XPost: alt.autos.toyota   
   From: scharf.steven@geemail.com   
      
   Ray O wrote:   
      
   > You're welcome!   
   >   
   > The change from flange mount to screw-in mounts for O2 sensors apparently   
   > varied from year to year and depending on model.  I think the larger   
   > threaded area for the screw-in type made stripping threads less likely than   
   > on the 2 smaller studs for the flange mounts.   
      
   I had the air/fuel ratio sensor replaced today and all is well again.   
   $153 + tax for the Denso 234-9002 which hopefully is pretty close to the   
   Toyota OEM part since Denso is a Toyota company. The mechanic did not   
   charge me any labor (well it's my brother-in-law's shop). It took the   
   mechanic only about five minutes to change once the part arrived from   
   the parts supplier (fortunately the bolts were not rusted). My   
   brother-in-law showed me his box of old A/F sensors as he changes a lot   
   of them and saves them because someone comes by and pays him for the old   
   sensors because apparently they have enough platinum in them to make it   
   worthwhile. As with most of these heated sensors, it's not the sensor   
   part that goes bad, it's the resistive heating element. He had some of   
   the Denso sensors in stock but they're so expensive that he doesn't   
   stock a lot of them.   
      
   While he works on a lot of Toyotas and he goes to Toyota classes at the   
   local college where Toyota has an auto-technology program, he was still   
   surprised that the VSC lights come on at the same time the check engine   
   light comes on with the P1135 code. You'd think that this would be   
   mentioned somewhere in the manufacturer code listing but it isn't, at   
   least not in the book he had.   
      
   Someone in a forum had mentioned that it was a good idea to change the   
   rear oxygen sensor at the same time as the air/fuel ratio sensor, but   
   the mechanic said to forget it, that the rear sensors rarely go bad   
   unless the catalytic converter fails.   
      
   Amusingly, in a search for the Denso sensor, I found that Amazon had the   
   best price, "http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000C5YCYS" at $132.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)