My MIL lamp lit the other day and suddenly my '01 TL starts running rather poorly. Get it home pull the codes and the P0132 pops up. We were in the middle of a large storm here in SoCal so further diagnosis had to wait. Meanwhile I cleared the code to wait and see if it returns. At first, it did not (like for 2 days). I assumed the short occurred due to running through a large puddle that may have caused the fault. So I decided to let it ride for now.

The next day, the code returns, lamp is ON. There's a rather large delay from pressing the accelerator until the car actually moves when cold. Once up to temp, it ran better but had a rumble at idle and you could feel the engine turns so slow that it wants to stall. What surprised me a bit was that later in the day while driving, the MIL light goes out. Car still runs poorly. My scanner still shows 1 code (the P0132) but MIL status OFF. Since I had to wait until the weekend (yesterday) to fix it we kept driving it. The MIL lamp went on, then off a few times over the next day.

Getting the old O2 sensor out was a bit more involved than some others I've replaced. The bolt that holds the stay on was a bit awkward to reach as well as unclipping the sensor side of the connector from the bracket. Looks like I have a small trans oil leak somewhere so the bulk of my time was spent wiping down the undercarriage.

The most frustrating moment is when I dropped and extension and socket down into the engine bay while removing the engine cover. It laid on the splash guard so I fished it out with a magnet. However the lip of the socket caught on something and came off, dropping into the abyss again. No biggie I've got plenty of sockets and I'll fish it out later. When all was done, I went back to find it. I assumed it fell back onto the splash guard and just rolled into a corner somewhere. Sadly it was nowhere to be found. I tapped on the underside of the splash guard hoping to pop it out. It didn't even sound like it was in there, yet there was no sign if it on the ground. So I started removing the splash guard to gain better access to the undercarriage in case it's sitting on one of the rails or wedge in somewhere. Dang, those push clips were a royal pain to remove. Even spraying some penetrating oil didn't help much. I finally got enough to pop off (breaking a few along the way) to get the shield out of the way. Still no socket but lot's a grime all along the tops of the frame members and suspension components. Another roll of shop towels gone. Finally laying underneath and reaching up and feeling around, my finger reach inside the fan shroud. I don't feel the socket but think it must be in here. So out come my mirror, magnet and flashlight. Success!! It was down in the pass side fan. I couldn't see it as the fan blades were in the way. Glad I found it. I can just imagine driving and hitting a good bump and have it leap up and hit the fan. Things would have literally hit the fan, not to mention the Snap-On deep sockets are pricey too. It just reaffirmed Murphy's Law about dropped tools finding the most inaccessible place.

Anyway, finally buttoned up, reset codes again. Out for a test drive. All better now!!

Now need to find out where the leak is coming from.

 

Good job! Post a pic of the suspect leak area, maybe we can help out.

 

There was so much grime and caked up sludge I couldn't tell. I cleaned it all off as best as I could. Trans fluid level was just under a half a quart low so I topped it off. Hopefully I'll get a better look in a few days.

Meanwhile, top of the trans was dry. I had already cleaned the screens in the solenoids so things topside seem tight. If there are any "usual suspects" that may slow drip, please point them out.

BTW, P0132 has not returned, engine runs great (again!)

 

Axle seals are the usual culprit. Pretty easy fix.

 

Thanks, I'll check that.