Huskie
Junior Member
This here is a cautionary tale for you lads. Last year, just before smog inspection time I got a check engine light for catalyst efficiency on my 2002 sr5 (A.K.A BRUTUS, because I'm sure hell stab me in the back one day when Im not looking).
Managed to bluff my way through inspection, buying myself a few months time but I knew I had to get this thing fixed. Did some forum searching on here and determined that it's far more likely that its the 02 and A/F ratio sensor, my rig being California CARB compliant so decided to order myself replacements.
looked up the correct part numbers off of Denso's website and incorrectly assumed that all parts with the Denso stamp on them are created equal. The correct part number for my upstream was 234-9002 and shopping around I found one for half the price listed on E-bay. Ordered both the sensors but didn't get around to installing them until 2 months back because the rig was running fine.
Once I replaced the sensors (threw away my old A/F sensor, yes I am a highly educated idiot sometimes) I cleared the codes with my OBD2 scanner and started driving. Immediately noticed jerky acceleration as soon as I replaced the A/F ratio sensor. The Cat efficiency code didn't come back but last week, a week before I'm due to register the car again hence smog inspection time, I got a P1135 which is an A/F Ratio sensor code plus the jerky acceleration/idle which I was hoping was an ECU calibration issue never went away so now I'm stuck with limited time in which to figure out where to order a new 234-9002 from and then run the drive cycles to pass SMOG in order to register the car so YEAH.
Tl
R bought a cheaper Denso part from E-Bay and got screwed.
Managed to bluff my way through inspection, buying myself a few months time but I knew I had to get this thing fixed. Did some forum searching on here and determined that it's far more likely that its the 02 and A/F ratio sensor, my rig being California CARB compliant so decided to order myself replacements.
looked up the correct part numbers off of Denso's website and incorrectly assumed that all parts with the Denso stamp on them are created equal. The correct part number for my upstream was 234-9002 and shopping around I found one for half the price listed on E-bay. Ordered both the sensors but didn't get around to installing them until 2 months back because the rig was running fine.
Once I replaced the sensors (threw away my old A/F sensor, yes I am a highly educated idiot sometimes) I cleared the codes with my OBD2 scanner and started driving. Immediately noticed jerky acceleration as soon as I replaced the A/F ratio sensor. The Cat efficiency code didn't come back but last week, a week before I'm due to register the car again hence smog inspection time, I got a P1135 which is an A/F Ratio sensor code plus the jerky acceleration/idle which I was hoping was an ECU calibration issue never went away so now I'm stuck with limited time in which to figure out where to order a new 234-9002 from and then run the drive cycles to pass SMOG in order to register the car so YEAH.
Tl
R bought a cheaper Denso part from E-Bay and got screwed.
plus I have realized that the worse rust and rounded bolts to be found anywhere on these rigs is usually on the exhaust, my own took about a half a can of butane to take off so I shudder to think of that nightmare scenario.
