@ 157,500 miles
Check engine light has been on our Camry. We let it sit in our drive way since the inspection went out at the end of April. A week ago I took it to the neighborhood shop, but it did not pass the inspection. =(
So, it was time for me to work on it. On the eve of my summer vacation, I had my wife go down to a Toyota dealer to pick up Vacume Switching Valve (VSV). My neighbor works there and he can get me a BIG discount. We saved $20!!
Here is what the new VSV looks like.
And here is the old one looking at it from under the car.
So yesterday, I attacked it. Everything went smoothly.
1. Disconnect the negative terminal on the battery.
2. Disconnected the first vacuum line off the old VSV and marked it by putting the masking tape on it.
2. Disconnected the electric connector off the VSV.
3. Now I had to take the bolt out. Hmmmm.... The VSV is bolted to the back side of the engine block. It is located on very tight spot and it is VERY difficult to get to. I struggled with it for two hours in the morning. Then I took a lunch break. I struggled again in the afternoon for one hour and FINALLY it came off.
4. Took the second vacuum line off.
5. Put the new one on and put it back in reverse order.
I figure at the Toyota dealer they would charge you one hour to 1.5 hrs for the job = $100-$150. Knowing I saved that, I am quite satisfied.
Then I took the car for joy ride for about 40 miles to make the diagnostic computer go through at least one cycle. The engine light never came on. So it was time for me to go back to our neighborhood inspection station and finish the inspection and YES IT PASSED!
But the car has been neglected since the end of April and it needed a bath, BADLY. So I gave it one. But the grime would not come off just by washing it by hand. So today, I used the Turtle Wax Polishing compound and an electric buffer and went all over the car and got nasty black grimes off.
Before polishing ...
After polishing ...
Giddy UP!!
Check engine light has been on our Camry. We let it sit in our drive way since the inspection went out at the end of April. A week ago I took it to the neighborhood shop, but it did not pass the inspection. =(
So, it was time for me to work on it. On the eve of my summer vacation, I had my wife go down to a Toyota dealer to pick up Vacume Switching Valve (VSV). My neighbor works there and he can get me a BIG discount. We saved $20!!
Here is what the new VSV looks like.
And here is the old one looking at it from under the car.
So yesterday, I attacked it. Everything went smoothly.
1. Disconnect the negative terminal on the battery.
2. Disconnected the first vacuum line off the old VSV and marked it by putting the masking tape on it.
2. Disconnected the electric connector off the VSV.
3. Now I had to take the bolt out. Hmmmm.... The VSV is bolted to the back side of the engine block. It is located on very tight spot and it is VERY difficult to get to. I struggled with it for two hours in the morning. Then I took a lunch break. I struggled again in the afternoon for one hour and FINALLY it came off.
4. Took the second vacuum line off.
5. Put the new one on and put it back in reverse order.
I figure at the Toyota dealer they would charge you one hour to 1.5 hrs for the job = $100-$150. Knowing I saved that, I am quite satisfied.
Then I took the car for joy ride for about 40 miles to make the diagnostic computer go through at least one cycle. The engine light never came on. So it was time for me to go back to our neighborhood inspection station and finish the inspection and YES IT PASSED!
But the car has been neglected since the end of April and it needed a bath, BADLY. So I gave it one. But the grime would not come off just by washing it by hand. So today, I used the Turtle Wax Polishing compound and an electric buffer and went all over the car and got nasty black grimes off.
Before polishing ...
After polishing ...
Giddy UP!!
Comments
1) Make sure you check the obvious first. I ordered a new VSV online and when installing it noticed one of the two vacuum hoses was falling of the old one.. I tightened it and the old EGR valve and VSV worked fine without me having to replace it. $80 wasted.
2) Why replace a part in a bad location? After reading several blogs, how-to's, etc I awoke in the night to the realization that hey, I didnt need to remove the old VSV.. I just had to put in a new one. The new one could be put ANYWHERE. So I would have mounted it right next to the EGR Valve Modulator.. Then its easy to get to in the future. No one would complain about that.