Replacement 1GR for my 2007 FJC

[1911]

Saturday started around 8:30 and I started disassembling parts of the old engine that were going to transfer to the new one. A few brackets that support parts of the wiring harness & air intake assembly, the assembly itself, the coil packs and the tensioner pulley. I sandblasted the steel brackets and gave them a fresh coat of paint. Once the rest of the support team arrived, we moved the truck to the edge of the ramped driveway so I could power wash the engine bay. Before they arrived I had soaked everything down with engine degreaser. It still did not cut through everything but good enough for now.
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While I was in the empty engine bay cleaning I wanted to inspect the driver side motor mount closer, because a few years ago there was a crack developing. It was noticed when I had some muffler work done and I patched it up as best I could at the time by removing the steering shaft and exhaust down pipe and having someone with more experience than me weld up the vertical crack on the frame. Fast forward to today and there was a visible horizontal crack on the top corner of the mount. Towers grabbed the Millermatic and I went and found some scrap 1/4" plate to shape into a scab plate. A few minutes later Towers had the original crack welded and then welded the scab plate over the top of the rest of the mount. A little black spray paint and it was time for tacos and lots of water.
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Next I installed the plugs (anti-seize applied) and coil packs while Towers worked on drilling out my exhaust manifold bolts in the down pipes. New studs installed and set aside for later. My wife continued going through my ziploc-organized nuts & bolts and cleaned everything up in the parts washer. The only accessory I put on before we dropped the engine in was the alternator. You can't put the AC compressor on until you seat the crank position sensor on the driver side of the upper oil pan (that tricky spring-loaded one). The power steering pump was still in the engine bay and the air intake would just be in the way for trying to attach chains to the engine for hoisting.

We spent a little while trying to get the new engine balanced on the chains on the forklift and repositioned them a few times and utilized a ratchet strap to finesse it a bit. We got the passenger side bellhousing alignment pin matched up and quickly put a bolt through that side. Then I moved to the driver side and worked from the lower end as Towers jockeyed the forks and my wife manned a 3ft prybar. Finally the driver side alignment pin hit center. Hours had magically passed during this process, it was 3:30pm at this point.
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Notice the difference in orange strap and chain alignments between above photo and below photo - we did this a few times . . .
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Once the engine was seated I climbed around the bellhousing finishing off all the trans mounting bolts, some are 17mm heads and some are 14mm and you'll need all the socket wrench extensions you have in your tool box to get those top ones. Then the starter and all the power cables to the battery and main grounds. Towers was working on the wiring harness with a quickness. By the time I climbed out from under the truck, he had almost all the plugs matched up and the power steering lines remounted to the frame. The transmission cooling lines were also reattached. I got the CPS attached and then the AC compressor. Towers reattached the AC lines we disconnected at both ends and started pressurizing the system.
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Next the new radiator went in and all the hoses. Towers started checking for leaks using a fancy vacuum system hooked up to the radiator cap. The same vacuum helps fill the system with less air ingested. I worked on getting the exhaust manifolds installed and the O2 sensor wiring behind the block. I had to crawl up on the block again using a foam pad to lie prone and reach down along the firewall to reattach the plugs. The plan at this point was to turn the key over with the EFI fuses removed so that the oil pump could bathe everything before firing it up for real. I turned the ignition and let it crank over for about 15-20 secs and then we did it again for another 10-15 secs until Towers felt it had developed some pressure. Fuse went back in and relay box closed up.

Towers was still filling the radiator with a funnel at this point, letting it gurgle in slowly. So, I was waiting on him to finish filling the radiator and apparently he was waiting on me to turn the damn key for real this time. To be fair, it had been a long day and I was feeling a combination of giddiness that we were done and exhaustion. He wanted the water pump to pull more fluid before removing the funnel (I knew this, duh.) I turned the key at 7:15pm and it cranked up with a belligerent bocka-bocka-bocka-bocka. . . I looked wide-eyed through the windshield as Towers peered into the engine bay. It was the driver side manifold that I had forgotten to torque down I turned it off, but also noted that the 4WD light was flashing on the dash. I asked Towers if he had plugged in the ADD actuator while he was on that side. Negative. I crawled under and tightened up the manifold bolts and found the ADD harness. We cranked it again and it sounded just like it should. Let it run for a few minutes and I look down at the table that all my parts were sitting on and see the front driveshaft sitting on the floor. I left the truck running at Towers suggestion and worked quickly to reattach the DS while avoiding the heat coming off the cat.
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After letting it idle for about 20 minutes and checking for any visible leaks to any of the systems I took it around Commerce Circle a few times, first at about 20-25mph, then about 35-40, and finally around the back straight I opened it up to 55 briefly. Each time I passed the swingers club and Club Wax to the bemusement of each establishments bouncers. It was 8pm and time to call it a day. I went back to the garage and told my crew we had succeeded. Towers said he would lock up the garage and me and packed up a few of my things and headed home. I still have to go back and retrieve the folding table we brought and pack up the extra parts that were ordered "just in case".

I thanked my friend Towers from the depths of my aching body for all his expert work and I think he was equally excited that Dig-Dug gets to keep on keeping on.

Rick, that fork lift looks like a WAY better tool for stabbing the engine than a damned cherry picker hoist.

 

[boomsling]

How’s the new engine running?

 

[BMThiker]

Engine has been running great. Not really much different than before the swap. I've had friends question, why not "better" and all I can say is that despite all the leaks, that old 1GR-FE was still pulling strong. The compression test I did a few years ago showed it had dropped a bit off spec at the two middle cylinders on each bank, but nothing super concerning at the time.

One minor issue that was known right after the swap was an O2 sensor code that popped up on bank 1 (pass side). . . P0031 and has not affected drivability. It's the sensor before the catalytic converter on the manifolds. I think I broke the element inside the sensor when I was removing the manifolds and got a little slippery-handed, it hit the ground from about 3 ft up. I had been putting off the swap because I needed to remove my skid plates and we did another trip to Kentucky to ride the DBBB last weekend.

Yesterday I dropped my skids and did more pressure washing under the rig - still carrying lots of KY mud on the skids and inside the crossmembers. Once I got the skids off I swapped the two forward O2 sensors from left to right and guess what? The code swapped sides to bank 2, so that confirmed a bad sensor and not a fault in the wiring harness - whew! Today I'm going to swap in an old sensor that I removed years ago chasing down emission errors and I suspect it's still good.

One of the least muddy sections we did

 

[boomsling]

Engine has been running great. Not really much different than before the swap. I've had friends question, why not "better" and all I can say is that despite all the leaks, that old 1GR-FE was still pulling strong. The compression test I did a few years ago showed it had dropped a bit off spec at the two middle cylinders on each bank, but nothing super concerning at the time.

One minor issue that was known right after the swap was an O2 sensor code that popped up on bank 1 (pass side). . . P0031 and has not affected drivability. It's the sensor before the catalytic converter on the manifolds. I think I broke the element inside the sensor when I was removing the manifolds and got a little slippery-handed, it hit the ground from about 3 ft up. I had been putting off the swap because I needed to remove my skid plates and we did another trip to Kentucky to ride the DBBB last weekend.

Yesterday I dropped my skids and did more pressure washing under the rig - still carrying lots of KY mud on the skids and inside the crossmembers. Once I got the skids off I swapped the two forward O2 sensors from left to right and guess what? The code swapped sides to bank 2, so that confirmed a bad sensor and not a fault in the wiring harness - whew! Today I'm going to swap in an old sensor that I removed years ago chasing down emission errors and I suspect it's still good.

One of the least muddy sections we did
View attachment 4183676

Good to hear. It’ll be good for another 350k at least.

 

[BMThiker]

That O2 sensor I had on the shelf was a secondary sensor so it didn't work in the primary location (diff harness plug). Of course I only noticed this after I swapped it into the bung I've got a new sensor (89467-71020) on order and will install it asap.

 

[BMThiker]

Denso A/F oxygen sensor Toyota part # 89467-71020, same part for either side. Paid about $180 for one. Will install tonight.

 

[BMThiker]

Success! Codes cleared and drives great. I'm going for a custom tune this weekend so hoping for an even better drive after that.

 

[BMThiker]

Drama free since the new O2 sensor installed. And actually after driving for a few weeks with that bad Air/fuel oxygen sensor, my mileage was tanking week after week (12mpg, 10.5mpg and 7.0mpg). And I think more fuel was being drawn back into the return system. I could smell gas at the cap after about a 20 min drive. Didn't expect that and glad I was able to fix it with relative ease.

Went to Chattanooga on Saturday to meet the tuning guy - Quez. He's based in Knoxville, but partnered with a local Chatt shop to rent a bay for the day and booked a bunch of appointments for his tuning services. Big Dawgs Toyota Tuning was a first time sponsor at GSMTR this year and a friend of mine won the raffle prize for a free [$500] tune back in June. My friends (@Hugh Heifer and Mrs. HH) couldn't use it because BDTT only does 2005+ models.

I took a leisurely drive through old farmland up SR 61 through Dallas & Cartersville, and US 41 through Cassville, Adairsville, Calhoun, Resaca and through the city of Dalton (carpet capital of the world) before jumping on the interstate for a couple miles to arrive in East Ridge, a city south of Chattanooga's Missionary Ridge. When I arrived there were 3-4 Tacomas waiting their turn in the parking lot at 3AM Customs and one in the garage bay.

I was up next, right on time at 11:30. Quez runs the business as an authorized retailer of Overland Tailor Tuning, dba Big Dawgs Toyota Tuning. He is a likeable guy and talks with ease about his service, the options available and what you like to do with your truck. He offered me 4 tuning levels which run from (1) a slight bump from stock to (4) "let's go drag racing". I opted for (2) and he agreed that if it's a wheeling rig, you don't want too much get up and go when you're on the rocks trying to finesse the throttle. The whole process took about 5 minutes after he plugged his laptop into my OBD-II port.

Basically, he's just remapping the throttle response and shift points. Quez tells me his service doesn't end today - if I ever want to go back to stock or change the tune to another level, he's always available - we just need to agree to a meet-up point. He emphasizes that doesn't mean within 30-, 60- or 90-days from now, it's for the life of my truck. That's pretty cool. I hope he continues sponsoring events and growing his business.

The response on my throttle was immediate and I'm happy with the little boost I've gained. If I hammer down off the line it jumps pretty quickly and will hold that gear until I'm almost near 4K. With normal throttle input it runs about the same, maybe just a little bit quicker. I've only put about a tank and a half through it since Saturday, but it does not seem to have affected my typical MPG at all. I'll give it a few more tanks of gas before coming to any conclusions on that point.