Tundra AFR Sensor Code O2, O2

The Front O2 sensor(s) on a later model Toyota Tundra is really called an Air Fuel Ratio sensor. It usually develops a heater circuit failure around 90K miles or later. This ToY fit those parameters & the check engine light was on.

Why did it fail? Read on..

Simple comparison…

How long does an average incandescent light bulb last? If you stuffed it into your exhaust subjecting it to extreme heat and vibration it wouldn't last 10 minutes.

Now take a heat emitting element & enclose it in metal. In this scenario you’re the computer and you Command it to get real hot, real fast. How long will it last? Environment determines life span and this is a harsh environment. Temps range between 600 to 900 degrees Fahrenheit, not including that it’s getting splashed with water. A good reason light bulb elements aren't used and you just learned something!

Repair on vehicle!

Since the AFR Sensor failed it needs replacement, but look, there are serious side affects you discover upon removal. All the threads are mushed over or as some would say; stripped. 

What to do!? Do you replace the exhaust manifold to get new threads or do you chase those old threads and regain 70% or more.

I did the “chase-the-threads” thing as an experiment and this customer was lucky. Fewer problems seem to defeat the experienced technician, special tools help as well. 

Tune-Ups - REQUIRED!

The photo included in my post is to visually stress the importance of routine maintenance. A simple spark plug change with estimated cost of $145.00 would have saved this person an additional $1100.00 on the replacement cost of two damaged catalytic converters.

The owners manual gives a mileage interval to replace a normal wearing part. There's good reason too, the spark plugs pictured here aren't just normally worn, they are actually worn away.

Much more material is gone than what I would expect to find at the correct replacement mileage.

That brown coloring is was un-burned gasoline, money just being tossed blown out the tailpipe as the SUV went down the road.

The CHECK ENGINE or SERVICE ENGINE SOON lamp had been flickering away for hundreds of miles.

BTW.. Why do they call those warning lights, "idiot lights" anyway?

....the National Weather Service has predicted....

SNOW, SNOW, and more SNOW

This forecast (see below) is very reminiscent of the one we were presented, but ignored in the winter of 2003 - 2004. Mid-westerners like Gail and I grew up in cold snowy winters. No big deal right?

Differences in location produced similar Arctic weather patterns, but the mountains, and a close proximity to ocean moisture have changed our perception of what a "snow-advisory" truly is.

Thus we found a need to understand our environment taking over. Now a chain saw, sandbags plus winch and accesories all are standard equipment when fall arrives. It only takes one storm, and you understand what being prepared is really all about. The CERT training we took helped so much.

One of two vehicles was constructed

 to travel off-road, but this one got a

snow plow and a 10,000 pound winch.



Bottom of the driveway, Lake Joy Drive is behind us 
as we approach the 100ft verticle climb it takes
along the sides of my hilly property.

This ToY 4Runn'r worked great for extracting a 2004 Suburban from a culvert.
 It was on it's side                                     

Special Weather Statement

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
1032 PM PST SUN JAN 15 2012

WEST SLOPES CENTRAL CASCADES AND PASSES- 1032 PM PST SUN JAN 15 2012

THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THAT SOME 

LOWLAND LOCATIONS COULD RECEIVE SEVERAL INCHES

 OF NEW SNOW BY TUESDAY AFTERNOON.

A POTENT PACIFIC STORM WILL IMPACT ALL OF WESTERN WASHINGTON

 LATE TUESDAY NIGHT AND 

WEDNESDAY. THIS SYSTEM HAS 

THE POTENTIAL TO 

PRODUCE SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL AMOUNTS ON BOTH 

THE MOUNTAINS AND LOWLANDS. THIS COULD RESULT 

IN POWER OUTAGES AND HAZARDOUS WINTER

DRIVING CONDITIONS...

ESPECIALLY ON THE LOWLANDS. AT THIS TIME... 

EXACTLY HOW MUCH SNOW 

WILL FALL AND EXACTLY WHEN THE SNOW WILL CHANGE 

OVER TO RAIN ON THE LOWLANDS WERE STILL

UNCERTAIN.

LOCALLY HEAVY SNOW SHOWERS WILL DEVELOP OVER WESTERN WASHINGTON
MONDAY AFTERNOON AND PERSIST INTO TUESDAY...(SHOULD READ THUSDAY)
...A POTENT STORM MAY BRING WIDESPREAD SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL TO
WESTERN WASHINGTON TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY...(AND IT DID!)

TODAYS PREDICTION

AFTER A BRIEF BREAK...(IT ALMOST FOOLED ME)
LOOK FOR SNOW SHOWERS TO INCREASE MONDAY AFTERNOON OVER THE AREA.
THE SNOW SHOWERS WILL BECOME LOCALLY HEAVY...ESPECIALLY IN THE CASCADES...
MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY AS A WEATHER DISTURBANCE MOVES ACROSS THE REGION.

All of this and much, much more came to our Cascade foothills. The extended forecast began to include Thusrday as well

YES.. Thermostats are Important!

Complaint; "I have no heat inside my Dodge Grand Caravan. Can you tell me why and fix it?" Why sure I thought; time for the space age tools! Using my laserguided thermal temp gun I was able to deduce that the vehicle no longer had a thermostat. I would find that the thermostat had fallen apart and was now spread out deep within the upper intake manifold. Using my borescope, with grappler attachment I searched the inside of this vehicles lower intake manifold and retrieved 90% of all the thermostats components.

Now the fun begins.

The thermostat assembly in this vehicle was used in two model years, and that's 10 years ago. If I wait another four days I can get another housing. NAH! I decided to reuse the outlet housing, and it was no big deal. By grinding the stakes away I was now ready to install a new thermostat. Only thing left to do is align the thermostat and stake it in place.

These are the parts I finished out of that Dodge Grand Caravan. Yes it needed new antifreeze, and the fluid state might have caused the thermostat to fall apart, or was it simply poor engineering.

Can you recall the last time your thermostat was replaced? I know that IT HAS A PROFOUND EFFECT ON FUEL MILEAGE, but I can't remember the last time it was changed.

Way too many Chefs' before me there were!!

Many automotive technicians have a type of vehicle we dread repairing. It's the one that has already been diagnosed by the owner. This is evident by the numerous amounts of new parts sprinkled in the engine bay. You know it is going to be fun when you see all those new parts. But for grins add that another shops been there before you. They performed their diagnostics with assistance and input from the vehicles owner.

And now it's your turn at what appears to be a fairly simple fix. All hope fades away when you're told about what has been done by another shop and by the owner too. As more and more information is remembered by the owner, you stand there rubbing your head wondering what you've gotten yourself into. This vehicle is well-known for a myriad of problems. It came to you stinking of soot, gas and all the money someone dumped into it in hopes they could get just a few more miles. Man, I mean really!

Using diagnostic tools; one of which is experience, I proceed. I should've said no after discovering that the owner thought someone had stolen one of their tires. This being due to its color difference; should have been a red flag. Actually the rim and tire by the tailpipe had been cleaned. This vehicle ran so poorly 40% of the fuel it was supposed to burn was coming out the tailpipe instead. Oh, what other surprises lay ahead. I include a photo of the first or second KOER string of codes.

Another flag was the fact that the catalytic converters, all four of them, had been gutted.

(There are Federal Laws that prohibit this from being done....)

The engine oil was so chock-full of carbon I was surprised it hadn't seized! The front heated 02 sensors were completely covered with carbon or soot. We can be sure that the pre-cat sensors do not function just by their appearance. I really need to know how to put a time frame; an estimate; a price on diagnostic time after seeing and hearing just the above?

Let us not forget the fact I have connected a breakout box to monitor, test and diagnose PID data. And the holiday season is quickly approaching. Enough for now.

“…and the 4runner waits patiently for snow to fall, and winter to begin again.”

Okay, I know these pictures are six-months old, but everything is winterized for the 2011-2012 season. The truck w/o snowplow was in two car shows this year. Photos of the ice/slush covered 4runner from last seasons dusting of snow and are here too. Temperatures have dropped to freezing at night for the past week, who can say when IT WILL snow next? The 4runner gets the plow attached again this weekend and takes its position backed into the carport.

It’s a Landcruiser kind of day

This Landcruiser, a 1987 FJ60 is getting the best quality lift components available. 4 inch suspension with a lot of articulation travel. Old Man EMU kits rock, no doubt! A shackle reverse kit is being installed as well. And since the SR kit involves removing the stock bumper, time for a one-off fabrication. Pictures and more on the these ToYs a little later.

Lets have a look as we start and finish a 4" suspension lift on this 87 FJ60 •

Need Music? Turn up the radio...

(Produced in 16:9 widescreen)

I hate to be a multi tasked person

As usual, I have three projects going on at once. Although each of them is a Toyota they’re all here for different reasons.

The first of these three is here to draw upon my memory of practical electrical circuitry. It arrived as a combination of “really cool” and “I don’t know what that is for so..” all thrown into a 79 Pick-up. 

Customer supplied Information comes in slowly or if I bug them it is suddenly remembered. I find that I must engineer and create parts from scratch that are safe and can hopefully withstand all the abuse each area will be given.

Each time I finish enabling a component and area, I find another problem that stops me from driving it out the door. I just need to remember it is only nuts and bolts, yet at times is seems so much a task. It’s as if the vehicle were possessed, or nearly alive. almost as though it wants to throw yet another challenge at my abilities. I could threaten the truck with fire, and maybe it will fall into line and all things screwy would work.

MY AUTO CARE MY TRUCK CARE

I opened John's Auto Repair in June 1984 , and John's Lake Joy ToY in October 2003. One thing is a constant; parts have life spans. When you read this you should learn this mantra by repeating;

CHANGING SPARK PLUGS WILL SAVE MONEY GAS GAUGES HAVE A PURPOSE MY CHECK ENGINE LIGHT DOESN'T MEAN CHECK THE ENGINE WHAT IDIOT WHAT LIGHT (repeat again).

Repeat constantly to yourself when you pay a HUGE car repair bill.

Hey, it's no secret many automotive engineers like to ride bicycles. It helps to keep them in shape! They do spend so much time in front of a computer screen SITTING, THINKING and SITTING. I even bet that these same automotive engineers DON'T drive a car like yours. Didn't mean to crush that secure feeling you had about those automotive engineers.

Now that I shared, let's open our minds and have a look at our owners manual, more often. Such a wonderful book, and so packed full of knowledge. Think of it in this way; you pay tens of thousands of dollars for this book, this manual and they include a car to go with it!

Once again I'm a bit mystified by the interpretation/acceptance of the CEL OR SERVICE ENGINE SOON light. If it's staying on, you can rest assured there is a problem. I'm seeing more failed catalytic convertors because there wasn't any periodic or routine maintenance performed.

There may still be hope for YOUR CAR or TRUCK...!!!

Lack of Routine Maintenance :: THIS IS NOT a good thing
 Is public transportation in your future; really might be your way to get around. Yes, you will loose the independence, freedom and privilege that "car-ownership" affords. You will be putting those gas dollars into a Xmas account. For every dime you think you're saving on real maintenance, you're actually spending a dollar in its place.

Save your money and let others drive for you. STOP!!

Are you still reading? There may still be hope for YOUR CAR or TRUCK...!!!
Open the glove box to locate a small booklet. You've seen it. Yes, it's the owners manual!
Read it and look for some of the keywords I used at the beginning of this post.
Call, email, or if you are brave respond (comment) about the content of this post.