Leaping Tortoise

They didn't say. All they would say was that they'd cleaned the old plug but there was no guarantee that they'd last. However, since my car is performing better than when I bought it, I'm good :) Thanks again for all your help -Leaping

Hey all. Thanks for your help. I got the mechanic to put the old spark plugs back in (and refused to pay). Car is working perfectly and no more clunking. Thanks again for your help. - Leaping.

Also, does anyone know some spark plugs that'd work well with the avalon?

Hi, Thanks for the reply. I did think that the timing belt was a bit odd (I thought that on avalon's they usually went for around 150,000km). That said, they did say that the leaking had caused the belt to deteriorate. I haven't picked up the car yet, I've just told them that they're to put the old plugs back in. They said that three of the six plugs were dead. To describe the "clunk;" The closest analogy of the sound would be two pieces of metal hitting each other at speed. It's accompanied by an immediate drop in power from the engine (It's happened at speeds as low as 30km/h and up to 80km/h, all starting within a minute of starting the car). I asked the mechanic how likely it was that three spark plugs would simultaneously fail immediately after I picked the car up from them. He said it was purely coincidence. I'll get my own spark plugs and fit them tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again -Leaping.

Hey all. Yesterday I put in my 2000 Toyota Avalon Conquest into the local mechanic. There were some leaks that they patched up (2 Rocker Gaskets needed to be replaced and they also replaced the Cam and Timing belts (timing belt had only been replaced 5000km ago). After I got the car back, I drove it home, and every so often it'd give off a big clunk. Once every so often, but getting more frequent after a few minutes. I took the car back to the mechanics, where they said it was probably just a little water getting in the way from when they washed the engine (Hosed it down). So, after a day of waiting for them to tell me to come and pick it up, I called them and they told me that it was actually the spark plugs, and they'd replaced them with platinum spark plugs and a nice $200 fee (on top of the $800 they charged yesterday). I have two questions, first: Is it absolutely essential to use the platinum spark plugs on an avalon? I'm a student, and this $800 repair has already put me under enormous financial strain. I'm wondering whether there's a cheaper (without going too dodgy) option. Second, is it possible that the mechanics did something wrong and ruined the plugs? Given that the problem occurred almost instantly after I got it back, it seems.... a little suspicious (I took my old car to a different mechanic where everything was a huge problem that'd take several thousand dollars to fix, and it'd always come back with a new problem that had "nothing to do with what we were working on," so I decided to go with these guys for the new car). Thanks for any help you can provide. -Leaping.