Start With the Vacuum Hoses

If your 22RE idles unevenly, hunts at stoplights, fails smog or drinks fuel for no obvious reason, the vacuum lines are the first thing to rule out — and on a truck this old they are almost never in good condition. Thirty years of heat cycling turns factory rubber hard, then brittle, then cracked, and every crack is unmetered air the ECU cannot account for.

Our 22RE silicone vacuum hose kit contains enough hose to replace every vacuum line associated with the fuel injection system — not a patch, the whole circuit. Also in black and blue.

This is the cheapest meaningful thing you can do to a tired 22RE. Do it before you start replacing sensors.

The Heater Hose That Fails — and Why It Matters

The 22RE's rear heater hose — the PHH, the one that runs behind the engine where you cannot see it — is a known failure point on these trucks. It fails from the inside, it fails without warning, and because of where it sits the first sign is usually steam and an empty cooling system a long way from anywhere.

Replacing it means going in behind the engine, so it is worth doing once, properly, with the rest of the heater circuit at the same time.

Heater hose kits, 3-ply reinforced silicone:

Order by chassis and by year, not by engine. Pickup and 4Runner routing is different, and the 1988 model year is a split — check the build date rather than the model year if your truck is an 1988.

Radiator Hose Kits

Upper and lower radiator hoses, molded to the factory shape rather than a universal bend you have to fight into place.

3-ply reinforced silicone: Pickup 1984-1995 · 4Runner 1984-1995 · Pickup, blue

Dual-layer silicone with embedded heat-resistant fibers, a direct fit replacement at a lower price point: 22RE and 22R/22RE.

Doing both at once

If the truck is apart anyway, the combined radiator and heater kits cover the whole cooling circuit in one order and save you doing the job twice:

Pickup 1989-1995 · Pickup 1989-1995, blue · 4Runner 1989-1995

Running a 3.0 V6 instead? The 3VZ 1993-1995 Pickup kit is here too.

PCV and Breather Hoses — Read the Year and the Fuel System

This is the part of the page people get wrong, because the hoses look similar and the fitment windows are narrow. Carbureted and fuel-injected are different parts, and so are the year ranges.

Breather hose, front of valve cover:

Note the mid-1988 split. A 1988 truck could take either, so check the build plate.

PCV hose: 22RE (Toyota 12261-35011) and 22R (Toyota 12261-38011), both for the PCV valve on top of the valve cover.

OE replacement alternatives, molded to factory specification: PCV hose, breather hose and front valve cover breather hose.

A collapsed or split PCV hose gives you exactly the symptoms people chase for months: rough idle, a vacuum leak you cannot find, and oil where it should not be.

Throttle Body Elbows

The rubber elbow between the intake and the throttle body cracks with age, and faster in a hot climate. It is a common unmetered-air source and easy to miss because the cracks open under vacuum.

Two versions, and they are not interchangeable — the difference is which way your throttle body faces:

  • 1989-1995 — Toyota 22231-35030. For late models with the throttle body facing straight forward.
  • 1984-1988 — Toyota 22231-35011. For earlier models with the throttle body angled downward. Does not fit the 22RTE turbo.

Look at the truck before you order. The year is a guide; the throttle body angle is the answer.

Coolant Bypass and Idle Air Control Lines

These are the small molded hoses around the throttle body that route coolant to the idle air control valve. They matter more than their size suggests: they are what lets the engine idle properly from cold, and when they harden and split you get a truck that will not settle down until it is warm.

IAC coolant bypass hose #1 · hose #2, both 1985-1995 22RE. For 1985-1988 specifically: the IAC valve bypass hose and the throttle body to lower intake bypass hose.

Carbureted trucks use the 22R water bypass hose (Toyota 16261-35061) from the timing cover to the bottom of the intake. Not for EFI.

The clamp that saves an afternoon

Anyone who has connected the lines under a throttle body knows the job: no room, no angle, and a pair of long-nose pliers you cannot get square. The OEM coolant bypass hose clamp positions first, then releases with a retainer clip. A few dollars, and it turns that job into a two-minute one.

What to Replace First

If you are working through a tired 22RE rather than chasing one fault, the order that finds the most problems for the least money is:

  1. Vacuum hose kit — whole circuit, cheapest fix, rules out the most.
  2. PCV and breather hoses — the leaks that look like sensor faults.
  3. Throttle body elbow — cracks open under vacuum, easy to overlook.
  4. Coolant bypass and IAC lines — if cold idle is the complaint.
  5. Heater and radiator hose kits — before they strand you, not after.

Not sure which version fits your truck? Send us the build date and whether it is carbureted or EFI and we will tell you which part number you need.

!