Gotta say it's amazing how you are able to remember where every single nut, bolt, washer etc goes back in without having an extra one laying around when you're all finished putting it back together. You sir are a talented mechanic 🙏👍
My tool collection quickly started growing when I first started watching your vids years ago. I'm just a DIY'ER but my life is much better with the right tools.
Hell, I went back to college because of Ray. Auto tech college at the local community college. I'm 66! $5 a credit but no grade, no accreditation, just knowledge. Now I do all my own work. Bought a 4 post lift. Working on as full a tool collection as I need.
Funny you should mention it! I paused the video and went looking for those short little ratchet wrenches Ray uses all the time. It appears Snap-On and Gearwrench make... for more than $450 a set! There are some other brands for around $200. They look very handy for tight spaces and can be fitted with an extension as a handle, when room allows. Want a set? Google BFCRM712 and you'll see all the options (searches for "ratchet crowsfoot" etc. bring up entirely different things).
Same here. Getting close to 60. Started do my own repairs this year because of Ray's videos. The Mrs. has a bunch of tools under the tree for me; can't wait!
I have just completed doing a full rebuild of my entire front end of my 2007 BMW X3 3.0d (6cyl turbo diesel). This included shocks, brake caliper rebuild, new wheel bearings, discs etc. I found it a nightmare with some cheap Chinese pullers to remove the hub and old bearings. I ended up purchasing a much more expensive puller set (still Chinese). You have to purchase the correct tools to do the job otherwise you end up damaging components. I turned 76 last November.
On the 5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me: 5 Oh rings! 4 banjo bolts, 3 spark plugs, 2 torque wrenches, And an extra-large can of brake clean!! Have a safe and Merry Christmas, Ray, Wife unit, and little units!! (and everyone else in the shop, too)
@@bustedkeel unfortunately no good tech can stay in the business for long without developing anger issues. It's better to get it out in the way of swearing than doing the job poorly
Isn't that how Arod left the stealership job? F bomb and general meltdown 😢 I don't subscribe to him because I don't have diesel powered vehicles, but it was in my feed
Sure glad I have my older truck...this stuff is flying 🛸 junk. I dont drive it to pieces ...going on 115k on odometer...2002 Ford ranger..little trouble...few fixies.
The owner of this Highlander must not know you very well. Rather than be assertive on what they "think" it needs, they should have just explained the situation and have you do your detective work.
You’re right the customer must have felt the need with other mechanics to hold their hands through the repair issues. A customer might not get what they want , but dictates of repairs means they will get what they don’t need . Nobody wins in a power struggle . Thanks
@@GarryFishermusic My most recent car repair, I had done some diagnostics and had what I felt was a strong guess as to the problem and the fix. But knowing that I don't always know, I explained the symptoms, and gave my guess, telling the mechanic that If I was wrong, I would not be upset. . I was wrong, and my bad guess would have been a more expensive and needless repair.
I'm glad to hear you say that "Staying late to get a little additional progress only leads to burn-out...". It also robs your family (especially the little ones) of your fatherly attentions when they need it most in their younger years. When we are young and struggling to make ends meet it is all too easy to shortchange our families thinking we are doing the right thing by making more money to make life easier. Not better. Just easier. Most kids would rather have the time with Daddy. And rightly so. - Though I am close to 70 now, I remember those days when I was in grade school and wished my dad would be home in the evenings and weekends when he was working OT. You are wise to set your work hours boundaries and stick to them. Those rules need to apply to employees, too. You can never go back in time later to fix it. I have found that 44 hours per week (five-8's and one 4 or four 9's and two 4's) is optimum for me. Anything more and I just spend time that is not productive and home life suffers greatly instead. And that's a bad trade-off.
Yes, we each need to find our sweet spot. Not everyone operates at their optimum with 3 to 5 hours of sleep per day like Donald Trump does. I have a good friend that cannot sleep more than 4 hours per day. It broke up his first marriage because when he would wake up at 3 am he would go to his office and dive right into the day's work load. His wife (at the time) erroneously assumed he was sleeping with someone else when she would wake up and find him gone. She never did believe that he just went to work! When he married wife #2 several years later, he set up a satellite office at home for the after-hours work time. 20 years later, he and wife #2 are happy and still get along great . You are right, Old School Dude. Find your sweet spot and do not short change your young'uns! @@oldschooldude8370
Aside from your great mechanical skills, your voice never changes and you never get upset with stubborn fasteners or breaking connector tabs. I would be yelling and cursing the whole time. You-Da-Man, Ray
Ray, can I make a suggestion that I found out if I sprayed some type of lubricant such as WD-40 or PB blaster, not a sponsor LOL😊, on does brittle fasteners most of the time they did not break I would say 85% 90% at the time they do not break, I just thought that might help you and the watchers of your videos, I really enjoy your videos, kudos to you!
AHHH!! For the good old days when a valve cover job was sooooo simple!!!!!!! Your efforts are to be commended highly!!!! @124:20 Where oh where is the mechanics mirror??? Ahhhh!! @126:19 he breaks out the trusty mirror!!! YAY!!!!
So true. But even 50 years ago the were evil cars. I had a Mercedes van. Valve cover of the diesel had a hat shape. To remove it the motor must be lowered by around 4 inches. And it hat manually adjusted valve play. 🤬
What a nightmare! I feel sorry for you Ray on this one. Love your videos,watch every day. Best of luck on finishing this one up. I think I would have been throwing wrenches and cussing like a sailor lol. Looking forward to part 2 🙂 Merry Christmas 🎅 🎄 to you and Family. Watching you work I'm in the Philippines 🇵🇭
Ivan (Pine Hollow Diagnostics) had a vehicle (I don't remember the make and model) that also had DTCs of multiple cam phasors being out. All of the usual components that could cause the DTCs were replaced by other shops, but the DTCs were still coming up. There is TSB that points to a bolt at the end of an oil passage near the cam shafts that can work it way loose. On that vehicle, the bolt was missing. Probably fell through the engine and into the oil pan. Likely, it was found and discarded on a previous the oil change.
Just a suggestion for next time. If you spray a little silicone spray on the spark plug boot seals, It would allow the tubes to slide into the seals easier. BTW. You do wonderful work.
Man I love how so brutally honest you are Jesus you don't care if it pisses off the other companies I'm proud of you for that it's like Mikey effing pipes I wish he would just stay at the beginning of his uncensored channel Mikey effing pipes every time right it could keep a ring but it would ring with everybody he keep all the people that sign up for that uncensored channel but he's messing up by not using his catchphrase but you could have a case raise if you especially if you made an uncensored channel think about it I get a pretty good catch phrase if you want to go and sensitive but I'm not going to say it on here unless you tell me you're going to you're thinking about doing that
15! Good Wednesday morning Ray and the wife unit! And along with the two new employees! In 1981 I was riding my motorcycle from Lebanon Oregon to Phoenix Arizona the to Denver Colorado to my new job. About halfway to Phoenix, around Palm Springs, it was so hot the oil was boiling. I could see it from the inspection window. I stopped and had the oil changed and set of down the road. I could smell oil burning so I stopped to see what was leaking. I noticed oil was coming out of the banjo bolt on the engine head. I tried to tighten it and went too far and broke the bolt. I called my sister in Phoenix and had her buy one. She then went to a truck stop and asked a trucker to drop off the part to me. It worked and I continued on my trip. You talking about the banjo bolt and crush washer brought back that memory. Roger in Pierre South Dakota
Remember the days when once we removed the suppressor caps the spark plugs were sticking out the top of the engine? Great video again Ray. It was also fantastic to hear you pronounce Alumimium correctly....
I found you from comments section in one other RU-vidr video and ever since after then I am obsessed with you and left others .Your calm demeanour is one of my attractions and the skill set is unmeasurable.When i watch you ,I feel as if I was with in the daily puzzle.Thank you and God bless your business.
With over 150k miles on that vehicle, I think you might be on to something, those rubber seals are toast! The owner kept up on oil changes, but seals are a whole other ballgame. Good video Rainman!
Interesting Ray how you have a lot of patience Ray I be screaming 😱 my head of. And throwing tools but you make it a lot easier for me to watch how it is done. Thank you I enjoyed it
Great video! Appreciate you showing every step. Yeah, the 2GR-FE is such a pain to remove the intake air tank and cowling just get to the rear bank. While you're in there changing gaskets and with all the labor cost to remove the intake, maybe suggest to also change the air surge tank intake manifold gaskets (3) and the throttle body gasket (cost is only about $30 for all). As a preventative, maybe suggest changing the rear bank coils as these might fail around 200k and the car is now above 150k and 12 years old.....all that labor cost again just to return to the rear bank if one of those coils fail. I have a 2009 Sienna with the 2GR-FE and a rear bank coil failed at 205k just a couple months ago.
I did this job on my '06 Avalon with the 2GR. The tube seals were leaking so I had to go in. I did the rear bank first cause Car Care Nut says do the hard side while you're fresh. What a pain - one stinking bolt on the back side - but I eventually got it out and even better, got it back in. All back together now. It was an education. I enjoyed watching you do the 2GR FE gyrations; memories. Glad you're all feeling better.
1:17:50 They are called "Banjo Bolts" because of the similarity of the radial hole in the bolt below the head to the hole that retains the string where it wraps around the neck of a guitar or banjo.
As always, excellent deductive reasoning. Especially with 'newer' vehicles where one problem could have scores of possible causes. I hope your family is feeling better now and I wish you all a safe and Merry Christmas.
It's good to see your customer doing there research in what there problem might be. It sucks when it is such a hard job to do. At least your patience will prevail.
Watching you work to remove that rear valve cover made my back ache. Good thing you made the video of that job so you'll know where everything goes during reassembly.
The only time I complain is when I don’t have enough time to watch the whole video because I have to head off to work. I’m not complaining about the length of Ray’s video, complaining because my job interferes with it.
Bro for real the most amazing part of this video is your camera work while working on the vehicle!! I know that’s super hard. Great work. We all appreciate it.
REEeeeee Don't bent the spark plug seal retaining tans farther than the need to be bent to remove the seals. It can/will fatigue the tabs causing them to break off prematurely (the next seal change). I had to find something to REEeeeeee! You are one in a million. Most RU-vid certified mechanics would not have gone the extra mile like you do. Remember, anything is a hammer if you use it wrong enough. Thank you Ray!
🎉 I found that if you push the connector in before you try to push the tab ths breakage gets reduced since there is less holds ng of the tab and the ammount of pressure to open is less
I made a bunch of wedges out of white Lexan for covers with pins (think door install shims)... I just lightly hammer them in around the area I can get the cover to lift and they "pop" off from the pressure... Made them on the table saw... 2 inches long and 3/8" at the widest... Works great...
Wow Ray, those fender covers move ever closer to the fenders ! Also I believe it was on your mind to use the vac to suck up the dirt on top of the valve covers before removing.😊
I also had a 2012 HiHi but on lease. I got rid of it in 2015 and bought a RAV4. Always heard that engine work was a bear on those 2GR-FE's and this vid proves it. I downsized because it was way too big for me to drive. Also, it had a water leak into the cabin due to a faulty weld on the drivers side front quarter panel. It was documented on a Highlander forum too. Only Toy I had that was USA made and had a problem, the other 3 Toy's were made in Japan.
The worst part of digging into the nooks and crevices is the carpal tunnel locking your hand up, especially when you are stuck with big fat hands, lol.
after you using 1 of those hood lights I bought one because my Granddaughter has a Gazebo with a market stall in it so she can sell her pottery she has made and not the gazebo is the best lit one on the market all thanks to you and thank you for todays video
The Banjo fitting got it's name because the fitting looks like a Banjo with a round portion and a thinner stem. The Bango bolt is named after it's fitting.
Ray… patience of a saint! I enjoy your videos for sure!! I’m old school shade tree. Last personal vehicles I owned that I could tinker with were a 1977 Chevy Impala and a 1977 Lincoln Town Car. I’ve changed out plugs and coils on my 14 EcoBoost but that was the first time I saw individual plug coils. All my other vehicles were always warranty jobs. Times have changed and I pay my shop guys to perform work now. I actually drove out to Illinois for an appt I made with BSG Automotive to have my chains, oil pump, water pump and cam adjusters changed. He was great! So hard to imagine the tools investment you neede to make to be able to get into all those nooks and crannies! Keep the feed coming and I’ll keep enjoying it! Thanks Steve B.
I was taught by my great Dad you always tell a mechanic what its doing (symptoms observed) but never tell a mechanic what to fix. The whole reason you pay for shop time is to get the expert diag. skills that come from experience...this vlog is a great example!
Explain symptoms and give what you've learned. "It's doing xxx. I've done some research and others have found this to be caused by yyy, you might want to take a look at that." It is quite possible your mechanic might end up doing the same research and coming to the same conclusions, so giving them hints (without demands) isn't a bad thing.
@@MichaelSteeves Other than the implication that the mechanic is incompetent? Despite your intentions, your “suggestions” may not come across the way you wanted. Many mechanics are sensitive to this behavior due to many negative experiences. Better to avoid the problem. However, you’re going to do what you want anyway. Now you can’t honestly say that you weren’t warned.
@@johnt.848 Sure if you don’t take the time to find a great mechanic. Consumer beware. BTW…who says that mechanic, you refer to, won’t ignore you and do his thing anyway?
Nice work Ray, what a p.i.a. job I bought my first Toyota in 2013 and bought a FJ over a 4 runner because of the design. It is waaay different than what you're dealing with. I like the old school way of the crank facing forward so you can hopefully work on it if needed. And see what may need attention. You are bad ass!
Well at least I'm second these upload times are challenging but I know ray you have a family life. Xmas is next week but yet your still pumping out content...you and the wife unit have a great holiday ok you deserve to spend some quality family time luv you guys!!!💯💯
Tip on reusing copper crusher washer anneal them. At my job we take apart a lot of pipes that use crush washers but we never have replacements. A few minutes under a torch until red and dropped in a bucket of water make them good as new. If you don't do this there is a high chance that it will leak unless it's the first reuse.
Man, i wish i could ship my 04 durango to you. It needs so much work and youd do WONDERS for it. Saddly though, im incredibly broke lmao. Maybe one day. Love your videos Ray. I happy you got your own shop. Have a wonderful day
It sure is similar to my Kia V6. I really hate that back bolt for the intake. Some of the mini socket wrenches and such I invested in after seeing you use them, really helped me do this type of job.
These days we have more stuff crammed into a smaller space, back in the 50tys you had lots of room and in many cases you could even sit on the steel wheel well, with your feet on the steel frame, along side the motor area. No cramming, lots of space, no brittle plastic connectors, no bruised or cracked ribs from hanging over engine compartment obstructions.
Old popsicle sticks, or tongue depressors come in handy for pushing those spark plug tube seals into place. They don't tear things like screwdrivers do. They are also handy for spreading things like sealant or glue.
I'm pleasantly surprised you did this all in 1 video. I'm pro longer videos, all start to finish like. Don't matter, I'll keep watching either way. Hope you and the family are feeling better.
I used to mash a bit of double side tape for retaining stubborn sockets, something else tacky would probably work. Also, for retaining bolts and nuts, I'd take something like masking tape long enough inside the socket to make that little bit of difference tight and potentially retain it on the tape if it comes loose. Simply pull off afterwards.
1.5 Hr. Video..... Awesome!! Removing the cowling made a lot of sense, sometimes "why fight it" is the right presence of mind to take. I Hear Banjos.....The name stems from the shape of the fitting, having a large circular section connected to a thinner pipe, generally similar to the shape of a banjo. You never fail to entertain and provide quality knowledge! Have yourself a Great Day Ray✌
Brings back PTSD memories from replacing plugs in 2012 Camry V6 about 3.5 years back but with 50K fewer miles and fewer years of aging. Didnt break any of the plug coil connectors but iI didnt remove the cowl to try to save time. However, removing and installing the rear intake was a #$%&! ship in the bottle kind of job.
It stopped raining and it’s not so cold down here in S. Fl. How am I supposed to watch this long video, play golf, lounge on the beach, get yelled at by wife, then do a little fishing? I guess I’ll let the dog just walk itself 😎
Having owned a 2008 Highlander hybrid with the 3MZ, I feel your pain. Just sold it with 310k miles and the original hybrid battery. Great car, but access to the rear bank is no joke. That said, the valve train on this one (2GR) looked incredibly clean; owner clearly has done regular oil changes. The seals on top of the 2GR valve covers are definitely an issue, and also supply pressurized oil to the spray bars for the cams…should be replaced along with the valve cover gaskets. Bank 1 along the firewall will leak first, as oil is essentially pooling against the valve cover gasket…the 1MZ and 3MZ gaskets also eventually leak there. That said, all are great engines, and the owner should continue to enjoy that Highlander for many, many more years. I installed a 2GR in a 1991 MR2…it is scary fast.
Ray could you have finished up bank one and started the engine to see if changing the ring gaskets fixed the solenoid issue on that side? Obviously you are confident that is the issue. Keep up the great content.....👍
It's a good thought but too much reassembly IMO to be worth while. Don't forget Dave had already done the prelim disassembly work and there is a fuel line to replace.
@@desotosky1372 Clear as mud....lol. To much reassembly? He completed bank one before moving onto bank two. So my thought was it could have been started to see if o-ring gaskets worked. What if tearing both sides apart and replacing o-ring gaskets doesnt work? Both sides need to be tor apart again. Just was thinking to test bank one to see if repair worked would or could save labor. Although Ray is a smart guy to I imagine he's got this pegged correctly.....👍
