P0420 + Dog Bone - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

mysterl33 · 01-25-2012, 03:19 PM

Hi guys, it's been awhile since I posted here haha

So I no longer drive the Camry cuz I got myself a Mazda3 Hatch

but my sister still uses the Camry as her DD.

Recently, a few problems have come up. One thing would be the dog bone. It seems to be gone. We want to get it replaced but I want to know if it is a simple job. It seems to be held in by 2 bolts and the part itself seems to be fairly cheap at $30 at advance auto parts. I've read on some DIYs that I need to support the oil pan? Is this needed or can I just take the two bolts off, take the old dog bone out, put the new one in place, & bolt it in?

The second problem that we have is the P0420 code. A mechanic wants $400.00 to fix it saying we need a new cat. Anything else I can do to see if it is something cheaper?

The third problem, whenever the car goes over a bump or a crack on the road, there's a sound like something is loose in the engine bay. It sounds like a loose panel. I checked underneath and could not find anything loose. When we brought the car to a mechanic, he said that it is the bad dog bone causing it to make the sound. The front mount was replaced a few months ago. What do you guys think?

As always, any help is appreciated!

fullofzen · 01-25-2012, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mysterl33

One thing would be the dog bone. It seems to be gone. We want to get it replaced but I want to know if it is a simple job. It seems to be held in by 2 bolts and the part itself seems to be fairly cheap at $30 at advance auto parts. I've read on some DIYs that I need to support the oil pan? Is this needed or can I just take the two bolts off, take the old dog bone out, put the new one in place, & bolt it in?

There's a DIY (DIY: GEN3 Timing Belt + Waterpump + Oil Seal Change - Part 1) in the FAQ covering a ton of different issues -- seals, timing belt, dog bone, etc all in one go. In that DIY, he makes no mention of supporting the engine from underneath when pulling the dog bone. My impression of the dog bone is that it would support the engine in lateral motion -- side to side or front to back, not so much up or down making supporting the engine from underneath fairly pointless.

That said, supporting the oil pan may sound challenging, but it's not. It would be a simply matter of putting a hydraulic jack underneath the oil pan and pumping it up until the jack hits the oil pan. If you were to do that, you would want to put something soft between the oil pan and the teeth of the floor jack -- a segment of wood would probably to the job.

As to the rest of the dog bone job -- it doesn't look that hard to me, but I'll leave it to the experts that have done it.

One other note -- for the experts to help you, it would be helpful to know what year/engine you're talking about.

carsrus · 01-25-2012, 08:25 PM

p0420 - First replace downstrean o2 sensor. Then you can try this

You Tube

Usually the o2 sensor is the culprit.

Bdub215 · 01-25-2012, 08:27 PM

The dogbone mount is probably the easiest thing to replace on this car next to wiper blades. two bolts , pull out, insert the new one and bolt it down.

***Eye8Pussies*** · 01-25-2012, 09:00 PM

^

no need to support anything, just take it out and put the new one in

as for the cat, take it to local exhaust shop and just have them weld on a new cat for a hundred bucks (for cat with labor, if not less) and you're done

mysterl33 · 01-25-2012, 10:40 PM

Thanks guys. Looks like I'll be doing the dog bone replacement by myself instead of spending $100-150 haha

Is there something I should be looking for in the new dog bone? There seems to be one at the advance auto by me or I can get one off amazon for about $16 shipped.

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slavie · 01-25-2012, 11:22 PM

Yeah, the dogbone is a 5-min job, no need to support anything. 1. Unscrew the two bolts. 2. take out the old one, put in new one. 3. screw the two bolts back in. It's 12mm head bolt, if I remember correctly (I replaced mine a couple of month back.)

Pay attention to which way the bone needs to go it, as it is off-center on one side. (there's only one way... I don't think you can fit it in any other way). Might need to push the dogbone a fraction of an inch to slide the bolt in.
I went for the more expensive $25 dogbone from RockAuto, in hopes that it was better quality. Seems solid. Also, if you have Gen3, I heard that the beefier Gen4 dogbones fit as well.

As for the cat (Gen4, and Gen3 should be same), I believe there are two cats: one one the section that has the exhaust manifold, another on the section that has the flexpipe. Entire replacement sections cost $350+ and $170+ respectively (at RockAuto).

If the gonner cat is on the latter section, you can go the exhaust shop chop-it-up-weld-it-back-in way, or consider replacing the entire section if your flex pipe is also in a sorry state.

Hope this helps.

mysterl33 · 01-26-2012, 06:49 AM

Yea my Camry is a Gen 4. 2000 Camry with the 2.2L I-4.

I am going to try to clean the cat first and if that doesn't do it, maybe the O2 sensors? The mechanic my sister went to said the cat by the engine needs to be replaced. I thought cats were suppose to last pretty long?

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Pvt-Public · 01-26-2012, 07:43 AM

The P0420 is most likely due to the rear O2 sensor getting lazy. Try replacing that first, it is a lot less expensive than a Cat. To get at the wire connector you have to remove the drivers seat, no big deal a couple elec. conn. and 4 bolts, and the connector is there under the carpet. Be sure to get a Denso sensor. As stated above the dog bone is a 5 or 10 minute job.