Steelfan

Unfortunately, you may be in my position and will have to work it out by hand with the wrench and you'll be stripping the threads when you do. Only other thing I can think of is to get a torch and be real careful with it and heat it up (the insert in the manifold) until it gets red hot and working it out that way but I'd get the special socket and try to use it. There were too many hoses and lines back there for me to want to try that. Another option is to pull the manifold off the engine and drop the exhaust system so you can get to it. That way, if heating doesn't work and you strip it out, you can try to re-tap it or remove the old insert and re-weld a new one. I was luckily able to use the old sensor from Bank 2 that I had to replace as well to run new threads and cleaned the threads up with the an oiled 18mm x 1.5 tap. Has been working for over 500 miles so far. Not much room back there to work a standard tap with the tool on the end. I had to use a small, adjustable wrench turn the tap. Good luck. PS - I spent over 3 hrs on top of the engine working my sensor out on a Friday night. I couldn't get enough force on the 22mm wrench from the side and had to be on top of the engine to use my weight to slowly, and I mean slowly work it out.

Bank 1, next to the firewall, the one that is a pain to get to. I'd warm up the engine and wear a glove so you don't burn your hand. I tried removing mine on a cold engine and ended up having to re-tap the hole after it stripped out from being galled. Good luck. NAPA has the Denso after market part for $166. You can use the one from the front side in the back but not vice/versa. The front (Bank 2) sensor has a longer wire/plug. You'll need a 22mm wrench or special o2 socket. Not much room back there and hard to get to from underneath unless you have mini-me hands.

Interesting story... New poster here, just wishing you good luck. I have a 2000 ES300 that I just got done fixing P1130, 1135, 1150 and 1155 codes for. I had to replace both A/F sensors. I take it you hecked the resistance on the old ones and the new ones before you installed them. During my research, I did hear that you are better off getting the OEM ones from DENSO direct from Toyota/Lexus dealerships. Aftermarkets tend to not play nice. I found the $213 ea. a bit hard to swallow and got DENSO aftermarkets at NAPA for $154 ea. I found your $104 price you quote pretty exceptional so I am just wondering if those sensors aren't the right ones or maybe just bad from the start.

New poster here but went through similar, although not as severe symptoms with both a 2000 Toyota Corolla and 2000 ES300. My suggestion would be to post up the codes you are receiving but barring that, locate and clean the MAF sensor which is located downstream of your Air filter box. Two small phillips screws is all it takes to remove the sensor. Unplug it and spray down the two small wires that are inside and at the base of the plastic column (hard to see) with electronic parts cleaner you can get at the auto parts store. They sell MAF sensor specific spray cleaner but I was unsure if that would harm the plastic on the Toyota/Lexus MAF sensor. Replace the sensor after it dries. Important, don't touch the platinum wires inside the sensor with anything. Second, if you are receiving p1130, p1135, p1150 and/or p1155 codes, your A/F Sensors located on your exhaust manifolds are most likely bad and need to be replaced. Hope that if that is your problem, only the sensor on the front of the engine by the radiator is bad because the one in back against the firewall is a bear to get to and when I replaced mine, I stripped the threads and had to re-thread the hole in the manifold. If the MAF sensor cleaning doesn't work, you may want to order one from RockAuto online and replace it. Easy DIY esp. if you already did the cleaning of the MAF and it didn't correct the problem. Autozone or Advance will let you borrow a scanner for free to read the codes in their parking lot. Good luck.