Highlander O2 sensors

Not to worry, there's plenty of clean face left.

The smiley and your understanding of all things automotive lead me to believe that if I answered "sort of but not really" you'd be fine with that?

:-) Toyota MDT in MO

A thimble type what verses a planar type what? I assume you mean oxygen sensors, slowly getting renamed to lambda switches about 40 years too late... Generally speaking, I doubt that swap would cause performance issues, yet the O2 heater monitor may fail if the heater elements' electrical characteristics differed greatly enough.

How about swapping in a 4 wire ZrO2 lambda switch where a 4 wire titania lambda switch was speced? That wouldn't work so well.

Toyota MDT in MO

I have it right in my head, I just can't explain it worth a hill of beans, as 2 attempts have shown. I give up on the explanation ;-)

I am not that familiar with planar type sensors, but if you look at Bosch's web site, they imply that they will work better than a thimble type. Basically, a replacement sensor has to physically fit, have the right connector, and put out the same voltages for the sensor and heater as the original sensor.

Absolutely!

How's your AC season been so far?

Be extra careful climbing. Don't want to read about you in Readers Digest.

Couldn't suck more. I've done maybe a couple more A/C repairs than wheel bearing repacks, if you get my drift. I guess your's has been OK? You seem to get a lot of it from what I've read.

Toyota MDT in MO

Wait, I forgot about charging our 15-20 year old house HVAC system this May. I guess that's A/C work, if you overlook the fact that it cost money to do it...

Slow here also. Mild weather for this time of year. We should be in the 90s with high humidity... My biggest (not really) job so far was replacing an accumulator on a 01 eff-one-fix me that I did a compressor replacement on back in November. Porous weld at the pressure switch fitting. (Hencho en China)

Because our house dates to the 1850s, we have no central AC, opted for window units which when they die are pretty cheap to replace to boot. Haven't yet hauled out the big one that cools the main part of the house. Global warming my ass!

And the silly thing is, with a few minutes work on the old window unit brazing in a charge fitting, or using a clamp-on or solder-on self-piercing type access fitting, you can refill the window unit when it runs low, too.

If you really want to do it right, you braze a stepped-end access fitting on the factory fill stubs, then heat with a torch and crimp open the pinch-off point - no loss of charge at all.

No sense throwing out a whole window unit for a $10 - $20 access fitting and a few bucks worth of refrigerant, especially when you already have the knowledge. Use the same vacuum pump and recovery machine, just get a 30# bottle of new R-22 and a new recovery bottle for the reclaimed R-22.

When that stops working or a motor fails, and the parts will cost more than a new unit, *then* you toss it out.

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Well it was the motor that failed on the last one which was over 18 years old. Given the advances in efficiency, it didn't make sense to mess with it.

Brazing on a charge fitting would be no big deal, hell, I installed the entire hydronic heating system in the house over 25 years ago.

Biggest drawback would be waiting for the R-22 license from the state as I'm licensed for R-12 and R134 (mobile) only.

Thanks, survived the day with only a bruise on my thigh, no scouts injured!

I'm curious (being a member of HVAC-TALK and all) what is the A/C brand and where was the leak?

Like I said - when the cost of the parts alone (not counting what you'd have to pay someone for the skilled labor you would invest for free) exceeds the cost of a new unit, go buy a new one.

So go do it now, no rush for them to mail it to you, and be ready. It's not that hard, especially if you've done a similar one already.

I really studied the book (to make sure I knew the answers they wanted...) for the HVAC section of the test, but I also read the low- pressure chiller and the commercial refrigeration sections. Just passing the HVAC would be enough - but I cleared all three sections with a generous margin and got a "Universal" license.

It's all common sense.

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The furnace is a Goodman if I'm not mistaken, over 15 years old. I couldn't find a leak with the detector I keep at home (not very good by today's standards), and I plan on upgrading the entire unit in the next couple of years, so it was not an issue to not locate the leak. Given the A/C unit was just slightly underperforming last year, I am fairly confident this is a slow leak. It took 3 * 15oz cans to charge.

Toyota MDT in MO