My Dealer wants $327 to change out the EGR Temp Sensor. They also want another $400 to replace the EGR Valve as a recommended preventative maintenance item.

This all came about because the "Check Engine" light came on. I plan to forgo changing the EGR valve at this time. I am considering changing the EGR Temp Sensor myself.

Can anyone share their experience with making this type of repair? Where is this Temp Sensor located?

1996 ES300 with 155,000 miles and still running great!

 

Before you replace anything, you should find out the trouble code(s) that you are getting.

 

Evidently the codes from the dealer indicate the fixes noted. One was for sure the other was a recommendation.

 

i had the exact same problem
i own a 96 lexus es300 177k

got the same check engine light error not too long ago maybe about 7 months ago. however my check engine light was only for the valve. my mechanic said dont worry no biggie. he said it might have just been i pump gas with the car on and to avoid doing that. personally i dont believe that caused it but anyway. Temp senor never indicated any faults until my gauge started spiking like crazy. i mean red hot in less than 4 minutes. this happened about a month ago.

my dad is an auto body expert and his good friends mechanics so that day we took it down and the best solution we saw was to change the temp sensor praying it was not something worse. i purchased the temp sensor for 90 bucks and when i tired to change it thinking my dad and i knew where it was. We could not find it at all. i still dont know where it is and i wont bother looking. my other cars were easy locates not this one. this car does a great job of making things very nice and complicated.

i paid my mechanic labor and lunch total of 75$ its not alot of work if you do your research but i made my life hell. there is a EGR passage near the TBI unit i personally could not find it..

all in all you have a good idea of what your doing its an easy fix. if you really need to know where it is i will call my mechanic and let you know ASAP.
GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR NEW PROJECT

UPDATE: its located under the hood all the way in the back towards the driver side. its tough to get to in some aspects