Oxygen Sensor on '99 V6 Camry

It ran me $181.24 to have the sensor on my 2000 Solara V6 replaced at my local Toyota dealer. When I asked on here before about replacing the sensor I was advised to stay away from Bosch.

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Thanks, Chuck. Just crawled out from under the car. Looks like a bear to get to it, so I will wait until the A.M. and call my dealer for a price. You may have just saved me a lot of pain, and I thank you for this information.

Call all the Toyota dealers in your area (and tell them you are calling all Toyota dealers) to get the a price on replacing the O2 sensors.

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Great advice! I'll put that tip to use in the A.M. Thank you very much, Mark.

Ok guys, Called around to independents and other dealers and found my usual Toyota dealer charged the least. They were kind enough to take it in and in 1.5 hours I got the correct Denso sensor installed with a 12/12 warranty with a minimum of cost and hassle. The parts and labor final tally was only $30 more than the part alone from the parts store. I am smiling since I didn't have to slog through the replacement myself with only a minimal extra charge. Thank you Chuck and Mark for the advice!

Where is the Oxygen Sensor Bank 1 located?

Bank 1 as reported by the OBD II scantool is apparently always on the same side as cylinder 1. On my 1999 V6 Camry (1MZ-FE) it is the bank of the V6 which faces the firewall, unfortunately. I tried for about an hour to get a wrench on it, and wound up taking it to a dealer as suggested by OP here. I highly recommend that option. ;)

Maybe Bank 2 will go out next time. That one appears to be a snap.

I replaced my two sensors on my v6 camry 1995. It was easy.

You need a special socket to remove the sensor - it allows the wire to be tucked away while you turn the spark plug like sensor. The local discount auto parts store has em.

I used the Bosch generic sensor - it looks identical to original sensor on the car except that the original was stamped toyota and the other Bosch.

Bosch (actually the auto store) sells the OEM at $225 and the generic at $69. The only difference I could tell is that the OEM has the toyota electrical connector. For the generic, you have to cut the wire of the old sensor and splice it into the wiring of the generic. So you end up using the old connector. It wasn't hard to do.

(I wonder if there is a contractual relationship between Bosch and Toyota that prevents Bosch from selling the sensor with a toyota connector at a near generic price? Why doesn't someone come along and purchase a bunch of new toyota "like" connectors and properly join them to the sensor? Sell the whole thing for $100 and make a $40 profit!)

You can see the rear sensor from the top of the engine but you need to get it from below to access it. I think raised my car a few inches or maybe not at all - don't remember. You need an extender on your socket. It easily came loose..

So that was $440+labor versus $140 +$5 socket to replace the two sensors.

I just replaced one of my sensors. The engine showed P0135, indicating Bank 1 Sensor 1 -- the one closest to the firewall. At first, I tried getting to it from beneath the car, but found it easier to access from the top. I first experimented with removing the OTHER identical sensor because it was easier to access -- I wanted to learn how difficult it was to loosen, and especially to learn how the connector unclips. I also found that a 7/8 inch box-end wrench worked fine, after threading the connector through the wrench, of course (The actual size is 22mm). After I was sure I could unclip the connector with one hand, I stood at the driver's side of the car, traced the wire harness from the xensor to the connector with my hand, and unclipped it -- this is pretty much done by feel. There was plenty of clearance for the wrench and once the sensor was loosened I could spin it out by hand easily. Replacement is simple. I then disconnected the negative battery cable for 15 minutes to clear the engine light.