Thanksgiving car repair project.

Seems like these large projects are a re occuring thing at the holidays the last few years. I wait to do them on breaks so that I have multiple days off to complete it so I am not rushed and I always have other things to do as well around the house and holiday related.

This year's was the Highlander. It had either a bad knock sensor or bad wire harness for the sensors. The whole intake has to come off because it's below it. So while your in there you may as well replace both sensors and the wire harness because the only way to get to them is once you pull the intake. While you there there is a coolant bypass hose that has to come out and it should be done as well. My valve cover gaskets have been leaking for years so I planned to do them as well since the only way to do the back one is with the upper intake pulled. And I put the back three plugs into it since the only way to do them at least for me is to pull that upper intake. If you were paying someone you might as well replace the coils as well but I rolled the dice and just reused the originals as there fine. I have an extra upper intake gasket and have gotten pretty fast at it by now so if they go bad I will just replace the coils then. Now for some pics.

The valve covers leaked so bad that it always smelled like burn oil from it running down onto the exhaust manifolds. The check engine light was on. The code was that the PCM couldn't see one of the knock sensors. It's either from a bad wore harness or a bad sensor. The engine reduces timing when this happens to protect the engine so it won't knock . Also it keeps it out of overdrive. When I first cut it on, it will go into OD but if I come to a stop it will not shift into OD. So I was having to cut the car off and back on to get back into OD. Usually this was done while moving, hitting neutral , cut engine off and back on then shifting back to drive. I live in a rural area so I could get to work often without even turning it off as I never came to a stop. But when driving in a city or on a trip it got old fast. I ran it like that for months.

Side note. As much as I like Toyota there are 4 bolts on the back of the intake. Many of them I believe could have been relocated to an easier spot to access.. three of the bolts really are not hard of you know where they are. The fourth is hard because there is not room for a socket or a wrench due to the firewall and a flange on the bracket. I was able to get to it with an offset box end reaching one hand under the intake and there other behind it.
This third pic you can see the knock sensors down in the intake valley in the center. They have the wires running to them.

Well it's all done, back together and check engine light is off and drives well.

 

The cost of the parts for this job was close to $400 alone. Glad I don't pay someone to do this stuff!! OUCH!

 

I'm a die hard toyota guy, but I don't think I'd own one with a transverse V6 because they seem like a pain for maintenance.

 

I believe the starter on my Tundra's 4.7 is under the intake in the valley of the V. Just over 200k and no signs of issues with it but... .
I follow/watch a bunch of car related/mechanic accounts on other social media places and they are all the time showing major fails like that. Some are much much worse. Last one was a leaf spring mount bolt on a Ford that required the gas tank to be dropped to pull it out. You can find some really helpful tips too. I've learned a good bit.

Side note, I just replaced a starter on my Ducati and a bunch of those guys recommended Toyota Long Life coolant for the refill, so to the dealer I went. $37 a gallon for 50/50. I can't even begin to imagine what an authorized Duc shop would have charged for that service. The oem starter listed as $425.

 

Yep it is!! I have one of those too! Luckily not had to replace a starter yet.

Now I do buy aftermarket coolant. I make sure it's the Toyota red. I have been useing zerex recently. But it's still close to $20/gallon for 50/50.

 

We have a 2010 Toyota Highlander, it’s been dead nuts reliable and has 220k on it. This fall check engine light came on indicating challenged timing. Dealer couldn’t really find a problem a said that is a common code for them to throw. We bought it with right at 100k, and as far as we know the timing chain had never been done so I had him replace it while they had it, that was right around $800.
This is our second Highlander. First one hit a deer. I put in an aftermarket headlight assembly and banged out some dents then sold it to the wife’s oldest son. He has had great luck with it as well.
Wife’s next vehicle will be a Toyota too, I’m sure. I’d like it to be a 4Runner but we’ll see when the time comes. Not done running the wheels off this one yet

 

Yea I was very pleased. This engine is a known sludge maker as well. Toyota had to replace many under warranty even. Never had a recall, I'm thinking maybe there was a class action started but maybe never made it to court? Anyway I learned of this engine and it's sludging reputation and it said to always run full synthetic and do frequent changes. That's what I have done since we bought it in 08. Thankfully it must have had good maintenance untill then as you see it looks good in there. There was a bit on the tops of the valve cover, and some in some little nooks on the bottom sides of the heads but nothing bad. I have seen way worse before on other engines. I cleaned the VC's best I could and rinsed them out and let them dry to remove what I could. But overall I was really happy with how it looked in there.

This vehicle has 275,000 miles on it. I also service the trans about once a year sometimes a little longer. Over kill by some peoples standards but it only takes 3quarts of fluid and takes 30 mins to do. I buy the factory Toyota T-4 fluid as well. I usually buy a case and I can get the Sequoia and Highlander done with that case.

 

Another example of engineers designing something on a piece of paper and never having to work on anything !!

 

That was with me buying NTK knock sensors ! If I bought Toyota sensors those two alone would have been $500 not sure what a Toyota brand wire harness costs. The NTK sensors were about $115 a piece. Put a gates hose and standard motor harness in there. Put Denso iridium plugs in. The Felpro intake gasket set is like $65 . Like $40 of red Toyota (aftermarket) coolant. I got the best aftermarket sensors my research told me and a respectable name in Japanese vehicle aftermarket/OE parts to put back. With the work involved with getting in there I wanted to make sure potential parts failures were at a minimum.

 

Denso makes pretty much every sensor for Toyota. They either have stopped making them or there not available direct? I usually buy the OE stuff like Denso or Aisin stuff for Toyota.

There also is a good chance NTK might be original or would be if they needed the same sensor today. NTK is the same company as NGK . NGK plugs came factory in some Toyotas and Denso in others my owners manual calls out both company part numbers for plugs for the Highlander.

 

Many toyotas came with half NGKs and half Densos in the same engine.

 

I have heard that story before.

 

love fcp euro, lifetime guarantee on all parts bought from them! good prices for the quality of parts you get vs the local store
rockauto for the fords, fcpeuro for the volvo

 

I buy almost everything for my Chevy and Toyotas on Rock Auto.

 

When I had my Audi all road, I bought most everything green FCP euro. Except the axles. Raxles make the best ones.

 

Rock Auto is the first place I look but NAPA gets business from me too. Sometimes they have good promos and you can save more when ordering online by changing your home store on the website.

 

I'm going to have to remember that. I had to replace my passenger axle and fcpeuro could not get me OEM, I ended up settling with a napa one but
everyone says they don't last. I kept the one I took off in hopes of getting it rebuilt.