I was involved in a hit and run this morning. Whats my next step? Liability insurance only

The fan clutch poses its own challenges for hard-as-fuck fasteners. There's a two-wrench trick I've seen that seems to work well with those, I think I posted it in the Timing Belt sticky.

 

Lol. You're not wrong, just offering an alternative to SBP's dilemma.

 

Princess - you need to replace the thermostat gasket shown here. It’s a grooved o-ring that the thermostat fits into. Be sure to orient the thermostat with the jiggle valve up at 12 o’clock. Torque the cover nuts to 13 ft-lbs and you should be good to go.

If you pull the radiator hose off, you have more room to reach it with a 12 mm socket or box wrench. Don’t try with an open end or crescent wrench as it will likely round the nuts.

 

Jiggle valve orentation is definitely important. Thx for pointing that out.

 

To follow up on this subject, my own experience with hardware that is distorted/rounded-off (in this case the nuts on the thermostat housing and fan clutch) is to replace it. A small price to pay for the ease of install and potential removal in the future.

IIRC, I used a flat blade screwdriver to hold the fan clutch in place when tightening down the fan clutch assembly. Toyota does offer a tool specifically for the job, too.

 

Yup, I've done similar with other stuff, wheels, etc. although a big ass screwdriver slotted into the ends of a rotor work great for wheels too. This is the trick I was referencing. It's 1A Auto or whatever, but @ 75sec mark, I tossed this out there, had a couple people say "thanks!" because it saved them a world of headache. Bonus if you have longer wrenches, I'm sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M3hFSiKs_U&t=75s​

 

So what's your take on using the A1A part? It's roughly half the cost of the Aisin?

 

I would buy the Aisin part.

I wouldn't want to do that job again for at least another 10-15 years. And I'll probably end up bundling mine in during the next TB change.

 

note: (Jiggle valve in wrong position/ when I did my TB WP)

 

G

The genuine Aisin part, whatever it is, will always be the better choice unless one is planning on selling soon, just can't afford it, or is in an emergency situation and it's what's available. The service-life will far exceed aftermarket.

 

Bro - that bottom stud def looks shorter - did it break off or is that a viz illusion?

 

Shadow, but yeah it looks like its snapped off

 

yikes! was that at fault of yourself or from the previous person who worked on the car?

 

The stud isn't snapped short, it's just a shadow
The jiggle valve in the 3 o'clock position (instead of high noon 12 o'clock) was from my handy work.
I didn't know about that valve or where it needed to be.

 

Yeah I will...I was just curious how the room would react. I have all the parts for squirreled away to fix the cold weather squeal TSB (AC bracket, new tensioner, etc.) and I figure while I have all that stripped down I may as well change the fan bracket too. My other 2UZ needs a timing belt this spring, and again I have all the parts squirreled away waiting for it to get warm. Same deal...while I'm in there I may as well change the fan bracket. So now I need to buy 2! <sigh> It's only money, I'll get more (eventually).
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=1871558&cc=1426935&pt=11548&jsn=618

 

I'd jump on that fan pulley bracket at that price.

 

so today while I was out driving I noticed my sequoia's gas light came on and so I pulled over to get gas. I put $10 in the tank, and cranked it back up looked down at the gauge and noticed that the gauge was actually lower than before. it was lower than I had ever seen ever in my life, so low in fact it was literally pointing at the e despite me just putting $10 in the tank. I drove about 3 miles down the road and pulled over at another gas station and put another $10 in. after cranking it up this time luckily the gas gauge was where it was supposed to be just a little under half a tank. so was my car just having a hiccup? or is this a cause for concern, a foreshadow of something to come?

 

I would start by looking for a loose wire connection or rodent damage at the tank. Also check your fuses to be sure they are fully seated. To test the sender you have to drop the tank.

 

Inside most modern vehicles with in-tank pump, you have a little bobber that floats on top of the gas.

That bobber is attached to a contact slide or switch, and as the float goes up and down, the position on that contact changes. Typically it's sending some form of electrical signal, thru a wire, up to your dash gauge.

There's a number of things that can happen to make that signal get interrupted.

• You get some filth or corrosion on the contact strip/slide/switch, and that interrupts its ability to send a signal
• Rodents or other conditions cut or damage the sending wire
• The float's mechanism somehow gets boogered up and isn't moving freely as one would expect
• The sender simply fails to function

Some on here claim using an off the shelf fuel additive, like Techron, has freed up their sticky gauge. But obviously, you should get a mirror and flashlight and look on top of the tank for signs of nesting or chewing before spending the money.

Replacing the sender along is difficult in our vehicles because, unfortunately, the sender itself is part of the fuel pump assembly. You can buy the assembly separately, in some years, and other years you can't. But either way, you're dropping the fuel tank, which isn't a fun job.

 

With most car/trucks a float is used. It's a simple resistive system that's somewhat adequate compared to capacitive fuel sensors typically used in aircraft where the capacitance varies between two conductive plates providing a much more accurate representation of how much fuel is left.

 

Yup! And you reminded me of another case I saw with this, where float was hollow plastic, and had a hole in it, and it would fill with gas, giving super-variable readings because the float itself would fill/empty with gas. When the tank was full it'd show 2/3 - 3/4 full tank. As the gas level lowered, fuel would dump out of the bulb, and the fuel level would go up, but still never really registered the correct level.

 

Ha! As you know back in the day, the floats were usually prone free, unless....heh

 

My fuel gauge drops anytime I let my truck sit. I can drive it home from filling the tank, not touch it for a couple of days, especially if it's cold, and when I hop in it'll show half a tank. It's most likely the fuel gauge acting up and not the float assembly in the tank. My fuel gauge will show an empty tank like you described, but the low fuel light will still function normally. If it keeps giving you random readings, fill the tank up and use the trip odometer to track how much gas you have.

Finding a replacement gauge cluster to swap out isn't worth my time or effort for a slightly inaccurate fuel gauge.

 

I've got motorcycles that use the capacitive fuel sensors, they're also nice because you lose less volume to them than a float setup, especially when you're dealing with only 4 gallons of capacity.

I have wondered if our fuel light has a capacitive circuit separate from the float assembly for the fuel gauge...ok, just remembered I have the EWD so I might as well look it up for myself because...



For my 03, there are two separate circuits. Gauge gets it's information from a resistor, that I'm assuming the float slides along. The low fuel light uses a temp sensor to tell if it's submerged in fuel or not. Same as the low fuel light on one of my motorcycles.


So it does look like the fuel float can partially sink and cause the weird fuel gauge readings and the low fuel light doesn't give a damn what the gauge says and will simply tell you if it's submerged in fuel or not. Still doesn't really tell us definitively if it's the float causing the issues or the fuel gauge.

 

The phrase you're hunting for is "harbinger of doom".

Expect to grenade a transmission or split a crank within 60 days.

 

I dealt with my original transmission grenading on me already. had to put the 03 transmission in which doesn't have the planetary gear issue.

 

Incorrect gas gauge readings is not an uncommon report here.

Mine will sometimes read significantly below full after filling. Hasn't done so for months but wouldn't surprise me if it occurred today. While a bit concerning the first time years ago (thought I might have a fuel leak), I now pay it no attention. I simply press the odometer trip reset button after filling, then refill at xxx miles. That might be more difficult for someone riding around near empty and only putting in a few gallons at a time. In any event, I wouldn't suggest trying to remedy unless there's further complications beyond what you've expressed here.

Good luck.

 

here is a problem that has stumped me and a friend of mine that worked in my car back a couple of years ago. (I have mentioned this friend of mine before who I visited in California and was a engineer, insanely smart, and knew the answer to just about any question you would ever ask him)

anyways as you can see in my photo, there is a red and black wire running in front of the side airbag. according to my friend, there's never be any wires in front of airbags and this is apparently an aftermarket wire, as no car company ever would put a wire in front of an airbag like that. there is nothing in the vehicle that would make since for this wire to be here.

and no it is definitely not the dash camera that you see in my picture, we installed that together.

besides just taking the case apart and following the wire, how can I figure out what this is? maybe it truly does belong gets and accidentally got moved? would love any insight

 

Its a low voltage braided wire typically referred to as speaker wire. Used by audio shops to run power to speakers. It can be used for anything in 12v systems though.
Someone used it to run power to or from something.
Lights?
Radio stuff?
anything 12v can use that wire.
I always tap into my overhead lights and run a wire down to the floorboard and put small tag lights in my floorboard above the footwell. This means when the overhead lights come on when you open the door, the floorboard also lights up. Someone has done some wiring before, which is what that wire is.
I cant say what its to, you gotta follow it to the end.

 

see that's the thing, there is nothing in my car that it would lead to that would make since... well maybe the DVD player? but I was pretty sure that those things came stock in the sequoias with the upgrade because I've seen them in other sequoias at the junk yard... I mean right? like 75% sure these DVD players aren't aftermarket

other than that I've sat and gave it plenty of thought over the years as to what it would be hooked up to and absolutely nothing comes to mind. I've looked all over the car at every square inch, nothing nowhere...

how hard would it be to tear the ceiling down in this truck just go follow the mystery wire?