The family friend mechanic I've used isn't getting back to me, so I thought I'd see if replacing my 02 sensors is easy enough, and I feel like it is. However, I have some questions. First let me give some vehicle and problem descriptions:
Vehicle: 2000 Toyota Camry 3.0 V6 (California Emissions)
Check Engine Light Codes: P1130 (History, Current, Confirmed, Pending); P1135 (History, Current, Confirmed, Pending); P1150 (History, Current, Confirmed)
I was told I need to replace my [Bank 1 Sensor 1] and [Bank 2 Sensor 2]. Let me know if anyone disagrees with that. The person who told me this is a family friend mechanic and has no motive to lie or upsell me, and looked at the engine himself (he just didn't have time to fix the problem).
Question 1: I'm looking to buy the right sensors. What part do I need? I'm looking at a CA emission Upstream Rear and a CA emission Upstream Front sensor at O'Reilly, but I don't know what the difference is.
I was under the impression that I need a sensor that is CA emission, 4-wire, non-universal, and upstream. I don't know enough about engines to know what front or back means pertaining to upstream sensors.
Question 2: Looking at my engine, the [Bank 2 Sensor 1] is really easy to identify and reach. I feel confident that I can work with this. However, the [Bank 1, Sensor 1] is more difficult. I was looking toward the back under the hood and I see a sensor deep down, but I don't think I'll be able to reach it. Is it normal to have to remove other engine parts to be able to get to/reach the [Bank 1 Sensor 1], or am I looking at the wrong sensor? Unfortunately, I don't have pictures. It's at the very rear of the engine/hood space and down quite a ways.
Question 3: Is it necessary to buy an oxygen sensor socket to do this part replacement?
Question 4: I'm a poor college student, and money is scarce. Would it be worth trying to replace just one oxygen sensor and then seeing if my check engine light goes away, or do both sensors definitely need to be replaced? And if so, which sensor would make sense to try replacing first? I was reading in other forums that people with multiple related codes should try changing one thing at a time to see if it affects the other codes.
Any help or advice is appreciated. I'd be happy to clarify or give additional info if it will help.