New Tacoma (to me)

Hey guys,
I'm a born again Taco owner. I just bought a 2001 2.7Liter 4x4 with 96K, after a 3 years hiatus from the Tacomas (don't ask, it was a silly mistake). My new vehicle is awesome with the exception of a few things. I bought it off a guys who was the son in law of the only other driver, he claims to have no knowledge of any issues with the vehicle. I've tried to search the forum high and low for the last two weeks looking for exact answers to what I need but haven't been successful.

After getting a recent oil change I unfortunately found out that my oil pain has a leak in it due to rust. The oil weeps at a pretty steady click, hence why it was a 1/2 quart short when I got it home. I bought a new pan/adhesive today from a local Toyota dealership, but I wasn't sure if there was more to removing /installing the new pan than just removing the skid plates. Someone touched on removing front differentials in another thread. Do I need to? Is this pretty hard? I'm no wrench head for sure. And whats the estimated time to get this job done? Pics would be amazing.

Second I've got an issue with the breaks. 2/3 of the time when I depress the brake pedal the brakes will engage but it will (for lack of a better term) hit a wall and won't depress to its fully functional breaking power unless I press much harder and it pushes past this "wall" making a "clunking" sound and activating the brakes in a stronger manner. The severity of the clunk/wall varies. If I'm stopped I can keep depressing the brake and the wall seems to weaken however it never fully vanishes. I haven't had to stop on the brakes hard yet, but I'm some what concerned about the stopping power in a situation when they are really needed.

I greatly appreciate all your help, I've learned a lot about the truck just by reading other people's posts.

BTW first fill up averaged 21 MPG, the 4 cylinder kicks ass

 

Yikes. Im not sure how bad it is but I'd be tryin' to jerry rig it. But good luck on the pan drop I know on old chevy small blocks you would have to lift the motor up a few inches to get the pan out/off to replace gasket.

Are they ABS brakes?

 

I think you have to remove the front differential (and axles) to drop the pan.

 

You need to get that brake issue checked out asap. Sounds like the calipers might be bad, or it could just need to be blead down. In any event, brake problems shouldn't be allowed to persist for yours and everyone else safety.

 

I don't believe it's ABS, not positive. I spoke with someone I work with and he thought it might be an issue with the master cylinder, maybe a bad seal, fluid leak or something of the sort. I haven't driven it unless I'm doing something to the truck. The clunk type sound seems like its coming from the engine compartment or in front of the pedal, is there anyway it could be the pedal itself getting stuck? I'm gonna try and get someone to step on it so I can try and locate the noise today if I can buy some friends.