My first Tundra!

Lots of different things can cause that P0440, could be a cracked filler neck, or it could be as easy as replacing the gas cap. Usually cheapest to start by replacing the gas cap unless you can see holes in the filler neck. Get an OEM one, they're not that much and the rubber gasket on them can harden up and leak with age. And something is wrong with your CEL bulb if it doesn't come on when you turn the truck on.

 

Or smoke test it.

But to that point, 0440 can pop if you’re unaware you MUST turn the gas cap ‘til it clicks. You must turn the gas cap ‘til it clicks.

 

Cheap aftermarket gas caps that don't seal very well will also cause it.

 

And it most definitely has a cheap aftermarket gas cap. I guess I’ll start by ordering an OEM one. Also, does anyone know if you can walk into a dealership and buy OEM parts or do you have to order them for delivery? I’ve got some time off work next week and would like to do the ball joints, and don’t really have the time to wait for delivery.

 

If you walk into my dealer, he will rip you off with MSRP + an add on. Order online and have delivered to a dealer and get a discount and not pay any shipping charges.

 

It's explained in the megathread, your ultimate reference material.

Gist: Go to https://autoparts.toyota.com to order your parts. Choose in-store pickup at the dealer nearest to you with the cheapest price. You should get at least 10-20% off the part price using the Toyota Parts system, rather than walking up to the counter.

 

Sweet, thank you! Bolts and gas cap have been ordered for pickup.

 

Alrighty guys, it took 13 hours, I didn't get home until 2am, I went overbudget by like $500 - but as of yesterday we got the timing belt fully replaced with the good parts (and not a moment too soon - we found a couple small cracks forming in the old belt, and the tensioner was completely dead), and overhauled the power steering system. New pump and hoses (the rack was fortunately dry), and we got that pressure switch thing done so I'll stop burning power steering fluid. Ball joints will be done either tomorrow or the day after. Then, we're caught up on all the important things I think? Still need to do the O2 sensor, and I want to replace my dash unit because even with the new oil pressure switch, it's just showing no oil pressure, and the check engine light doesn't work, so I'm gonna scoop up one from a junkyard and see what that does. But I can live with that for a little bit, plus I'm broke lol

 

Oil pressure switch - while it could be the gauge, when people mis-route the crank position sensor harness, which shares a loom with the oil pressure sensor harness, sometimes that loom gets nicked/damaged by belt/pulley.

Unfortunately, when people do the timing belt, they fail to route that wire harness BEHIND the fan bracket as it should be, and that's why it gets nicked/damaged.

The most recent example: https://www.tundras.com/threads/4-7l-no-oil-pressure-sending-unit.166845/

It happens more than anyone on here wants to admit. Hopefully you routed it correctly, behind the fan bracket, while doing the belt. If not, this is your warning. But check the harness as best you can to see if there's any damage to it. I'm sure you can also test the sender, or maybe test the circuit for continuity.

 

Interesting, good to know. My mechanic did the bulk of the work including the routing of the wires, so hopefully he did it right. I'll try to check.


But, intriguingly... the oil gauge just started working today. Moves up and down with engine RPM, reads about in the middle at idle. I didn't do a single thing to it, just looked down and was like "wait my oil gauge is moving now?" It didn't move a hair the whole hour drive home yesterday, so I dunno.

 

You should really inspect that harness for damage.

Get under the front of the truck, skid plate off. Look at the front of the engine, find the crank pulley, the largest pulley at lower/center of engine. Look just behind the pulley at the 4 o'clock position. Crank position sensor should be visible, with a wire coming off of it. Find its harness, and notice to the right of it, there's another wire coming into the harness loom, that's your oil pressure sender.

Trace the harness upward with your hand - it should disappear behind the fan bracket, and resurface above it, just in front of the timing cover. If not, your mechanic fucked up. Feel the length of the harness for any evidence of burrs/cuts/rubs. If there are any, your problem isn't the oil pressure sensor or the gauge cluster. Your harness is damaged because some dumbass mis-routed that harness. Or your mechanic mis-routed it while doing the timing belt, and now it's damaged.

Note: The crankshaft position sensor uses a shielded wire, so it's not something you can just cut and resplice and have it work properly. Also, it is responsible for telling the ECU whether the engine is running, and if the ECU can't communicate with it, it shuts off the fuel pump to prevent the occupants from dying in a fiery death.

 

That’s all really good information to know, thank you. I’ll check the wiring today and see what I can see, hopefully nothing is damaged.

 

Alrighty, I checked the wiring and it appears to be routed correctly. I can see the crank wire, and a separate wire coming off that, which is routed underneath the fan bracket and reappearing above it, just like you described. Feeling the wire, it's smooth with no noticeable cuts or anything along the whole area I can feel. After several more short trips in the last couple days, the oil gauge continues to work. I'm actually a little disappointed, it now reads High all the time, slowly dropping to the centerline when at idle. I realize this is a newer model sensor which was supposed to be more normalized than the old one, but I thought it'd live more around the centerline, instead of just boosting the reading range to the high end instead of the low end. Oh well, I'll learn to live with it.

In other news, I picked up my bolts and gas cap today. It was pretty quick and easy once I got directed to the parts counter, and I got to look at the fancy new Supras while waiting. It's a little cold today and I still don't have replacement lug nuts, so I might put the ball joints off til tomorrow, I dunno yet. But we got all the parts. Side note, the bolts I got are silver, so from what I read on the ball joint threads, that means they need to be torqued to like 56 ft/lbs right? I'm pretty sure it was the black bolts that got torqued to the lower 30something ft/lbs.

 

Centerline reading is only a thing in 2005-2006 with the updated gauge cluster. Your 2002 is supposed to read lower, I think around the 1st mark.

 

Went to do the ball joints today, only to realize my jack stands (and probably the jack itself) don’t go tall enough to actually get the wheels off the truck. It looked like I’d only be able to raise it a couple inches total, wheels would still be entirely on the ground. I’m too broke to buy new jacks and shit right now, so I don’t know what to do. Probably just going to keep driving it to work and hoping they won’t fail until I get paid, and then dump more money on tools or a mechanic to do it for me. What a shitty day.

 

Try removing the skid plate and put them under the front crossmember.

 

Bad days suck. Every once in a while, owning an old truck jumps up and bites you. But overall it is worth it and then some. You have a great truck.

Do you have access to any scrap lumber? For years I used blocks of some variety to reduce the height needed on the jack. Can build some version of a jack stand with the right scrap lumber also.

Of relevance moving forward, test your jack for its function should you ever get a flat. A lot of guys keep a block of 6x6 or similar in the bed of the truck. Can also be useful if you are on soft ground when you get a flat

If there are any residential construction sites nearby, there will be lots of scrap wood from framing. Stop and ask what is garbage, they are happy to give it you. I built 2 nice jack stands out of free 2x4 scraps when I had the truck up for an extended period of time.

With your new found down time, read up on the LBJ torque specs. When I did mine, it mattered what model year and bolt you had. I forget the details, but there were some good threads on it.

 

Yep, until I bought a 3-ton floor jack the only way legitimately get my tires off the ground was with 2x4s under the jack. Illegitimately...you get easily get one front tire at a time off the ground by jacking under the lower control arm. But that doesn't really help you when you're working on lower control arm components. What you can do...is get the truck jacked up, using the OEM bottle jack under the lower control arm, put a jackstand under the frame, take the front tire off, release the jack. Now your control arm is free, and the truck is on a jackstand. You just need to jack the control arm back up to get the tire back on when you're done.

Very curious what more experienced mechanics think about using the lower control arm as a jack point for a single tire. It's a method I used often before buying the floor jack.

Next question will be, are your jackstands tall enough? I also needed blocks of wood under mine, again till I bought 3 ton jackstands. And the 6 ton stands I most recently bought are even better.

 

Thanks for the tips. I've got some janky wood from chopped up pallets, but I suppose I'll look into getting a section of something thicker to use with the jack. Jack stands are certainly not tall enough, so I'm looking on Marketplace to see if I can pick up some big ones for cheap.

 

Don’t cobble it, your life’s not worth it. And be sure to place tires properly after removal as a safety.

Jackstands are not a place you want to skimp or buy used. And remember, several. Including Harbor Freight brands, have had recalls because they collapse.

Get a good set of locking ones. They don’t need to be expensive, Big Red makes solid ones for not too pricey. I picked up some of these for $60 or something and they work great:

Big RED AT46002ABR Torin Double Locking Steel Jack Stands, 2 Pack, 6 Ton (12000 lb), Black

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BFDK7VM2

The 6 Ton are more than adequate for our trucks, even when lifted up to 3”.

You could have those at your house in less than 48hrs.

And remember your jack points. There’s a thread on it. EDIT: Link to thread - https://www.tundras.com/threads/first-gen-jack-points-from-fsm-om-and-maybe-others.124063/

 

@AnywhereMetalworks , I jack the front of my FGT off the ground using the lower A arm during tire rotations. Rear under the axle. If your jack stands aren’t tall enough, lift the truck by the A-arm, remove the tire, then lower the truck down onto the jackstands. Do the front end work, then lift by the A-arm, replace the tire and remove the jack stands. Been there.

 

Alright, I spent the money, and 6 ton jack stands are due to arrive on Thursday. I've always placed tires under the vehicle as an extra layer of safety, so no worries there.

Truth be told, I'm anxious about working on this thing, because it's been years since I've done any vehicle maintenance. And last time I did, it was to rebuild an (unknown to me) already bad engine in my last Subaru Outback, and that thing stranded me a dozen times, and sorta shot my confidence. So I'm taking any excuse I can to delay working on the Tundra I suppose. I was planning to do what @KNABORES suggested, then ordered some jack stands on lunch break and said "I'll do it in two days." I won't have an excuse when they arrive, and I know how easy the ball joints are, so I just need to get over my anxiety and do it honestly. But I'll wait till the jack stands arrive so I can pretend it's for safety lol

 

It's like riding a bike bro! It'll all fall into place.

 

Thanks for the vote of confidence!

I also completely forgot something important. Yesterday on my commute to work, I turned on the 4x4 to put some monthly miles on it as suggested by everyone. When I turned it off, it blinked for two or three minutes, then shut off with a VIOLENT thunk that shook the whole truck. This was at about 45mph on the highway.

On my commute home, I tried again, same thing happened. 2 or 3 minute delay for the 4x4 to turn off, then a massive crashing noise that shakes the truck. This time I covered much less ground as it was rush hour, so it seems to be more of a time thing than a distance thing? Anyone know what might be up?

 

Yes, there's an entire comprehensive thread dedicated to common 4WD diagnostics/issues put together by @FiatRunner. You probably either have a harness issue (mangled/burnt wires or rotted contacts) or you've lost your vent tube, have gotten water inside the cap, and the contacts are rotted. Both are covered in the 4WD diag thread.

 

Try engaging it at a lower speed. The higher the speed, the higher the possibility of difference between front and rear wheel speeds, and the more force it will take to shift in/out. Based on the fact that there's a thunking noise and shake, it sounds like the 4WD actuators are trying to do something.

Straight line, level road, try less than 15mph.

 

I actually did try that yesterday during rush hour on the way home. It was a straight section of road, and my speed was 5-10mph the whole time. It activated no problem, seemed to work fine, then did the long delay followed by the thunk when it disengaged.

I’m definitely going to read through your info and diagnostic thread in detail when I get home. Hopefully once I understand the system better, I’ll be able to identify what’s actually going wrong.

 

Really, I think the first thing everyone should check is shown in @FiatRunner's thread. It's this red-circled vent tube on the transfer case actuator. If it's OFF or it's missing, you need to expect the black actuator housing (black, round, with yellow paint marker at the right-hand side of my red circle) has gotten water in it, and your contacts inside are corroded. For pics of the contacts, find the following pic in his thread. Alternatrely, the 6-pin plug you see on this pic needs some inspection, pop it out, check pins, reinstall. Still not sure that would cause a delay in returning to 2HI, but I feel like corrosion on that actuator is the big gotcha half the people with 4WD shift problems find as a cause.

​

 

Maybe try shifting in/out in reverse. To me, it sounds like your 4WD system is building up tension while you're driving, and it's struggling to disengage with all that tension on it. It seems like your actuators are trying to do their jobs, they just don't have the shifting power to overcome the tension on the drivelines. I've experienced this a handful of times, but mostly on uneven terrain.

I'm not sure why your 4WD system is struggling, but it seems like all of the components are at least tying to do their jobs. Once it does pop back into 2WD, the 4HI light turns off like normal?

 

Yep, right as soon as that big clunk happens, the light goes off. I think it’s worth mentioning as well, when I activate 4WD, it takes a minute or two of the light blinking before it activates, and I just kind of assumed that was normal for an older truck like this. But previously, it disengaged much more quickly without the clunking. I suppose I've only used it in the past during adverse weather, so maybe the wet roads prevented that tension from building in the driveline.


I’ll try to check all the recommended things like that tube Shifty mentioned when I’ve got the truck jacked up for the ball joints tomorrow night.