Wrenching

[Rally]

Had a Army buddy and his son from Omaha here last week fishing. Had a few laughs and caught some fish. Their last night here and we were leaving the landing and my check engine light comes on. Shut the truck off, looked under the hood, nothing obvious, no odd noises. I reset the odometer/ computer, started it back up. No problem until about half way home, again the engine light comes on. Same deal, no noise, reset, and away we go. Couple more miles again with the engine light. Pull over pop the hood and again nothing but I’d left the engine running this time. Figured to go ahead on home but now it won’t go over 25 mph (limp mode), but only couple miles from home.
Get home and my buddy says he has one of those engine analyzers on his phone. His son and I skin fish and he pulls up the codes on the truck. Says air injection valve right bank stuck open.
My buddy got here in a brand new Ford F-150 , all tricked out with less than 1000 miles on it. Says he bought the analyzer for his old truck and he doesn’t figure to be working on his anytime soon, and gifts the analyzer to me. We say our goodbyes, I load him up with fish and a couple boxes of factory 9 mm, so his son can shoot his new pistol that he can’t find ammo for currently.
They leave ,I get on the puter, order the part. Next morning I disconnect battery, reset codes, then start the truck. No engine light but it sounds like an industrial vacuum cleaner running inside engine, noise lasts a minute or so then goes away and engine my e light comes on again. Shut it down and run my traps with my 1 ton Chevy van.
It took three days to get the part and an hour to put it in, same noise and sequence. Got on the internet and did a little research on a Toyota drivers site. There was 8 years of guys discussing the exact thing, noises and even a guy who sells a bypass kit to eliminate the whole air pump/ smog pump and fool the computer so the vehicle doesn’t go into limp mode or throw codes. Seems most folks were buying the bypass kits and happy with them and even able to pass smog tests in states that require them. I’m not much on jury rigging things, but I’m not much on paying a dealership $2000 to fix it either, so ordered all the parts ( coming from 4 different locations) and waiting five days to get them, but $400 and some wrenching sounds like a better option to me. So I got the air pump today via Fed Ex, so tore it all apart and look what I found!

That black thing that looks like a hair dryer is the air/ smog pump. Seems a mouse decided to crawl under it and make a nest out of fiberglass insulation, from somewhere out of the walls of my shop I’m assuming!

This is the nest after removing pump, primary valve and mounting plate. If you look hard, top right, there is the dehydrated mouse also! Lol

Minus the mouse nest.

I couldn’t stand to see that rust in valley so gave it a shot of paint after cleaning it up. That is the engine starter center top. Odd location to me, but probably better than traditional bottom location, as far as keeping it dry and away from road salt/ corrosion.



Interesting design for an intake manifold. Made of some kind of plastic and most everything mounts to it. Throttle body is vaccine/ electric actuated with no mechanical assistance, nor any fluid cooling or fluid porting. Airflow all around it, fuel rails and injectors all mount on it. So the mouse chose a good location to build, warm and no water leaks to worry about! Lol

This is the new smog pump ready to install. I ordered it from Rock Auto for $78 and a Toyota factory part on Amazon with mounting plate was $369. That’s quite a difference. The rest of the parts are scheduled to be here Monday. I feel half naked without my truck running.

 

[S Mac]

Yeah, the little varmints have made me some money over the years.

 

[Ian]

Yep, LOTS of money. Chewed wires and vibrating blower wheels have been the principal money makers.

I've been told that mothballs will keep the mice away but never tried it. Starters under the intake are great except in hot climates. Have you replaced the timing belt and water pump on 120K intervals?

 

[Petrol & Powder]

I HATE mice !
They are destructive creatures. When they get into vehicles or buildings - Nothing good results.

Good job on your repair.
The plastic intakes are seen on a lot of newer engines. I'm sure they are less expensive to produce than some complex aluminum casting and because they can be molded with very smooth internal surfaces, the flow characteristics are very good. Materials engineering has allowed plastic parts that can take the heat and gasoline exposure. In addition to being lightweight and offering good thermal insulation (helping to keep the air inside the intake cool and therefore dense) they can be made with very complex shapes. This allows for faster assembly.

The first time I saw a starter under the intake of a V type engine was on a Maserati. I get it if you're trying to make the most compact engine possible but you're probably not replacing that starter motor in a parking lot and then driving home.

 

[popper]

Didn't know smog pumps were used anymore. Saw a viper motor, coil packs under the intake manifold. Keeps Ian in business. Ford puts the water pump in the block now - what's next. Alternator built in? Guess they will all be throw aways soon. Traded off a Maxima, 1200$ to replace timing chain - had to pull motor. Ain't worth it.

 

[Hawk]

My wife owns a Lexus SUV.
Had a leak in the timing chain cover.
Had to pull the engine to get to it. Three times before they got it right.
It was under warranty, but I wonder what kind of future failures are in store due to the effects of the pulled engine.
I've also got a late model Chevy S1500 truck.
I've been wondering if I have a transmission with a 75,000 mile life expectancy?

 

[S Mac]

Had a customer a few years back, wanted to go somewhere one day, truck wouldn't start opened the hood, saw a couple of wires chewed apart. Twisted them together, went on to the store. On the way home his check eng light came on, opened the hood when he arrived home, a squirrel jumped out, more wires chewed. The varmint went on the road trip with him.
One day a tech pulled a car in the shop, opened the hood and a squirrel leaped out, landed on his chest. Quite a sight, think had to change his drawers.

 

[358156 hp]

It could be worse. From reading some of the old African Safari Journals I found that they have similar problems there.

With snakes.

We have a lot of local issues with mice & RVs. The nasty little critters love to chew the insulation off wires, often in the damnedest places. I don't mind so much, it keeps us and the towing companies busy.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

..........Ford puts the water pump in the block now - what's next. Alternator built in? ........

BMW 700 series had a WATER COOLED Alternator.
So yes, it CAN get worse

 

[Rally]

Ian,
Haven't changed either yet. Just replaced the fan clutch a year ago, when it started running hotter than normal when I drove through areas of real tall grass, ie no circulation. Checked it out while hot and fan was just about free wheeling.

Yea, the mice are a pain some years. They filled the wifes air cleaner canister full of dog food once. I can confirm Pedigree dog food smells like burned popcorn in a Sienna, and acorns on the manifold of a Toyota 22RE smells like Hazel Nuts to me in January! Funny thing on the current Tundra 4.7, which is garage kept all year, didn't have any odor with that nest. Imagine how many trips that mouse had to crawl up the tires to get all that under the intake manifold! It was a piece of Acorn shell that took out the impeller blades on the smog pump.


Amazing the pump still runs, but sounds like vaccume cleaner running.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

That's a lot of work caused by a small rodent !

I HATE Mice.

 

[fiver]

that intake manifold, injection rails and air inlet [throttle body] is the same setup the ford modular engines use.
except Ford uses a little butterfly system under the manifold runners.
the gaskets are little 0-rings, but they seal just fine.

 

[Rally]

Lamar,
The tips of the injectors each seat in a rubber gasket, and the intake has two sets of four (one each side) where the intakes seal on the heads. Look at the picture of the pump and you can see the gaskets above it on the bench. Got the new gaskets today, while checking traps, but the primary valve and valve for left bank were also suppose to get here, but didn't, of course. Tracking says tomorrow, so maybe I can get my truck running tomorrow. I've been running traps with my 1 ton Chevy van, pulling a 4 wheeler on a trailer. Not real economical, nor convenient.

 

[fiver]

yep Ford even uses Orange colored ones.

those modular engines would be just as easy [easier actually] to work on as the old 60's engines.
if they didn't have stuff like timing phasers, and 16 different sensors, and if you didn't need stuff like special tools to hold the timing chains in place for a simple head swap,,, they would be easier to work on.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

those modular engines would be just as easy [easier actually] to work on as the old 60's engines.
............... if you didn't need stuff like special tools to hold the timing chains in place for a simple head swap,,, they would be easier to work on.

Ha, I remember back when Nissan was marketed as Datsun in the U.S. I had a shop manual for an early 70's Datsun that outlined the procedure for removing the head. There was a detailed diagram that showed all of the dimensions needed to cut an oak board that you inserted in the front cover to hold the timing chain in place. The "Special" tool was a piece of wood and a saw !

 

[Glaciers]

I used to own a automotive repair shop for a number of years. Did a fair amount of wrenching myself. Absolutely hate working on vehicles. People are pissed that their car broke, there mad the can't get it fixed NOW, and mad they have to pay for the inconvenience. Very thankless work. Just about cost me my family.
So I got into Charter vessels. Spent more time in the engine room the I ever spent under the hood of a car. But, diesels are at least understandable. Owned and worked on Cats, Volvo, Cummings in the marine side of things. In the dry side I've had International, Cat, JD old equipment and Kobota, lister, and China Diesels. I can understand diesels, at least the ones without electronics.
For the folks that enjoy or understand working on vehicles, my hats off to you. I simply have a mental block that starts when I pop the hood.

 

[oscarflytyer]

not vehicle related, but rodent. one of the funniest stories to come out of our TSC (worked for a printer co for 25 years). Lady tells the tech she has a mouse in the printer. Tech goes everything he can think of to 'talk her off the ledge' that a printer does NOT have a mouse (electronic type - tech's mind was in a box!)! Finally, in desperation, he asks the customer to send him a picture of the mouse in the printer. And sure enough! She sent a pic with a dead mouse/nest in the back of the printer. I wish I still had the pic.

 

[Rally]

I’d say the new modular engines are way easier to work on. Removing all the small electrical plugs, for a ham handed trapper like me can be trying, but lifting aluminum or plastic parts out of an engine compartment is a lot easier than the cast iron heads and intakes on old V8’s. I also find the internet a valuable asset, when with a little research helps even luddites like me with analyzing the repair. I can usually fix most things if I understand there function and disassemble them to start with. I pretty much have to, because my breakdowns are often in remote areas, far from wreckers, marine repair shops, or snowmobile Parts warehouses! My goal is to fix them before I get there. I try to keep my stuff in good mechanical condition, because walking out sucks, and means you get to walk back in with parts and tools! Love canoes, they don’t break down and go just about anywhere.
I’m sitTing here waiting on parts to fix this truck, and got to thinking it could have been prevented, had the pump manufacture just put a screen over the pump air inlet, so I put one on the new one. Simple screen and Gorilla tape.

I also tore the valves down, just for the heck of it, and found what the problem was and code showed. A piece of the impeller blade made it all the way through the primary valve, through a cheesy foam filter, all the way to right bank valve, and was holding the valve in the open position!

The outlet tube of the pump has a piece of foam stuffed in it, I’m assuming to work as an air filter. Without a doubt the cheesiest thing I’ve ever encountered in a Toyota, and I’ve owned them since 1985! The guys on the Toyota site where I researched this repair, mentioned this “ filter” getting sucked into the valves, and sticking in the valves, as being the most common cause for this repair. I’m not going to replace it in the pump outlet, but will put a filtered sleeve over the inlet, and a screen sleeve in primary valve inlet, I case the impeller blades ever break again, to keep pieces out of the valves. When I took the valves apart this morning, there were pieces of foam in both valves.


Note the remaining piece of foam on my fingertip. Same type foam as used with oil bath mc air filter. External filter at the pump inlet, with screen liner makes more sense to me.

 

[fiver]

designed to fail.

 

[popper]

Neighbor had a cat that liked to sleep under the hood of his truck. Didn't get out fast enough once. After that he was called yang- yang and walked around with slightly tilted head.