Changing the PCV valve on a...........

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2005 Highlander 3.3L V6.

I asked the Toyota dealer to change the PCV valve on my 2005 Highlander and he refused, believe it or not! Business must be great.

The service manager said: 1) they never have had an issue with the PCV valves on those model engines, 2) the valve is supposedly located under the engine cover and is "screwed into the intake manifold, thus 3) it would be expensive to change."

I have 49k miles on this ride and I normally change the PCV valve every 40-50k miles on my cars.

Obviously, this is a "do-it-yourself" job.
 
It's not hard to do, the part for my Xterra cost 10 dollars and change. Mine is the same as yours in terms of it being "screwed" into the manifold. The service manager probably believes that the PCV valve will 'never' fail/clog/go bad. For 10 dollars, why chance it? They would have charged over 100+ to do it too.

First you a Flathead and needle nose pliers(if you have one of those metal squeeze braces on the PCV valve hose. Then try to shimmy the tube off the PCV valve gently so as to not cause damage to it.

Be sure to examine how far the PCV is screwed into the manifold as you want to match it up, don't screw it in till its super tight, want it screwed it in to match and it will be slightly firm. Make sure it matches the one you removed in thread exposure(compare it again, easy to mark the old one first before removal).

Takes 5 minutes, mine after about 35k was decent looking but had buildup in it.
 
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I was wondering the same thing. my toyota specs replacement at 60k. or maybe not. dont recall. regardless, anyone with a 96-01 toyota/lexus should change the pcv - as I believe thats the cause (along with higher temps) of toyota engine sludge failures
 
Well, that's exactly the same mentality when I dealt with our local Nissan dealer(s).

In response to his 3 comments: (1) pure poppycock! If you can coax him into signing off your car's engine/emissions extended warranty based on his unsubstantiated remarks (and hold him fully accountable for what he said), I bet he would change his mind/tune like a flip of a coin. (2) dunno; (3) expensive as in what? their typical labour cost charge time?

I bet ya 7th gen civic's PCV valve would be just as challenging to replace (according to their mindset) as your toy, but I can have it re-n-re in just about 15 mins with a 17mm box-end wrench, period.

That's also part of the reason why I left stealerships, period.

Q.
 
Mine was screwed onto the valve cover and under the engine cover on my Toyota too..

But I replaced it around 70k miles. Did it need to be replaced? No it was spotless and rattled but I figured since I was that far to go ahead and just do it.

I'll put the OEM back on @ 175k...
grin2.gif



Business must be good at your Toyota. Ours here is trying so hard to sell one of their last gen Prius to me last time I was there... (they had quite a few. At least 60-80) and the 2010 I'd guess are coming soon.

Bill
 
Same thing on my Highlander with the 2AZ engine. I took the plastic cover off of the engine and there it was... First the parts guy gave me the wrong valve, the one for the 3.3, so I had to take it back and exchange it. I decided to replace it because upon inspection, it had a bit of burnt oil on it. When I took it out though, I cleaned it by soaking it in gasoline for a bit and then blasted it with intake cleaner. Once I got the replacement new valve I installed it.
 
Yeah mine had builup in it as well, still rattled but there was a little bit of gunk in there. My MPG's went up a tad with that and the fuel filter being changed.(my Xterra regardless of how i drove was getting 225-230mpg's to the tank, low 11 mpg. Now it gets 250 to the tank. Need to do a plug/wire change as I should be getting way more than that on the highway and city(all fluids are synthetic as well).

Truck is 5 1/2 years old and none of this stuff was changed. 35k miles after 5 1/2 years so maybe time over mileage on this.


Bill, how much were they asking for the Prius'?
 
Originally Posted By: Anies

Bill, how much were they asking for the Prius'?


Don't know, would not want one (they don't do very well in my style of driving)

Since I have a paid for Corolla which gets better MPG than a Prius was not interested.

What was interesting was they were selling EVERY ONE of the Highlander Hybrids but not too many Prius.

And the Highlander Hybrid you'll never see the savings of the cost of the hybrid system....

I've got to go over there in the next few weeks for a part I had to order (I hit a Raccoon and it popped out my foglight insert on the left side) and will ask.

Take care, Bill
 
Thanks for the input, Anies. And the rest of you, too.

I've been out of town quite a bit over the past five weeks and I keep saying "I'll get around to changing it," but alas, not yet. I mistakenly thought the dealer would jump at the chance for "easy money."

I'll purchase a PCV valve tomorrow and do it myself this weekend.

Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah


And the Highlander Hybrid you'll never see the savings of the cost of the hybrid system....


Which is why I did not spend the extra $8K for the hybrid model.

Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
I hit a Raccoon and ......


...and how's that raccoon doing?
 
Originally Posted By: dkryan

Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
I hit a Raccoon and ......


...and how's that raccoon doing?


Not too well. Not sure if he was gone with the bumper or the SureDrain hitting him... (The Suredrain was very "messy" if you know what I mean)

I drove by the area with my wife a few days later and slowed down to show her where I hit it and it was on the side of the road.. A LOT bigger in the day then it was when I hit it at 2am @ 73mph....
19.gif
 
Originally Posted By: tomcat27
I was wondering the same thing. my toyota specs replacement at 60k. or maybe not. dont recall. regardless, anyone with a 96-01 toyota/lexus should change the pcv - as I believe thats the cause (along with higher temps) of toyota engine sludge failures


I think its a factor.
Our '99 v6 gets changed twice a year with a TB scrubbing.
There are usually gummed up and do not rattle anymore.
It's a dirty little motor.
 
Speaking of throttle body cleaning, I take it that my very consistent use of FP PLUS with almost every tank of fuel since day one has done well for the fuel system, EXCEPT for the TB?

How tough is that to get to?
 
I agree with you there Bill with the Highlander Hybrid not giving any gains like the Prius would(in the same 5 year period). The few things that are very discouraging about owning a Hybrid are the initial up front cost and the maintainence cost down the road.

They "Government" want us to get better MPG's, dealers sell these hybrid's for at least 3-5k more, usually beating out the top tier luxury model of a car. The Camry Highbrid, Highlander Hybrid prices exceed that of their non electric counterparts and you tend to get a little less in the hybrid.

Then you need to worry about the battery length(I believe its 7-10 years?)The batteries run several thousand dollars making a long term investment in the product a bust for many, not to mention not very environmentally friendly(material wise).

I'd like one, but they need to drop it in price. The Chevy Volt has or had an MSRP of 40k which is really stupid IMO. They make all these car's aimed at the smaller market segment. The sub $20k market is where you want to try and push car's. They need some innovation there more so than they have been providing to the masses.

Sub 20k car's would hit at least 1/2 to 3/4 of the audience targeted. A car above 25-30k hits an even smaller segment and the higher you go the less you reap.

Sell 1 car for 35k and make a 3k profit.

Sell 2 20k cars for a 6-7k profit. Then you are also helping your company out by manufacturing more of the cars. Selling 2 cars is better than selling 1. Moving car's is what the auto industry is all about. They need to stop catering to the top tier people in designs and packages.

The Corolla, Fit, Scion's, Aveo's, and Versa are good car's but I think they can make it so its not just fuel efficiency with a compact ride. I mean look at the Camry, back in 1999 they were under 20k, now they start at like 21k. The Chevy Malibu starts at 25k, when the [censored] did a Malibu supersede an Impala in Luxury?)
 
These service people want to charge $100 (or more) per hour, and they don't know how to unscrew whatever is holding the PCV in place??

One more reason I avoid those places like the plague.

At least the VW dealer will give you the opportunity to pay $150 labor simply to change the MAF (it takes a special secure torx screwdriver, after all...).
 
Oh, I'm fairly certain they know how to unscrew whatever and even "screw whatever," whenever they get the chance.

They seemed to believe in their OEM PCV valves so much that, much like their manufacturer touted T-IV ATF, it should never give you a problem. In other words, "we hope you purchase a new Toyota before you figure out you should have changed the T-IV and the PCV in your current Toyota."
 
Quote:
In other words, "we hope you purchase a new Toyota before you figure out you should have changed the T-IV and the PCV in your current Toyota."


And you know that this is exactly what most people will do.

Most cars today have pretty much all "lifetime" fluids except engine oil, this way they can artificially lower the operating cost.
 
If it's the same as our'05 3.3 Camry .
You cant prop open the butterfly without hurting the drive by wire TPS.
 
Wait a minute. Are you saying that one cannot clean the throttle body without adversely effecting the wire(s) in the MAF?
 
On my Saab 93 which has electronic throttle control, propping open the butterfly will set a code if you do it when the ECM is still monitoring the TPS. If do it long enough after shutting off the engine, the ECM has gone to sleep and won't know you did it.

If it does set a code, it's no big deal to clear it.
 
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