Fun with trouble shooting my 3rd gen

12/28

Aka El camion chingada.

I want to preface this with the statement that I don't intend this thread to be another mess where everyone either is a fanboy or on the 3rd gen problems bandwagon. This is mainly for keeping track of the issue I'm currently dealing with so that maybe it can help someone else.

A little more preface, I came from a 2011 FJ that had 60K trouble free miles. Bought the Tacoma since they final updated the interior and I did need a truck bed.

So far I've replaced the front D.S. clam shell needle bearing, partially my fault since the lift either accelerated its failure or caused it. I still need to shim the rear axle to hopefully cure the vibes I get below 20. Both are discouraging, but not as exciting as the new problem.

So... While exiting the freeway yesterday my truck flickered a red warning on the info screen for a second, I didn't see it in time. About 5 seconds later it came back, first "check charging system" then "low oil pressure". Fun thing was it also started flashing the CEL and turned the truck off on the highway at about 45. No power steering, no brake asist. Yeah.

I managed to strong arm it to the side shoulder after failing to stop for the red light. Checked both the oil level and the fill cap. All normal. Restarted the truck fine, no CEL or warnings.

So right now I'm suspecting the crankshaft position sensor. I'll be dropping it off at the dealer today, so this thread will just be to keep track of their input and hopefully an answer. Needless to say though it's been a fun 3 months. Also as an equipment mechanic I'm really looking forward to the typical service writer that knows it all (hopefully I'm wrong).

12/29
Got a call back from the dealership and they found no codes despite the flashing CEL. They replaced the crankshaft position sensor even though they couldn't replicate the issue, most likely because I requested that they checked it. I'm trying to get them to save the part so that I can confirm if it's the same as the ones used on the 2016s.

12/29 (2)
Spoke with the dealer again. The CPS on my truck was the newer part, Toyota has put a stop sale on the previous part that is on the 2016 models. Kind of a bummer since I now have a greater likeliness that is was not the CPS. But good to know that Toyota is aware of the issue. Fingers crossed that it wont happen again, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

 

Sounds like a possible CPS issues to me although for some reason yours didn't go into limp mode.

 

Does anyone know if the manual trans has a limp mode?

 

Limp mode is in the main brain, has nothing to do with the transmission type. It senses a problem in the system and if it's severe enough, triggers limp mode to prevent serious damage.

 

For example.. my #1 cylinder would misfire at a certain point and engine load (once I hit 70MPH and engine was at or above 2K RPM). Instead of letting it misfire and continue it's merry way, it shut my power down to avoid damage.

In my case, that sucked and almost killed me twice - but my engine suffered no harm.

 

That would be the first 2017 CPS I've heard of that's failed. Supposedly they were replaced with a new part in March 2016.

 

Normally operating system, is what they are going to say.

 

Wow that is scary to hear, I hate to hear these problems are continuing.

 

I'm very glad I bought a 2015. I was really tempted to wait for the 3rd Gen. So happy I didn't. Way too many problems being posted on TW on a daily basis about a plethora of issues.

That being said - I did have the Needle Bearing replaced on my 2015. As I understand Toyota never actually fixed that problem. 2005-2017 are all susceptible to that one.

 

I have a 2017 on order, starting to seriously consider cancelling it because of seeing all these issues.

 

My neighbor cancelled his '17 order based on his own research including the issues presented in this forum.

I joined TW after I brought my mint 04 from AZ and I walked away from purchasing a '16 Quicksand OR doing so. Love this little truck, the support, forum, etc. but feel like I dodged a bullet based on SOME of the owners' feedback here in TW.

I understand 1st run vehicles' issues (trust me, I had my share of fucking issues and dealership ineptness with other sports cars) and didn't want to chance it.

Who needs the fucking headache thinking about diff howl, leaking tail lights, tranny fluid levels, leaking license plate lights, shaking hoods, crazy braking issues, mysterious radio problems, deceleration issues on the highway, dashboard lightshow, CELs, noisy cabins, wind noise, tracking weekly TSBs, daily posts on 3rd Gen forum of a new owner with XYZ issue, etc.. Then for more fun you get to fuck with the dealership to get resolution? LOL! I'd rather be spending time with the family then fighting with a moronic Service Advisor but that's just me.

Flame away. I am certain most 3rd Gen trucks don't exhibit any issues but it is clear that there are some trucks that are pure shit beyond what I would consider "1st run issues", particularly for the money. My luck I'd get the poster child truck for all this shit.

Just my opinion and I am certain others feel differently.

 

Thanks for the input, I live in a very Rural Area and Cell Phone coverage is spotty at best, many miles of no coverage. I absolutely cannot afford to be off on the side of the road with problems, seeing guys with issues here and the Dealers trying to push them off as no big deal is very concerning.

 

Yep.

At bare minimum, knowledge is power and you know what you might get thanks to this TW forum; 99% of all Tacoma owners don't.

As a result, I would highly recommend a deep, personal relationship with the Toyota dealership owner/manager AND that dealership be very much in tune with the TSBs and fixes for these trucks.

Best case: you have a great truck and great relationship with the service dept.

Worst case: you have a dealership that understands this new truck's weak points and can diagnose, fix and is willing to do both. And you are willing to spend the time and effort to resolve as well.

Good luck.

 

Wait ... what? Seriously dude?

I think you should be looking and the Prius, I hear they have great reliability and probably can haul the same amount of stuff .... on the roof! Just sayin...

 

I have had 3 Tacoma's, never even had a check engine light come on! The only thing my 2000 needed was a Power Steering Pump after about 7 years and my 08 only needed a couple bulbs in the 7 1/2 years I had it. It is just starting to seem like a better idea to hang onto my 15 for awhile longer till they get some of the issues fixed so they will be as bulletproof as all the others. Fuck a Prius!

 

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Let's go to "what if" fairy tale land, If the second gen came out when the third gen came out, there would even more dipshits canceling orders because of the mass internet movement. Seriously it's not close, 3rd gens are built way better than 05-15 tacos. I had several, and went through many many "issues". Except the issues never killed the truck so I kept buying them. When first gens were first in production tacomaworld didn't exist, you knew it was a good truck based on first hand experience or someone else's word. The internet has become so massive, I guarantee the ratios of problem to problem free has decreased. As someone will point out I can't prove this but it's pretty obvious.

 

Trying to judge the prevalence of a problem in a production run of cars based on posts on a forum is sheer foolishness. The vast, vast majority of Tacoma buyers will never post here. And there's little incentive for people to start high-visibility threads with "yup, my Tacoma ran fine today." You have an extremely unrepresentative sample that you're dealing with. It makes any problem look vastly larger than it likely is. Plus, in my experience, forums tend to amplify the existing problems of a vehicle because there's an echo-chamber effect. The whole forum hears about a problem and regardless of the eventual resolution it echoes forever, plus all the big car boards also attract, for some reason, some dedicated nutjobs who will chime in at every opportunity to declare that the vehicle is a known and terrible lemon, based on no knowledge outside of a few anecdotes on a forum.

I've seen it on every car forum I've ever been involved with. The Mustang forums are still half convinced that Coyote Mustangs all come with defective #8 piston castings, because back in 2011 a couple of tuners blew up five or six engines at the #8 cylinder - new engine, bad tuners. The Ford Focus forums will still tell you to this day that the main failure point on the '02-'05 SVT Focus is the dual-mass flywheel, which is secretly a Claymore mine, because some '03 models had a batch of defective ones that rattled and ate clutches under warranty.

OP, sorry your truck is giving you problems. Hope they sort it out for you quickly. Sometimes parts fail, but at least yours failed in such a way that nothing got seriously hurt.

 

I was on TTORA back during the first gens and remember when the second gens came out, most people did not like the square shape of the fenders and all made claims that it looked like they copied GM. As far as issues the only thing that seemed to come up on early trucks were some failed rear ends and broken motor mount sections, no mass cancelling of orders. Its really is hard to know what the failure rate is, you can probably try to multiply what you see on here but that probably would not work, you would need to see some internal numbers from Toyota.

 

They better get these issues fixed by the year 2025 or I'm buying an F150