Ok guys, so I have a 1985 FJ60 with about 172,000 on it that I got a month or so ago. I bought it knowing that it still needed to pass smog, which I may or may not recommend to most people. In my case, it was a no brainer, because I got a great deal on it. The previous owner of 15 years, who did no automotive work himself from what I understand, had wrestled with the smog issue every single time inspection came up. From looking through the paperwork, it typically cost him around $1000 to deal with, and the craziest one is that about 4 years ago a shop convinced him to replace his whole engine at a cost of $3800. (I think they had him convinced that the reason he wasn't passing was his "old, worn-out engine").
You may find, as I did, that hoses are hooked up incorrectly, or sometimes not at all, that VSVs (or BVSVs) are not working properly (or broken), that you have vacuum leaks, snipped wires, or any number of other sort of ailments (although I think I had all of them).
Before I begin explaining the process, I would like to add the link to the Factory Emissions Manual. This was an incredibly valuable tool for me, and if you can see it in terms of individual systems, rather than the spaghetti that it is as a whole, you can gradually make your way through it all, presumably with great success. You can find the link HERE (I'm not sure who is hosting the file, but THANK YOU to whoever it is). If that link ever stops working, I would be glad to host that file on my site as well.
Now the fun begins.
I brought the truck home about a month ago. It appeared to have a decent looking catalytic converter (from the outside
), which had been put in less than two years ago. As with any newish or old vehicle that I buy, I do a number of things once I get it. In this case, the whole brake system needed to be gone through as well as a general tuneup. Since my wife will be driving this truck more than I will I wanted to make sure she was safe. The process of going through the brake system, which could be a complete other thread, led to its own big discoveries which were promptly taken care of. Namely, a frozen parking brake mechanism in the right rear. (A lot of blaster, a screwdriver, and a hammer. A little time. And a lot of patience. And it's now moving freely.)
General tune-up for me meant an oil change, new fuel filter, new plugs properly gapped, new distributor cap, rotor, and new wires.
FIRST TRIP TO SMOG STATION
Once those things were done I was all smiles and zoomed off to a buddy's smog shop. (I thought for sure that it would pass since the Cat wasn't that old). Luckily, the shop I have access to allowed me to check out the numbers in manual readings mode on their dyno'd smog analyzer. The numbers were WAY off. There was no way I was going to be even close to passing. At this point my buddy told me what my options were.
(A) Get the carb. rebuilt, it was obviously running too rich. Have someone go through and check all the vacuum hoses, etc. And lastly, one of the other guys in the shop said to remove the rail that has all the hard vacuum lines and just run the hoses directly just in case there are "tiny holes in those tiny lines". (That last one was a terrible suggestion which I promptly threw in the awful suggestion pile, and so should you) Imagine the hose spaghetti having about 30 more feet of hose running around the valve cover....it gives me shivers just thinking about it.
(B) Go to "some guy" at "some shop" and pay him X dollars and "it will pass" (read: Get it to pass quick and easy for a little $$)
(C) Spend some money to have the carb rebuilt properly, go through all the vacuum lines yourself with the FSM, and rest assured knowing that in the end, you should have a truck with a properly working emission system, and better running engine.
My buddy at the shop didn't give me option C. That was my option. And, naturally, my options are always better than anyone else's (or so my wife says) and so that's what I chose.
VACUUM LINES
The first hurdle that I would recommend is the overall routing of the vacuum lines. You may find that this alone cures a number of ailments. I would recommend using the large photo of the whole system as a basic reference point, but not a good way to see where those lines are actually going. So, systematically go through each individual system, following the focused diagrams in the Emissions manual. Before you know it, you'll have gone through each system to make sure it's hooked up right. If something was hooked up wrong, I just pulled it out and left it hanging. I knew that eventually I would get to the system that it was for, and it would be placed in its correct home. If you find that there are plastic "T"s in the routing of your hoses, it is because someone or some shop didn't want to take the time to get things right, and they "made it work for them". But, that's not gonna' work for you at this point in time. Lose the "T". There is only one exception to the "T" rule, and I believe it's the line going from the PCV valve, splitting off to the HIC valve. (I'm sure someone will let me know if there are any others, but that's all that I could think of)
CHECK VALVES, VTVs, BVSVs
As I was moving vacuum lines around, I would also check to see if check valves and VTVs were working properly. Check valves are one way, black and white plastic pieces inline with a hose (Air passes freely in one direction, but not at all in the other) and VTVs are the plastic pieces that look kind of like check valves, but are color coded and oriented. (Air passes freely in one direction, and passes with a specific resistance in the other direction) Make sure all of these are oriented properly per the manual. I had a bad check valve as well as a bad VTV.
BVSVs are not as simple to figure out if they are working properly or not because to be properly tested they should be removed from the side of the thermostat housing thing, and boiled up to a certain temperature, etc. One look at mine and I saw that both (there are 2. One for the spark control & EGR system, and one for the Choke Opener System) had broken pieces. The BVSV (1) (Violet) for the SC System and EGR system is incredibly important, and should be working properly. For me, at this time, BVSV (2) (Pink) is not quite as important. The pink one for the Choke opener is only in the closed position when the engine water temperature is below 41º F, and until we have really cold nights here in Southern California, I don't have to worry so much about this one. So, for now, I went ahead and put a small piece of hose to serve as a loop bypassing BVSV(2). I'll get one before the summer is over and swap it out just for the sake of having everything working properly. These 2 BVSVs are not interchangeable because they have two different temperatures and two different operations, so don't swap them. With the BVSV (1) (Violet) I had a spare from a parts truck that I swapped in.
SECOND TRIP TO SMOG STATION
I was really curious, after doing all of this, to see if my efforts had paid off! Because I had access to a smog machine, I figured I might as well see what kind of numbers it was getting. I'm sorry about this being vague, because I don't have the print of the actual numbers, but they were still off. They were better in some respects, but now that the vacuum lines were actually hooked up properly, I could begin to get a clearer picture as to which VSVs (Vacuum Switching Valves) might be operating incorrectly. I also knew that this was my time to go and get the carburetor rebuilt.
CARBURETOR REBUILD
I'm in Los Angeles, and nearby I have Mark Algazy, at Mark's Offroad. I've bought parts from him, but I haven't had him do any services for me that I remember. I hear that he is great at rebuilding these Aisin Carbs.
I also keep hearing about a guy named Jim who does these rebuilds. Feel free to add their contact information below this post.
For the sake of time, I chose to go to a guy in Los Angeles named Tony. He's a great guy (Italian I think), and he has done great work for me in the past. His shop is called A.C.E. Carb and his web site is LACarb.com. He had the carb taken off the truck, rebuild per factory specs, and put back on the truck, in less than 8 hours. I don't remember exactly what he charged me, but I'm pretty sure it was around $350. It would have been even cheaper had I just given him the carb. He also has a great appreciation for our old Toyotas, which is a plus!
THIRD TRIP TO SMOG STATION
As you can tell, I was extremely eager to get this thing to pass. I just "knew" that each time I passed a hurdle that it would be done! Upon returning and testing, the carburetor had helped immensely!! It was no longer running incredibly rich, it was idling better, and had better throttle response. But, alas, the HCs were still very high, and signs were beginning to point more heavily to the Catalytic converter needing a replacement.
REPLACE THE CAT FIRST? NO!!!!
My thought on replacing a catalytic converter within 2 years of its install is that if it was melted through within that span of time, something is not right. You can guarantee that if you put a new one on, without addressing the issues upstream like Air Injection, it's going to be melted through in a short time as well. The previous owner seemed to be having a new Cat put on each time he had to pass emissions. In my opinion, this is the result of a shop not taking the effort to really assess the problem. They got the guy in there, sold him a universal cat, "helped" him pass emissions, and sent him on his way. Which brings me to another discovery.
Catalytic Converter "Thermo" Temperature Sensor
I've read a lot on the boards about the need or lack of need for this sensor. To me, if you are running a truck with emissions intact, and have to pass a smog test as I do, it's a no brainer. For those of you who don't know what it does, here's the short and sweet: It tells the air injection system to stop blowing nice yummy fresh oxygen toward the cat when it gets over 1445ºF. Which lowers the temperature of the cat dramatically, which in turn keeps the Cat from self-destructing. I think it's pretty important.
My big discovery here is that not only did an exhaust shop put in a universal cat that DID NOT have a port for the thermo sensor, they actually CLIPPED the thermo sensor off (I'm sure without even telling the previous owner). It more than likely ended up in a trash can. Luckily, I had a parts truck that had one still intact. So, I crawled under the truck, routed the wire, plugged it into it's connector under the center console, and for the meantime zip tied it to the speedo cable to be addressed when I got the new Cat with the proper thermo sensor flange.
TIME TO ADDRESS THE VSVs
The VSVs (Or vacuum switching valves) are extremely important to the overall operation of the emissions system. They interact with the emissions computer, and other systems, to engage or disengage vacuum to various diaphragms, etc. Lucky for you, with some patience, and the Factory Emissions Manual, you can test them pretty easily! Get yourself a volt-ohm meter (or a multimeter, whatever you like to call it), some length of wire to hook up to power and ground, and a mighty-vac to test it all. If you don't have a mighty-vac, you can do most of the basic tests by just blowing or sucking into the right place on the VSV and seeing if the air passes or not. I think that the night that I was checking these I got a little tired and skipped a few, seeing as the ones that I did test were all looking good. I would absolutely not recommend skipping any of them (If you do, it'll possibly bite you later on).
Test them all. Test them all. Test them all.
Ok, I'm done with that.
AIR INJECTION SYSTEM
This grabs fresh unburnt air from the air cleaner via the smog pump and directs it either back to the air cleaner, into the exhaust ports, or into the exhaust pipe. I think that if your air injection system isn't actually working the way it was designed to, you'll find it very difficult to pass California smog. I won't go into too much detail about the AI system except to say that some guys have found crud built up in their ACV, ABV, ASV, or relief valve which prevented things from opening or closing properly. I didn't have to take mine apart, thankfully. Make sure your Air injection system is working as it should. The cat needs that additional oxygen to help the reaction be more efficient; ergo less pollutants coming out of your exhaust pipe, and more H20 (or HOH for those of you that care).
TRIP TO THE EXHAUST SHOP
I took a ride over to the exhaust shop and discussed cost with the owner. I work on Shelby Cobras, and we always use a place called Morse Muffler, in Burbank, for all of our exhausts. They are nice guys, have been around a long time, and wont gouge you for price. I told them that I would be needing the right Cat with a port for the temperature probe. I had done my research and found that I could use a Magnaflow #39041 which is California legal, and available online for around $150. They ran the numbers and told me that their best price they could give me was about $100 more and that I should just order it online and come back when I had it.
The way I see it, if you want a business to survive, you have to support them as much as you can. These mom and pop shops can't afford to sell you the deeply discounted cat for the price that you can find online. I would have loved to just pay up on that one, but I couldn't justify spending $110 more with them. Had it been $30 or $40 more, I would have just bought theirs. Of course, I will be buying a universal muffler, etc. from them.
SECOND TRIP TO EXHAUST SHOP
So, after receiving my new Cat in the mail, I happily zoomed off to Morse Muffler the next morning! They put my truck up on the rack, dropped the skid plate, and I explained how I wanted them to put the new exhaust in. My hanger bushings were destroyed, so we discussed the best way to make it right. The only snag in the whole process was the thermo sensor for the Cat. The flange on the Cat has 2 bolt holes, as does the flange on the sensor. But, in my case, there was no kind of gasket to seal the mating point. I decided for now to just bolt the sensor up to the Cat, and I would deal with figuring out if there is some kind of sleeve that goes in there. (So, if you know the Toyota part number, or know of a good fix to correct the little puffs of exhaust that want to sneak out of there, please let me know!)
In less than 45 minutes, with a new universal muffler from them, and 2 additional hangers, it cost me a total of $230. I don't know how this aligns with most muffler shops, but for the quality of work, and the cost of a new muffler, I was pretty happy with it.
LAST TRIP TO THE SMOG STATION!!
I drove the 25 minute drive to the smog station to get the cat nice and hot. The moment of truth was now upon me! After all this work it HAD to pass! We again put it up on the machine for a manual reading. Stage one everything looked amazing! I was looking better than a prius! (Actually, I made that up....I'd like to think I was looking better than a prius in terms of emissions, but I don't these trucks can even come close.) At stage 2, suddenly my NOX levels went through the roof!!! Everything else was in check, but the NOX was suddenly the thorn in my side. So, I proceeded to inspect the EGR valve and its corresponding VSV...hmmmm....everything was hooked up properly.
Considering all that I had gone through, I wasn't exactly thrilled that we suddenly had one other thing keeping me from being legal!
He looked up my truck in the California Smog Database and realized that he wouldn't actually be able to do the official test because my truck was "test only", so he sent me over to "another guy" at "another shop" that was test-only.
I knew what was going on. They were going to try and HELP me pass...keep it in 2nd gear so it doesn't cause the NOX to spike, or something. This isn't acceptable to me. I wanted it to pass because IT was passing, not because they made it happen.
TEST-ONLY SMOG STATION
So, I arrived down the road at "another shop" that was a test only center. The guy was super nice and started hooking up his stuff to the truck. He, too, did a manual reading first. He wanted to see the NOX spike to know what was going on. He checked out the EGR system, hooked up a mighty-vac to see if it was getting correct vacuum, etc. It was. The only weak leak in this chain, as I saw it, was the VSV. That little vacuum switching valve would be the only reason why there would be a drastic change in NOX levels. I pointed it out to him, and he was about to test it, when I realized something!
I had a box of spare random emissions parts from my parts truck in a box in the back!
I broke out the box, and started sorting maniacally through zip-loc bags marked with permanent marker... The guy looked at me funny and said, "did those come WITH this truck??" ...I said, "No, they were on a parts truck that I bought."....and with a beam of light from heaven shining on the raised baggy, there it was. The VSV for the EGR system! (Add heavenly trumpets here)
With a quick burst of energy I swapped out the old VSV with the new(used) one.....
He ran the manual test......
And HOORAY!!!! No NOX SPIKE!!!!
He checked the Evap system on his machine, and it all checked out, and then he proceeded to do the REAL TEST.
Within 10 minutes I was driving out of there with a piece of paper that could have been worth a million bucks, the piece of paper that said my truck had LEGALLY passed California's strict emissions standards!!!
For those of you that don't have to deal with smog in your state or municipality, this is probably not that exciting. For me, and I'm sure for many others on this forum, it's a resounding shout of joy that they, too, can have a legal FJ60 here in this state!!!!
I hope that my long post will be of some use to someone on here! I still have lots of parts on that parts truck that I am trying to get rid of, and I still have other issues with this truck that I have to deal with. But, to know that this afternoon I will be walking into the DMV with that piece of paper in hand, and my head held high, I'm a happy man.
Thanks for reading!
-Seth
You may find, as I did, that hoses are hooked up incorrectly, or sometimes not at all, that VSVs (or BVSVs) are not working properly (or broken), that you have vacuum leaks, snipped wires, or any number of other sort of ailments (although I think I had all of them).
Before I begin explaining the process, I would like to add the link to the Factory Emissions Manual. This was an incredibly valuable tool for me, and if you can see it in terms of individual systems, rather than the spaghetti that it is as a whole, you can gradually make your way through it all, presumably with great success. You can find the link HERE (I'm not sure who is hosting the file, but THANK YOU to whoever it is). If that link ever stops working, I would be glad to host that file on my site as well.
Now the fun begins.
I brought the truck home about a month ago. It appeared to have a decent looking catalytic converter (from the outside
), which had been put in less than two years ago. As with any newish or old vehicle that I buy, I do a number of things once I get it. In this case, the whole brake system needed to be gone through as well as a general tuneup. Since my wife will be driving this truck more than I will I wanted to make sure she was safe. The process of going through the brake system, which could be a complete other thread, led to its own big discoveries which were promptly taken care of. Namely, a frozen parking brake mechanism in the right rear. (A lot of blaster, a screwdriver, and a hammer. A little time. And a lot of patience. And it's now moving freely.)General tune-up for me meant an oil change, new fuel filter, new plugs properly gapped, new distributor cap, rotor, and new wires.
FIRST TRIP TO SMOG STATION
Once those things were done I was all smiles and zoomed off to a buddy's smog shop. (I thought for sure that it would pass since the Cat wasn't that old). Luckily, the shop I have access to allowed me to check out the numbers in manual readings mode on their dyno'd smog analyzer. The numbers were WAY off. There was no way I was going to be even close to passing. At this point my buddy told me what my options were.
(A) Get the carb. rebuilt, it was obviously running too rich. Have someone go through and check all the vacuum hoses, etc. And lastly, one of the other guys in the shop said to remove the rail that has all the hard vacuum lines and just run the hoses directly just in case there are "tiny holes in those tiny lines". (That last one was a terrible suggestion which I promptly threw in the awful suggestion pile, and so should you) Imagine the hose spaghetti having about 30 more feet of hose running around the valve cover....it gives me shivers just thinking about it.
(B) Go to "some guy" at "some shop" and pay him X dollars and "it will pass" (read: Get it to pass quick and easy for a little $$)
(C) Spend some money to have the carb rebuilt properly, go through all the vacuum lines yourself with the FSM, and rest assured knowing that in the end, you should have a truck with a properly working emission system, and better running engine.
My buddy at the shop didn't give me option C. That was my option. And, naturally, my options are always better than anyone else's (or so my wife says) and so that's what I chose.
VACUUM LINES
The first hurdle that I would recommend is the overall routing of the vacuum lines. You may find that this alone cures a number of ailments. I would recommend using the large photo of the whole system as a basic reference point, but not a good way to see where those lines are actually going. So, systematically go through each individual system, following the focused diagrams in the Emissions manual. Before you know it, you'll have gone through each system to make sure it's hooked up right. If something was hooked up wrong, I just pulled it out and left it hanging. I knew that eventually I would get to the system that it was for, and it would be placed in its correct home. If you find that there are plastic "T"s in the routing of your hoses, it is because someone or some shop didn't want to take the time to get things right, and they "made it work for them". But, that's not gonna' work for you at this point in time. Lose the "T". There is only one exception to the "T" rule, and I believe it's the line going from the PCV valve, splitting off to the HIC valve. (I'm sure someone will let me know if there are any others, but that's all that I could think of)
CHECK VALVES, VTVs, BVSVs
As I was moving vacuum lines around, I would also check to see if check valves and VTVs were working properly. Check valves are one way, black and white plastic pieces inline with a hose (Air passes freely in one direction, but not at all in the other) and VTVs are the plastic pieces that look kind of like check valves, but are color coded and oriented. (Air passes freely in one direction, and passes with a specific resistance in the other direction) Make sure all of these are oriented properly per the manual. I had a bad check valve as well as a bad VTV.
BVSVs are not as simple to figure out if they are working properly or not because to be properly tested they should be removed from the side of the thermostat housing thing, and boiled up to a certain temperature, etc. One look at mine and I saw that both (there are 2. One for the spark control & EGR system, and one for the Choke Opener System) had broken pieces. The BVSV (1) (Violet) for the SC System and EGR system is incredibly important, and should be working properly. For me, at this time, BVSV (2) (Pink) is not quite as important. The pink one for the Choke opener is only in the closed position when the engine water temperature is below 41º F, and until we have really cold nights here in Southern California, I don't have to worry so much about this one. So, for now, I went ahead and put a small piece of hose to serve as a loop bypassing BVSV(2). I'll get one before the summer is over and swap it out just for the sake of having everything working properly. These 2 BVSVs are not interchangeable because they have two different temperatures and two different operations, so don't swap them. With the BVSV (1) (Violet) I had a spare from a parts truck that I swapped in.
SECOND TRIP TO SMOG STATION
I was really curious, after doing all of this, to see if my efforts had paid off! Because I had access to a smog machine, I figured I might as well see what kind of numbers it was getting. I'm sorry about this being vague, because I don't have the print of the actual numbers, but they were still off. They were better in some respects, but now that the vacuum lines were actually hooked up properly, I could begin to get a clearer picture as to which VSVs (Vacuum Switching Valves) might be operating incorrectly. I also knew that this was my time to go and get the carburetor rebuilt.
CARBURETOR REBUILD
I'm in Los Angeles, and nearby I have Mark Algazy, at Mark's Offroad. I've bought parts from him, but I haven't had him do any services for me that I remember. I hear that he is great at rebuilding these Aisin Carbs.
I also keep hearing about a guy named Jim who does these rebuilds. Feel free to add their contact information below this post.
For the sake of time, I chose to go to a guy in Los Angeles named Tony. He's a great guy (Italian I think), and he has done great work for me in the past. His shop is called A.C.E. Carb and his web site is LACarb.com. He had the carb taken off the truck, rebuild per factory specs, and put back on the truck, in less than 8 hours. I don't remember exactly what he charged me, but I'm pretty sure it was around $350. It would have been even cheaper had I just given him the carb. He also has a great appreciation for our old Toyotas, which is a plus!
THIRD TRIP TO SMOG STATION
As you can tell, I was extremely eager to get this thing to pass. I just "knew" that each time I passed a hurdle that it would be done! Upon returning and testing, the carburetor had helped immensely!! It was no longer running incredibly rich, it was idling better, and had better throttle response. But, alas, the HCs were still very high, and signs were beginning to point more heavily to the Catalytic converter needing a replacement.
REPLACE THE CAT FIRST? NO!!!!
My thought on replacing a catalytic converter within 2 years of its install is that if it was melted through within that span of time, something is not right. You can guarantee that if you put a new one on, without addressing the issues upstream like Air Injection, it's going to be melted through in a short time as well. The previous owner seemed to be having a new Cat put on each time he had to pass emissions. In my opinion, this is the result of a shop not taking the effort to really assess the problem. They got the guy in there, sold him a universal cat, "helped" him pass emissions, and sent him on his way. Which brings me to another discovery.
Catalytic Converter "Thermo" Temperature Sensor
I've read a lot on the boards about the need or lack of need for this sensor. To me, if you are running a truck with emissions intact, and have to pass a smog test as I do, it's a no brainer. For those of you who don't know what it does, here's the short and sweet: It tells the air injection system to stop blowing nice yummy fresh oxygen toward the cat when it gets over 1445ºF. Which lowers the temperature of the cat dramatically, which in turn keeps the Cat from self-destructing. I think it's pretty important.
My big discovery here is that not only did an exhaust shop put in a universal cat that DID NOT have a port for the thermo sensor, they actually CLIPPED the thermo sensor off (I'm sure without even telling the previous owner). It more than likely ended up in a trash can. Luckily, I had a parts truck that had one still intact. So, I crawled under the truck, routed the wire, plugged it into it's connector under the center console, and for the meantime zip tied it to the speedo cable to be addressed when I got the new Cat with the proper thermo sensor flange.
TIME TO ADDRESS THE VSVs
The VSVs (Or vacuum switching valves) are extremely important to the overall operation of the emissions system. They interact with the emissions computer, and other systems, to engage or disengage vacuum to various diaphragms, etc. Lucky for you, with some patience, and the Factory Emissions Manual, you can test them pretty easily! Get yourself a volt-ohm meter (or a multimeter, whatever you like to call it), some length of wire to hook up to power and ground, and a mighty-vac to test it all. If you don't have a mighty-vac, you can do most of the basic tests by just blowing or sucking into the right place on the VSV and seeing if the air passes or not. I think that the night that I was checking these I got a little tired and skipped a few, seeing as the ones that I did test were all looking good. I would absolutely not recommend skipping any of them (If you do, it'll possibly bite you later on).
Test them all. Test them all. Test them all.
Ok, I'm done with that.
AIR INJECTION SYSTEM
This grabs fresh unburnt air from the air cleaner via the smog pump and directs it either back to the air cleaner, into the exhaust ports, or into the exhaust pipe. I think that if your air injection system isn't actually working the way it was designed to, you'll find it very difficult to pass California smog. I won't go into too much detail about the AI system except to say that some guys have found crud built up in their ACV, ABV, ASV, or relief valve which prevented things from opening or closing properly. I didn't have to take mine apart, thankfully. Make sure your Air injection system is working as it should. The cat needs that additional oxygen to help the reaction be more efficient; ergo less pollutants coming out of your exhaust pipe, and more H20 (or HOH for those of you that care
).TRIP TO THE EXHAUST SHOP
I took a ride over to the exhaust shop and discussed cost with the owner. I work on Shelby Cobras, and we always use a place called Morse Muffler, in Burbank, for all of our exhausts. They are nice guys, have been around a long time, and wont gouge you for price. I told them that I would be needing the right Cat with a port for the temperature probe. I had done my research and found that I could use a Magnaflow #39041 which is California legal, and available online for around $150. They ran the numbers and told me that their best price they could give me was about $100 more and that I should just order it online and come back when I had it.
The way I see it, if you want a business to survive, you have to support them as much as you can. These mom and pop shops can't afford to sell you the deeply discounted cat for the price that you can find online. I would have loved to just pay up on that one, but I couldn't justify spending $110 more with them. Had it been $30 or $40 more, I would have just bought theirs. Of course, I will be buying a universal muffler, etc. from them.
SECOND TRIP TO EXHAUST SHOP
So, after receiving my new Cat in the mail, I happily zoomed off to Morse Muffler the next morning! They put my truck up on the rack, dropped the skid plate, and I explained how I wanted them to put the new exhaust in. My hanger bushings were destroyed, so we discussed the best way to make it right. The only snag in the whole process was the thermo sensor for the Cat. The flange on the Cat has 2 bolt holes, as does the flange on the sensor. But, in my case, there was no kind of gasket to seal the mating point. I decided for now to just bolt the sensor up to the Cat, and I would deal with figuring out if there is some kind of sleeve that goes in there. (So, if you know the Toyota part number, or know of a good fix to correct the little puffs of exhaust that want to sneak out of there, please let me know!)
In less than 45 minutes, with a new universal muffler from them, and 2 additional hangers, it cost me a total of $230. I don't know how this aligns with most muffler shops, but for the quality of work, and the cost of a new muffler, I was pretty happy with it.
LAST TRIP TO THE SMOG STATION!!
I drove the 25 minute drive to the smog station to get the cat nice and hot. The moment of truth was now upon me! After all this work it HAD to pass! We again put it up on the machine for a manual reading. Stage one everything looked amazing! I was looking better than a prius! (Actually, I made that up....I'd like to think I was looking better than a prius in terms of emissions, but I don't these trucks can even come close.) At stage 2, suddenly my NOX levels went through the roof!!! Everything else was in check, but the NOX was suddenly the thorn in my side. So, I proceeded to inspect the EGR valve and its corresponding VSV...hmmmm....everything was hooked up properly.
Considering all that I had gone through, I wasn't exactly thrilled that we suddenly had one other thing keeping me from being legal!
He looked up my truck in the California Smog Database and realized that he wouldn't actually be able to do the official test because my truck was "test only", so he sent me over to "another guy" at "another shop" that was test-only.
I knew what was going on. They were going to try and HELP me pass...keep it in 2nd gear so it doesn't cause the NOX to spike, or something. This isn't acceptable to me. I wanted it to pass because IT was passing, not because they made it happen.
TEST-ONLY SMOG STATION
So, I arrived down the road at "another shop" that was a test only center. The guy was super nice and started hooking up his stuff to the truck. He, too, did a manual reading first. He wanted to see the NOX spike to know what was going on. He checked out the EGR system, hooked up a mighty-vac to see if it was getting correct vacuum, etc. It was. The only weak leak in this chain, as I saw it, was the VSV. That little vacuum switching valve would be the only reason why there would be a drastic change in NOX levels. I pointed it out to him, and he was about to test it, when I realized something!
I had a box of spare random emissions parts from my parts truck in a box in the back!
I broke out the box, and started sorting maniacally through zip-loc bags marked with permanent marker... The guy looked at me funny and said, "did those come WITH this truck??" ...I said, "No, they were on a parts truck that I bought."....and with a beam of light from heaven shining on the raised baggy, there it was. The VSV for the EGR system! (Add heavenly trumpets here)
With a quick burst of energy I swapped out the old VSV with the new(used) one.....
He ran the manual test......
And HOORAY!!!! No NOX SPIKE!!!!
He checked the Evap system on his machine, and it all checked out, and then he proceeded to do the REAL TEST.
Within 10 minutes I was driving out of there with a piece of paper that could have been worth a million bucks, the piece of paper that said my truck had LEGALLY passed California's strict emissions standards!!!
For those of you that don't have to deal with smog in your state or municipality, this is probably not that exciting. For me, and I'm sure for many others on this forum, it's a resounding shout of joy that they, too, can have a legal FJ60 here in this state!!!!
I hope that my long post will be of some use to someone on here! I still have lots of parts on that parts truck that I am trying to get rid of, and I still have other issues with this truck that I have to deal with. But, to know that this afternoon I will be walking into the DMV with that piece of paper in hand, and my head held high, I'm a happy man.
Thanks for reading!
-Seth
so had the material laying around when i replaced my cat so i cut a nice custom gasket for the sensor to cat connection then stacked smaller pieces to fil the gap on either side for the bolts spacing. I'll snap a photo if it helps. It works great been on for almost a year with no issues.
