Should I make these repairs myself?

[carl669]

I've got a 99 Solara V6 with 191K miles that's due for an emissions test in the state of Washington. My engine light came on a while back, but I never got around to having it looked at.

Since washington does the OBD tests, i needed to get some things taken care. I bought an OBD tool and the following codes are showing up:

P0135 - O2 Sensor heater circuit
P0402 - Exhaust Gas Recirculation Flow (EGR) Excessive Detected
P1410 - EGR Valve Position Sensor Circuit Malfunction
P1411 - EGR Valve Position Sensor Circuit Range/Performance

my question to you all is, would I be able to make any/all of these fixes myself? i haven't done much work on my car, but i can be pretty adept when I need to be (read: when it saves me a lot of $$). i also don't have a ton of time (or equipment) to sit and make repairs, so that is a consideration. if there's a couple quick fixes i can make and then take the rest to a mechanic, that would work as well.

if you think it's easier for me to just take my car in somewhere, any idea of how much I should expect to pay? the dealer wants to charge me $100 just to read the codes which i already have.

thanks in advance for any help. let me know if there's any additional info i can give to help get my questions answered. also, i'll take mechanic recommendations (those that do emissions...Taskar does not) from people that live in Seattle.

[Eye8Pussies]

sounds like you probably need a new o2 sensor and either clean your egr quite thoroughly and hope, or get a new egr

[Eye8Pussies]

oh, and yes, you can do it yourself, it isn't hard for either thing

[carl669]

thanks for the help.

i just ordered a copy of haynes repair manual which should be arriving tomorrow. any idea how much the egr parts should cost? i did a bit of a search and the egr position sensor is ~30. do i need to replace the egr valve as well? or the temp sensor?

for the o2 sensor, which one do i need? i see some with 4 wires, 2 wires, and 1 wire. i read on a different forum that if you get a universal one, you have to make some mods for it to connect. how much is an OEM sensor and where can i get one? is this the o2 sensor that's located in the engine compartment? any idea where in the compartment it's located (so i can take a look before the repair manual gets here)?

finally, do i need any special tools or will a socket wench/screwdriver suffice?

thanks again (a LOT) for helping this newb.

[bronzemaxell]

thanks for the help.

i just ordered a copy of haynes repair manual which should be arriving tomorrow. any idea how much the egr parts should cost? i did a bit of a search and the egr position sensor is ~30. do i need to replace the egr valve as well? or the temp sensor?

for the o2 sensor, which one do i need? i see some with 4 wires, 2 wires, and 1 wire. i read on a different forum that if you get a universal one, you have to make some mods for it to connect. how much is an OEM sensor and where can i get one? is this the o2 sensor that's located in the engine compartment? any idea where in the compartment it's located (so i can take a look before the repair manual gets here)?

finally, do i need any special tools or will a socket wench/screwdriver suffice?

thanks again (a LOT) for helping this newb.

i've replaced both o2 sensor and egr valve before, and not a very difficult job
but i would just resest the codes and drive, see what comes back, then take care of them one by one,

P0135 is on bank 1 sensor 1, on a v6, it is the one located near the firewall in the rear of the engine compartment.
also you need to find out if your vehicle uses oxygen sensor or Air Fuel ratio sensor, and they are not interchangable. i would read the part number off the old sensor and call dealer or go online to order a new one, aftermarket sensor will work, but i recommend getting a genuine toyota sensor as the engine is very picky about that sensor.

buy or rent a oxygen sensor socket, it is like a deep 22mm deep socket with a slit on the side, very usefully tool. around $8 or $10

i've order both o2 sensor and a/f sensor online toyota dealers www.toyotaoemparts.com, they are around $100 and $150 each,
EGR valve is around $180 to $200 each, i do not have any sucess of cleaning the old EGR valve as it still throw the check engine light.
you might also want to get the egr 2 valve gasket as well, they are like $0.77 each last time i bought.

[carl669]

thanks to both of the above folks.

oddly enough, toyotaoemparts.com doesn't list any oxygen sensors. any other ideas where i can get an OEM one? will getting one from the dealer be much more expensive? i'm willing to pay an extra $5-10 for convenience.

[bronzemaxell]

thanks to both of the above folks.

oddly enough, toyotaoemparts.com doesn't list any oxygen sensors. any other ideas where i can get an OEM one? will getting one from the dealer be much more expensive? i'm willing to pay an extra $5-10 for convenience.

i find the oxygen sensors in www.toyotaoemparts.com no problem

when you are in the OEM automotive part window
you select the
year: 1999
Make: toyota
Model: solara

then go to
emission system
emission components
Oxygen sensor

you will see front and rear

I normally call 1800 phone on their web, tal to a live person, give them the vin#, and and the part i want, and they give me the price.
www.toyotaoemparts.com is one of the large local toyota dealer located in Indiana, they should have everything down to a tiny screw for your car. all you need to do is ask.

[carl669]

odd. when i do the drill-down menu, it doesn't find anything. if i do a search for o2 sensors, it finds them.

oh well at least i found them.

thanks for the help.

[Jakecallun20]

any idea where in the compartment it's located (so i can take a look before the repair manual gets here)?

finally, do i need any special tools or will a socket wench/screwdriver suffice?

thanks again (a LOT) for helping this newb.

Hey, your oxygen sensors are located in the exhaust manifolds, one on the front of the motor and one on the rear side of the motor on the manifold.

Hope this helps, GL with this man.