AR15xAR10s N180 Winter Beater/Party Truck 2000 Highlander 5spd

Check engine light went off on its own this morning, mysteriously...right at 230,500 miles.

Talked to a buddy of mine about fixing the exhaust, he said without looking at it, and including parts, he thinks he could replace the cats with one high flow cat, and fix whatever else i have gobbed together for $300 or less. So thats what we’ll be doing. Going to stop by his shop and have him look at it phyisically, on the lift, and well order the parts we need. Should be able to get it done in the next week or two

In the meantime, i’m going to order another scan tool. Autozone has the scangauges down to $100 right now, but i’ve always liked my ultragauge. Its slightly cheaper at 80 (plus shipping) but its harder to mount, i have to but a mount for it, and i have to wait for it to arrive. Not sure which one I will go with.

 

Exhaust repair scheduled for monday morning, 8am

 

Also ordering a denso reman alternator, an AC idler pulley, a denso MAF, and the downstream O2 sensor.

Covering all basis here. No more faults, noises, whines, electrical gremlins, etc.

 

you sound like me.... cant stand having little gremlins or noises.. so i replace things.. alot.

lol

 

Its only money. The government prints it 5 days a week and banks give it out 7 days a week

 

tis the truth.
im the crazy guy paying to paint a tundra that rolled over

 

Orderd what i hope will be the last batch of parts for a long while

 

Now my door lock motors are functioning intermittently

 

Got all my parts in, exhaust work happens tomorrow, then i'll work on the rest of the parts throughout the week.

Going to drive the truck this week, its been sitting too much and is covered in bird shit

 

230k on stock cats, they were plugged up so bad, my one buddy said he has no idea how it was even idling right.

now, she rips. this thing runs sooooooooooo much better. I had no faith in the performance of the 3.4 before today. My God what an improvement switching to one high flow cat made.

Now i just have to swap out the alternator, MAF, AC idler pulley, and adjust my exhaust tip. Then, she should be just about ready for winter cruising.

 

That's way cool Mas!!! Glad to hear it is a easier fix and one that produces maga results.

 

What CAT did you go with?! Might need to do the same since I ran that code for a while

 

Magnaflow universal 2.25” not sure of the part number since my buddy ordered it and did the work for me

 

Hey Mason, good stuff in here man! I have a 2001 SR5 T4R with 319,000 on the clock that has become the bane of my existence this summer in terms of maintenance Cats are next on my list as I keep getting the same issues you were having. I like the idea of a single high flow, so thanks for that info! Also, good looking out on the Gettagrip shifters! Just picked up one for 2018 6MT Taco.

 

Biggest thing i found improvement from was replacing the coolant temp sensor on the front of the intake behind the timing belt cover, under the fuel rails.

That one part is what made the ECM tell the fuel system to dump fuel all the time thus killing multiple O2s and eventually the cats. The previous owner told me he battled the codes that i had for about 100k miles.

One $20 part and $200 worth of O2 sensors fixed all the codes. Then 400 miles later i got a P0420 which is bad cats (insufficent catalyst results bank 1)

I am more than willing to help with anything i can! Thanks for your support and the kind words!

I can take pics of my exhaust setup and try to get part numbers if thaf helps.

I can also tell you, O2 sensors are specific to multiple things. Whether or not you have california emmisions, whether or not its 4x4 or 2wd, and whether its manual or auto. So keep that in mind, if you need part numbers, please don’t hesitate to ask me

 

@RobP62 I'm thinking about trying some auxbeam lights on this beast, thoughts?

 

Well, if you want value, you can't go wrong. For my money, those will be what I put on whatever I buy to replace my Taco. Sure, I'd like to be able to afford those expensive brands but I'm beyond name recognition, and just don't have that kind of money.

You can buy two light bars and side shooters for what one high end light bar costs.

Will those high dollar versions perform better? Probably. They better. Will the Auxbeams perform poorly and be inadequate? Absolutely not! None of us desert race and if you, or I did, then I'd say spare no expense. But for trail driving, there just isn't any need for that.

This is pitch black, no moon, both Auxbeam light bars and my high output led headlight leds from @XenonDepot . You decide.

 

@fatfurious2 is worried about me and wants to give me his old Ridgid pods so i can actually have fog lights that allow me to see at night lol