Whats the best way to get at this plug?

This is the up stream drivers side o2 (a/f) sensor. The plug disappears somewhere back there and my preliminary research tells me its gonna be a bitch to get to. I have to change it tomorrow so I went out to pb blast it a little tonight because I've read what a pita they can be. Trying to trace those wires back I can't get to the plug coming at it from the side. Can I get to it coming from above? Like coming down between the engine and firewall instead of along side the manifold? I'm not a little guy but I'm not paying some skinny bastard at Toyota $600 because I can't reach it. Any tips?

 

http://www.tacomaworld.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/228858/cat/500

 

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How many miles are on your truck? Seems odd that you have a bad sensor. Odd to me atleast

 

I'm gonna edit my post so I can give little more info. I have less then 31,000 miles but I'm out of warranty time wise, I bought my '09 in August of '08. So I'm beyond my 36 months and somehow an oxygen sensor isn't part of the emissions system. At least not an important enough part to be covered under the federal emissions 8/80 warranty.

 

Damn you're just out of warranty by a few months then? Are you absolutely sure its that sensor?

 

The make u2 sensor sockets. 22mm I believe. Google it! They prob have them at your local auto parts store.

 

Yeah, its a pain in the ***. I had to reach up there when I swapped my headers out. I used a precision flat tip screw driver to push down the tab and get it started on coming out, then just grabbed the wires at the plug and just pulled and wiggled it at the same time til it came out. I used PB blast on my o2 sensor and even with the manifol off the truck, it sucked. The threads on it were fucked up (o2 sensor not manifold) but I was able to get em straight enough to reuse it, I refuse to pay $200+ a each for new ones just because the threads were a little messed up.

 

Wow, so not only could you see the plug, but you got to it with a screwdriver? So there really is no trick to it. Just man up, break your wrist, and get in there?.

 

Wow, who knew that the O2 sensor wasn't covered by the 8/80? I would not have guessed that. But I looked it up and indeed the sensors are not considered "Major Emission Control Components". Here is the excerpt for the rule and a link to the entire rule:

What Are Specified Major Emission Control Components?

There are three specified major emission control components,
covered for the first 8 years or 80,000 miles of vehicle use on 1995
and newer vehicles:

* Catalytic converters.

* The electronic emissions control unit or computer (ECU).

* The onboard emissions diagnostic device or computer (OBD).


Entire rule: http://www.epa.gov/oms/consumer/warr95fs.txt

 

Yeah, believe me, I was pissed. First, I'm livid that I have a CEL on with only 30,000 miles on the truck. Never had that happen before. Not with Ford, Chevy, not even the piece of shit Ford Focus I had that floated down the street. Dried it out for two days and it started right up, by the way. No CEL then either. But anyway, so I'm mad as hell I'm going thru this at all and then to find it out it's not covered, under anything? The only reason I'm not in the county jail is because I have a family depending on me. PLUS, this little dickweed tells me it's not $100 to plug it in and pull the code, it's $114.95, and if it is the A/F sensor it usually runs around $600 to replace. AFTER the $114.95, because they have to verify the code, they can't just take anybody's word for it. Even if you have your own obd2 scanner in the truck. Whatever. I'll get it. And I'll do a write up of it for the next guy.

 

next time you get a CEL, check out autozone or advance autoparts, they do a CEL light code check for free!

 

I know what the code is. That's why I'm replacing the a/f sensor. What I don't know is where those blue and white wires disappear to or how a fat bastard like me is going to get his pudgy arm up in there.

 

Okay, after changing it today I can say the best way to get at the harness turned out to be from underneath the truck. I also dropped the flexible rubber piece inside the wheel well too. You can get at it from there too. In the long run I held the clip to the the harness open from underneath and my wife pulled the plug out by reaching in thru the wheel well. It might sound like it was bad but start to finish it was under an hour feeling it out as I go. I'm a total rookie at this shit. I'll put together a detailed write up with pics on Monday and add a link to that write up to this thread when I'm done.

 

Good job! Hope you didn't have to use up too many points with the wifey.

 

I thought O2 sensors were under the emissions warranty? Isn't that 10yrs 100k miles?

 

That was for OBD-1. See my post above for the current EPA rule for OBD-2. Looks like the mfgs lobby earned their $ and shifted a lot more to the vehicle owner.

 

Ain't that a bitch.

 

Here's the link to the write up:
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/technical-chat/208130-how-change-air-fuel-sensor-p2197-dtc-code.html

 

Thanks for the write up. Great job.