Plea for Engine Help

[truckboy]

Anybody know a good Toyota specialist in the Greater Boston or North of Boston area that is not a dealer? I'm having engine trouble.

If anybody wants to try helping me diagnose the problem, I'll be happy to explain history and symptoms. All you need do is reply....

[felixatvtc]

What toyota engine? I'm familiar with the 3.4 (found in tacoma's and 4runners) and the 2.8 (found in the old supras and cressidas) Post up your symptoms, if anything i could copy/paste into the vehicle forums i'm part of.

[Phresh]

Larry Ng Texaco (Rts 9/16) in Wellesley is a Toyota and Honda legend. Out of curiosity, why not a Toyota dealer? Independents are not that much cheaper and they rarely have factory certified wrenches or OEM parts.

[truckboy]

I've found the problem. It was what I expected, the O2 sensor before the cat. conv. Symptoms were hesitation after initial warmup that had gotten progressively worse and longer lasting. The idiot check engine light was coming on more and more too. Wednesday it blew a fuse for the EFI, which happened last year on the way out to Pedro's when the thing rattled loose, popped out of the exhaust pipe, and hung over the pipe, melting the wires and shorting them out. This time they were all corroded real close to where they enter the sensor. Must have been arc-bleeding through the dying insulation until they went kabloooey. I did what I did before: Detached the sensor and tied the wires out of the way. It runs like a top at all times now. Only thing is, the idiot light stays on. I'm buying a replacement today. I've read that you can really fould the Cat. with a bad sensor, or none.

I wanted to avoid a dealer because I don't trust them, I think their rates are higher, the same for their parts. I wanted someone I could talk to about the symptoms and who would understand that I don't want to spend an arm and a leg for a '92 with 140k mi. and who would probably get the codes off the computer for little or nothing and probably tell me what they meant. In my experience Dealer wrenches don't want to or are not supposed to give you that kind of service. I figure if I brought this into a dealer they would want to sell me a catalytic converter, a tune-up, all new sensors and filters and who knows what else. I was 90% sure what the problem was butr don't have the equipment to prove it.

Thanks for trying to help to both of you. FYI it's the 22RE engine, which is a 4 cyl fuel injected.

[Phresh]

You concerns are valid, but Dealers have a come a long way over the years. Their labor rates may be a bit higher, but they are not that much more for the same work. You sound like you know a thing or two about engines, you don't have to buy what they are selling if you don't want to or think it bogus. Sometimes dealers can diagnose better than independents because all they see are Toyotas (or whatever). Sometimes the independents have to fish more because they are less farmiliar with a given brand's idiosyncracies (sp?). Good luck.

[felixatvtc]

Glad you got it sorted out, the O2 sensors are a bear (although i've been lucky so far with my truck). I totally hear you on the dealer part. I've never been impressed with dealer work or even knowledge about the vehicles they sell and work on daily sometimes ::).

good ol' toyota's bullet-proof 22re! 140k is young for that engine :D

[truckboy]

Yep. Yep.

Can't argue with either viewpoint. I still mistrust dealers though. To the point where I probably won't buy my next vehicle new either. Too much of a premuim and too many pitfalls for the consumer. With any luck though, that won't be for another hunnert thousand miles!

I bought that thing hoping the engine would last forever, and I believe it will, but the ancillary parts are knickel and diming me. This sensor this year, last year it was a radiator. Before that the fuel pum rotted at the top of the tank and nobody would even try to fix it. Coatr me 175 bucks, 20 hours and a lot of knuckle skin. Brake rotors and calipers had to be replaced a couple years back. Before that it was a new clutch at 85k. I guess I'm to blame for the clutch, or else the guy who put 9700 miles on it before me, but I've about had it with the small repairs. Now I'm noticing some bubbling in the typical spots on the body. Ah well, better that 25 grand for a new one!