Not sure how others are getting great good mileage from them. I figured for the resonable cost of sparkplugs, it's was worth it for me to change them sooner.
With my RX-7 I am changing out sparkplugs for the same cost but every 15,000 kms, so it's actually not that bad in comparision in my case.
I would at least check them at 100,000 kms and see how they are holding up.
Wow-that is simply amazing...On my old '88 3.0L 4x4 pickup, I used to replace my NGK V-grooves every 2 years (approx. 35,000KM). Another bonus for me, aside from the longer service interval is how easy it is to access the engine components on the 1.8 compared to my old V6. It used to take me over an hour, and dissasembly of the air intake (not to mention skinned knuckles and a lot of innovative cursing) to do a simple spark plug change.
I miss the utility of the 4x4, but man, my Corolla makes up for it in a multitude of ways! 
Since you can change all four plugs in less than 1/2 hour, I just stick with the $2/ea copper plugs and change every 30k miles. If you don't want to do it very often, replace with irridium.
On a truck I bought, the owner went 147k miles on the factory platinum plugs - when I pulled they still looked decent. 
i have 90k miles on mine, working fine as far as I can tell
