08 4x2 AC I4 AT = struggle buggy??

Truck has about 1200 miles on it, and to me it has no power. I can't even climb the small hill on the road outside my house without downshifting. The engine sounds like it needs the valves adjusted already. I don't remember drinking any Kool-Aide that night in the dealership, so the must have been pumping something into the air.

I took it back to the service dept., but they said there was nothing wrong with it & it's supposed to sound that way. Didn't even want to hang an analyzer on it since the check engine light wasn't on.

Now maybe I'm biased from owning an 02 V6 in the past, but most folks here swear by their I4s. I wish I was one of them! Going to try and pull a light utility trailer full of mulch over the weekend & see how that goes. But the way it seems to me, my Yaris had more pep than the Tacoma does...

 

Still waitin' on the delivery of my AFE from the group buy. Hopefully, it will help...

 

I went from a (much) older toyota truck and am impressed with how much power this engine makes. Have you removed the secondary air filter yet? It makes a noticable difference. I drive the 5 speed so my truck doesn't down (or up) shift unless I want it to, but on a long steep hill I often drive the engine sounds and feels like it's not straining as much with it removed and an aFe Dri Pro S replacement for the primary air filter.

Another thought is your engine is still breaking in. My truck was still improving at 15000 miles. If ecomomy is going up I'd guess internal resistance is going down. Less resistance shoud mean more available power.

 

Yes, I'll probaby remove the secondary filter when I swap in the ate...

 

I also took my truck back to the dealear at around 1000 mi and was told nothing was wrong with it. The performance suffers when the compressor is running (when air conditioning is on or the flow selector is set the windshield position). Yesterday, I ripped out the secondary filter and disconnected a wire to disable the compressor when the selector is set to the windshield position. Hopefully, this will help.

 

I don't think that the 2.7L engine has adequate power (159 hp) for the 4x4, which has a GVWR of about 5350 lbs. However, it is a good match for the 4x2, which has a GVWR of 4850 lbs.

Here are the dyno charts for both the 2.7 and 4.0:
http://www.kandn.com/dynocharts/77-9026.pdf
http://www.kandn.com/dynocharts/63-9025.pdf