First thread Guys: Help me with Decision on Getting this Tacoma or Not

Hello ladies and Gents,

I am looking at an 04 Tacoma with 113 k miles on it and it is super clean. It was bought in NY and later the owner moved to Middletown CT where the vehicle I'm assuming was traded in. I have some pics I want to post of the vehicle's engine and underbody and see what you guys think about it. Considering the vehicle was driven in the city probably mostly and ofcourse possibly the salt water situation I have to consider all of that. I live in Sc. I must say that I feel comfortable talking to the guy at the Dealership and also the sales manager at the previous dealership where the vehicle was sold or bidded from so with all of that I feel comfortable and the vehicle is super clean. Pics posted below and thoughts on them.

Thanks and recommendations..........

 

the rest...............

 

Looks to be in pretty good condition! The frame picture looks like it was repainted though, maybe that's just me...make sure to really look at the frame, those have pretty bad rust issues. Other than that, the rest looks pretty good! Pretty low miles for an 04!

 

do you mean the underbody when you say frame?

 

That looks VERY clean.....I don't see any frame rust

 

Oh, unless they painted it....

 

Yes, the actual frame, that supports the whole truck hehe. In the pic of the transmission and underbody the frame rails looks really shiny/painted for having 100k miles on it. Could just be super babied by the previous owner, but that'd be the first thing I would look at. There's a huge frame recall on the 1st gen trucks....

Someone with a 1st gen speak up lol!

 

Ahhh, while I was typing lol

 

id ask for more pics of the underside if possible, it definitely has been repainted, you can see it in the rearend. if it's solid otherwise and the price is decent id jump on it. looks like a nice truck.

 

I would definitely investigate whether or not it has been painted and if so, why it was done. I had my frame replaced a couple years ago due to the rust recall

 

I added another pic that I realized I left out, put it in the 2nd post with rest of pics but will add it here again

if they did paint the frame would that be a bad thing?

I guess if just painted over the rust but I would think a Toyota owner would of took special care to do it right for a truck that would last forever , if in fact they did paint it

 

did you have to pay for that?

 

If it was painted as a rust prevention, you should be okay. If they painted it to stop the rust, that's not as good. I'm not sure how you would know the reason though....

 

No. It was covered under warranty because it had been resprayed in 2010. It cost Toyota a hair above $14k to do it.

Edit: By respray, I mean undercoated. Don't mean to confuse with painting

 

If they just sanded a bit and painted to make it look good to sell, that's bad hehe. I would crawl under there and look over the frame for any pitting and scabbing in the paint.

 

does it not look like a an undercoating from recall?

also the carfax shows an accident back in 04 2 months after it was bought, and new. Not sure that would have been painted under there back then though

 

X2

 

Doesn't look like the undercoating I had. Mine was greasy and disgusting and you couldn't work on anything under the truck without getting sticky, yucky grease all over your arms. It was horrible

 

Just inspect it really close, or take someone with you to help look at it

 

yeah that's the thing because I was going to get it and have it shipped possibly. I talked to a few coworkers who have bought several cars off ebay and they were as advertised and they didn't go look at them, just had them shipped but they did the respective homework beforehand and asked questions and stuff. I did the same thing also leading up to this thread.

I do have someone possibly who has a friend and car guy who can possibly go look at it for me so that would be better than nothing