toyo22r

I replaced all the heater hoses on my 4Runner 3VZE last night as that little U-Shaped one in the back was leaking badly. However, during the long session of laying on my stomach on top of the engine, I notice a vacuum hose in the back there just dangling. Further inspectioned revealed the remains of a plastic nipple still lodged in the hose end. The upper port on the TVV (thermo vacuum valve) had snapped off (new one $94). I read the post about repairing it using some metal tubing. The real question is how do you remove this valve??? You cant get a socket on it, unless you break off the remaining nipple. I didnt have a large enough open end wrench to fit it, but there didnt appear to be enough room in there to wrench on it.

As it was getting late and i need to get the truck on the road for today, I used super glue and carefully reattached the nippe... Its holding ok so far.

A side note... My truck used to be VERY sluggish off the line when the AC was on... now it feels back the way it should be... I guess this broken hose created a nice vacuum leak only noticeable when the temps were high enough to open the valve. According to a post i read, this nipple is easy to break when removing the upper intake plenum.. makes me wonder if the dealer did this when it was in for headgasket campaign 2 yrs ago.

toyo22r@hotmail.com
95 4Runner
St. Louis

TNRabbit

There is a socket specifically designed for that piece. It has a slot along the side. Anyone have a source or other suggestion?

toyo22r

ahhh.. see thats what i thought... there would be a special socket... the moron at the dealer told me to break off the other nipple and use a deep well socket...

toyo22r@hotmail.com
95 4Runner
St. Louis

TNRabbit

That's because he was trying to sell you another part....or get you to just bring it into the stealership....

eric-the-red

Try cutting some slots in a deep socket, get a cheap one so you don't wreck a decent one. It shouldn't be too difficult with a cutoff wheel.

04 Rocko Taco

ah, tool making, fantastic. In our old mercedes shop we spend as much time fabbing up tools as we ever do workin on cars. lol. Mercedes is the number one specialty tool requiring manufacturer in the world.

toyo22r

Oh yeah? I had an 88 300E years back... I serviced it myself, but I guess i never ran into anything that needed special tools... Only had it about 2 yrs... Talk about unreliable though... that bosch KE-Jetronic was crap! There was times when i'd drive my rusty old 85 Xtracab to the store instead of that benz to forgo the embarrassment of cranking it for 2 mins to get it to start. Never did figure that out.. i think it was loosing fuel pressure.

No back to the TTV tool... do they actually make a socket for this, or is it a DIY job with a die grinder? Just curious should i need to replace it sometime in the future... for now the super glue is holding.

toyo22r@hotmail.com
95 4Runner
St. Louis

Chuki

Go down to Napa, and get some vacuum plugs, and a white vacuum "Tee" it's a white plastic barb'd tee, you can pick them up at Napa, and it will litterally "SNAP" into that peice, plug your vacuum line into one end, and plug the other end up. And Voila fixed!

TNRabbit

Great idea, Chuki! Lots of posts on here about how to fix it but they are MUCH more involved....I like it! Sounds like a USMC fix to me...

Chuki

USMC?

I got that idea from a buddy of mine that works at our local dealership. He said on about 75% of all 3VZE's he works on he breaks that, and does the fix I mentioned. No glue or anything, it just snaps in. Thats how I fixed mine when I redid the headgaskets.

TNRabbit

United States Marine Corps...

Tigerstripe40

An End wrench will make QUICK work of the TVV...

$94!!!!!! YIKES!

I repaired mine last night.

toyo22r

I'm not quite sure if i understand what you mean by it snaps in place... The upper nipple was broke off flush... where does the Tee snap into?

toyo22r@hotmail.com
95 4Runner
St. Louis

Chuki

Mine snapped right inside of it. Mine was broken flush and that small tee of mine, snapped right into it.

rbmc

I have loads of experience when it comes to this part, I've broken so Freaken many and replaced many more and all the Hillbilly engineering in the world does'nt help trying to fix it.
It's a necessary, constant functioning vacuum port controlled by engine temp(starting @ 95 degrees) and any obstruction to and from it will affect your idle, gas mileage as well as many other functions.
It's there to route the evaporated fuel from the tank through the charcoal cannister to the top port of TVV and from the bottom port of the TVV to the intake plenum.
I know this going to sound harsh, but the only way to properly replace it, is to pull the plenum. (They are hard to get to with the plenum off) If not, I can almost guarantee that you will break about 3 of them before you get one on, not to mention cross-threading it(and don't forget to put seal on it before you put it the new one back in, torque is 18ft. lbs.).
There is one Good thing though, nearly all Toyota engines have a TVV and they are pretty much inner-changeable, you can pick one up a Pick-Your-Part for about 3 bucks. (I suggest buying an extra one at that price.)

RBMC