Toyota Yaris NIGHTMARE!

Hi everyone,

I have a Toyota Yaris 1.0 GLS 1999 - lovely car, had no problems .. until now...

Was driving yesterday and a warning light came up on the dash so I pulled over and checked it out in users guide - said to take it to a dealer. So today I took my car to my local dealer, left it with them for a bit and they've said it's a faulty oxygen sensor and will cost £215 to fit. Is it just me or is this very expensive for them to fit a sensor? I am planning on ringing round a few more places as I've been told dealers can be more expensive.

The woman said it would be about an hours labour, the part alone was £120 + VAT.

If anyone has any knowledge on Yaris' or oxygen sensors, please help!

Oh yeh, it also has its MOT tomorrow which it is now likely to fail, great!

Reply 1

CurlyBen

The sensor is a lambda sensor, it measures oxyen levels in the exhaust and relays that back to the Engine Control Unit to try and optimise the burning of fuel to reduce emissions. This page has some more info if you want/need it, such as why they fail.
Unfortunately they're not cheap, although that price seems high. Depending on how hard they are to fit (i.e. where it's mounted) will obviously impact labour charges, some are very easy to get to, others are a real pain. There are places that will sell them cheaper but you normally need to know the part number etc. and you'll still have to get someone to fit it. If it's failed it's likely the ECU will be feeding too much fuel so it may fail the MOT on emissions :frown:

Reply 2

ciderpeter

I find it cheaper not to use the dealer of the make of the car to have repairs done - ie i will not use a Ford garage (as i drive a ford!) as they are generally more expensive and charge somewhere in the region of £60 an hour labour... A smaller garage may do it for 10 or 15 pound an hour which is a small saving! :smile:

Reply 3

Ryan

Sorry, I know it's not good having to pay 200 quid out...but if that's the only problem you've had it's hardly a nightmare....

Reply 4

AT82

Yep it is the lamdba sensor, it cost £80 including labour to fix on my dads escort. Don't pay rip off dealer prices for it.

There are two types of lamda sensors

1) Generic - Will fit any car, cost around £35 but you need to solder all the wires yourself so these will have high labour costs and iffy warranties.

2) Specific - Bosch make them designed to fit each specific cars, these cost around £60 and it is a very simple job, it simply scews into the manifold.

Reply 5

pghstochaj

AT is correct in terms of generic and specific. Normally I would say go for generic but with lambdas I would suggest using the specific - the generics never seem to last aslong and be as accurate. May just be circumstantial. Also no need to fiddle with the wiring.

Dealer should charge no more than 30 minutes labour (often the minimum depending on the marque etc.) and the prices above are approximately correct. Do it yourself if you're confident but if not, try an independent garage.

Should fail MOT because the car will probably be running rich, if not, it might be a different problem. If it fails on emissions that supports the diagnosis.

Reply 6

snmichaels

That is a very minor problem that is easily fixed and not that expensive, relatively speaking. I agree, that's hardly a nightmare. It didn't leave you stranded anywhere.

Reply 7

dimexi

Nightmare? I should tell you about my old Corsa!!!!

Anyhoo, good luck with finding a cheaper garage! I know how it feels!! :frown:

Reply 8

AT82

Where I live most garages charge £30 an hour labour put also usualy make a little bit on parts. So they may charge £70 for the sensor and £15 labour making the garage £25.

I don't know much about Toyota engines but I fail to see how it can take an hour to get the car on the ramps, disconnect a wiring plug, unscrew the sensor and reverse the process.

Reply 9

Sazarina88

Thanks for all of your advice!

I agree, it's not really a nightmare - but not good for someone who knows nothing about cars :biggrin:

Well, it passed the MOT today, emissions were fine. So I rang Toyota to cancel my appointment but they said I couldn't as it was a special order part. I said surely someone would need the same part in the future and he got all arsey with me. So they are going to try and send the part back on Wednesday when it comes in, if they can't I will have to pay for the part. My boyfriend came over today who has considerably more car knowledge than myself, he found the sensor it is, using a spanner managed to unscrew it, take it out and put it back in in 10 minutes - hardly the hour Toyota are saying.

Will just have to see how it goes!

Sarah

Reply 10

dimexi

Wow!!! lucky you :biggrin:

Reply 11

AT82

Avoid that garage like the plague, there is no way it is a special part, lamda sensors fail all the time it is one of the most common causes of MOT failures on modern cars.

Reply 12

dhutch

How about go down to your local scrapy, pick one up for a tenner, and fitt it saterday afternoon?

Reply 13

pghstochaj

Don't buy second hand Lambdas, it's not worth the hassle.

Reply 14

Chrism5

What about the diag time , the cost off the diag tool pro about 20k. All a garages other over heads , eg,wages, insurance , rent, rates, all these things must be paid. Or there will not be any garages to fix your car ,