Greetings from California!

Nice to meet you all, I'm a new member from Los Angeles and just learned about this site from a newsgroup post on alt.autos.toyota.trucks! I have an '02 silver Xtracab TRD 4WD. I commute with it and also use it for winter ski mountaineering trips into the Sierras, summer backpacking and backroad trips in the mountains and desert, and year-round surf trips in California and Baja. I have a Four Wheel Camper off-road/pop-up camper that I put on for trips which makes a great combination of mobility and comfort.

I haven't bought a factory manual yet and I wonder if any of the third party (and much chearper) manuals are very good. I see Bentley has now published one that covers 2002. Any opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
vjderose

 

Hello and Welcome!

 

Welcome vjderose, to the TW. What do you have for mileage and how has the truck been as far as repairs and maintence? Do you use a dealer or a good local mechanic.
Jeff
06 access cab, SR5,V6,6spd 4x4 brilliant red.

 

Hello and welcome to TW

 

Thanks to all for the warm welcome!

Banshee, the manual is awesome, thanks very much for the link to that and I will make good use of it.

Jeff, to answer your questions: I'm averaging 17.8 mpg over 3 years. That's almost 60 data points of mileage checks. I record it every time I fill up but I'm behind on entering all the data in the spreadsheet I use. When I run it with my camper on that drops to 14.4 mpg.

It has been flawless repairs-wise! I have only done scheduled and routine maintenance like brakes. I do minor services myself every 3,500 and any minor repairs and for intermediate and major services I have just taken it to a local dealer. I used to work as a mechanic so I still have quite a few tools and enough basic knowledge for small and medium-sized jobs.

The one recent problem I had was the brake light sensor in the master cylinder reservoir going bad; the dash light comes on intermittently and then stays on for a time. I've just unplugged that sensor for now which eliminated the annoyance and since I check my fluid levels I'm not relying on it. I have also developed a rough idle on cold startup and will need to address that soon.

Thanks again!

 

Thanks for the info, its nice to hear that everything is running fine, for the most part.
I have been keeping tabs on two of my best friends Taco's(04,V6,5spds). They do the maint themselves with the exception of a A/C compressor that failed under warranty. They are quite good a it and do the timing chains etc and they both installed the TRD supercharger for more passing oomph on the highway, the downside is the penalty for premium fuel. Both are 50+ adults and have had Taco's since the 80's.
Great job by Banshee on the parts manual.

Jeff
06,SR5,6spd,V6 4x4