Howdy ya'll.
After doing much debating with myself and being totally frustrated about the awful ticking sound and sulfur smell I've been experiencing for about a year or two that made me fall out of love with my 2005 4runner SR5 V8 VVTi, I finally decided to attempt replacing the manifolds myself. There is next to NO helpful information online on how to approach this, so I hope that I can shed some light from my experience.
I just finished removing my passenger side exhaust manifold. Truthfully, not as hard as I was anticipating, but still quite a tough challenge.
MUST HAVE TOOLS
- my battery powered Bosch high torque 18v impact drill was great for this job. YOU NEED A GOOD IMPACT WRENCH.
- 14mm impact 6 point socket (12 point will round your nuts). This would be the perfect socket for the whole job:
SNAP ON 14 MM SEMI-DEEP IMPACT SWIVEL SOCKET
- Impact extensions 1/2" and 3/8" 20-24"
-Engine lift
- Die grinder with cutoff wheel or dremel (just incase you need to cut some bolts in tight spots
- 1/2" to 3/8" impact adapter
- 14mm nut extractor like
THIS
- Torch
- PB Blaster
First I applied PB blaster to all nuts to be removed over the course of 2-3 days.
Looking into the wheel well, I was able to remove the farthest left cylinder top and bottom nuts, the second cylinder top nut, and the front top and bottom nuts. I would first hit it with a bunch of heat from the torch, and then hit it with PB Blaster. I used my 14mm extractor with a 22mm socket around that on an impact grade universal socket swivel with as long of an extension as I needed.
For the bottom of the second one, bottom of the third and the top of the third one, I had to undo the two engine mount bolts and using an engine hoist had to lift the passenger side of the engine up about two inches - just until the catalytic converter hit the firewall - watch your bumper on the hoist!
From there, I could very awkwardly get the extractor or my 14mm impact socket on the nut first, and then would add the my universal swivel, and then would extend it out to a convenient spot, one piece at a time. Building the adapters this way allowed me to feed any extensions in through tight spots to get it as straight as I could. My extractor was getting a bit blunt by the end but fortunately the 14mm impact socket had enough to grab.
The top one of the third cylinder behind the engine mount was the hardest. I had to used my 1/2" drive ratchet and got at it from the top.
The studs came out of all of them but two. The end of the studs were so rusted and wart-y looking that the nuts ended up just binding and the whole stud came out. I had to cut one of the engine mount bolts off to be able to lift the engine a bit. The exhaust flange bolts just after the catalytic converter either snapped or were cut. I snapped one of the heat shield nuts off in the manifold but the other three came off ok. The two bolts securing the air tube thing (what is this for anyways?) on the top of the manifold came off ok. I used a flat head to pry the tube flange apart to get it off those little studs. I had to hammer the cut bolts on the exhaust flange to separate that bit. Then the manifold was free!! After it came loose I had to play with the engine lift a bit to give me the clearance to slide it out. Once it was mostly free and there was a little weight on the O2 sensor wires, I had to lower the engine back down to get the clip. Right on top at the back of the clip just press down. The weight of the manifold made it easy to separate the connection. And then finally, it was free. The front flange was cracked pretty badly AND the first flange.
I'd say it took me (a total novice) max 8 hours to get it off. Toyota dealer ship here in Victoria, BC, Canada wanted nearly $3000 CAD for the OEM manifolds plus another $2000 CAD for labour (16hrs @ $120.00). I was going to go with the walker manifolds (got one off amazon for $216.00 US) and one off RockAuto ($550.00 CAD) but I ended up deciding to go with the Dough Thorley Headers. Ordered them today. Hopefully they fit up nice and my local muffler shop can do a good job welding on the catalytic converters. I figure for the time and effort, I'd rather have a bit of an upgrade rather than just replace it with the same, expensive parts.
I'll be doing the driver side over the next few days. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
Not sure why the pictures below may not be working, just right click and select open in new tab - they should work then.