Will It Break? (150k Service Thread)

Good afternoon!

My little 2000 Tacoma is due for its 150k service. It's a 4-cylinder and 5-speed transmission. I just got back from my local auto repair shop, invoice in hand, with a $1300 estimate, ~$1000 of that being labor. I'd love to do some/all of the work myself.

My mechanical background is limited. I've done easy things like oil changes and recently replaced rear struts.


What can I do myself, and what should I leave to a professional? And are there any items I can knock out at the same time?

Not listed on invoice, but Brakes will also need servicing. They're starting to squeak, and bite hard when cold.

Much appreciated!

 

Radiator hoses and coolant flush are easy. Power steering you can do the turkey baster method (search around and you'll see some write ups). You can also remove the reservoir and clean the screen. Spark plugs, wires, and thermostat are also easy. Do the tstat when changing coolant hoses and doing the flush.
Shocks/strut assembly will also be easy (unless it's a 5 lug in which case you'd need a spring compressor I think).
Transmission oil is easy also, drain and fill.
The only difficult thing is probably the water pump.

 

With a little research you could probably do all it yourself. The stuff listed isn’t really that hard.

 

You could do it all yourself, and ensure it was done right.

That's not to say the shop you're at is a bad one, it's just way too easy to work on our trucks to pay someone else to do it.

If you supplied the parts, I'd wrench with ya if you or someone can kill it on the grill; can't complain about a few drinks and some grilled food.

 

These are some of the easiest trucks to work on, and very forgiving of mistakes! Everything on that list is 100% do-able, even for a beginner. I'd say get a cheap set of wrenches/sockets (if you don't already have some) and start with the easiest and cheapest thing (probably spark plugs or radiator hose). See how it goes. Worst case you just bring it back to the shop. If all goes well on the small job then move onto the next thing. Best case you'll find it easy and turn into the rest of us who can't put a wrench down!

As @Kwikvette said, I'd wrench with ya too, provided you provide parts, beer, and food. Not sure where you're located though.

 

If you know what righty-tighty, lefty-loosey means, you can figure all this stuff out. There are very few specialized tools you would need, and those can generally be rented (usually for free) at auto parts stores.

Some stuff should be grouped together, like anything that requires you to drain the coolant should be done at the same time. It's not *required*, but you will only have to drain/fill your radiator once...

There are TONS of helpful resources and threads on this forum of people who have done all this work before. Pick a project, read up on it, watch some @Timmah! videos, and take it one step at a time.

 

Start reading up and watching YT vids. If you have a few $, tools, time and want to learn it should be relatively easy, they are maintenance items

 

i might have to bring some good stuff to grill when i hit 150k, my taco loves miles on a big road trip down i80
do you have a garage lift? i wish i had one, garage is not tall enough
... it may be time for new suspension parts then and can only imagine what the labor bill on all that is gonna be
and timing belt which also knocks out radiator drain and fill

 

Just as long as you don't have me helping you out with those rope hooks, I'm down for anything else!

I do all the wrenching in my outside parking spot; getting underneath my lifted truck is all the lift I need!

 

+1 for this! Who needs a lift?? Though I do find problems when I need to get the tires off the ground, the jack can only lift so high!

 

Most of the things on that list are fairly easy (like others have said) however, $1300 for a 19 year old truck isn’t all that bad either.

Welcome to TW!

 

Thank you! I want to say it's a 4 lug.

I'm sure they do good work, but if I can do these things myself, I'd rather that. I'm all for learning. And that'd be great! I'm located in Los Angeles county. I'm no pitmaster, but I well enough know my way around a grill.

Can do on all fronts. I'm in LA county, in the valley.

Was hoping I'd be able to get my hands dirty! I'm glad to hear it. I stumbled onto the 1st Gen DIY thread. Seems a good place to start.




Thanks all!

 

Cool. I'm in Rancho Cucamonga if ya need anything.

 

YouTube that shnizz. Including the brakes. Im just shy of 150k miles and doing all of that stuff currently. My 2.7 at least is easy to work on. Im doing full brake replacement bc my truck sat in grass for 3yrs and rotted alot of the original parts. I suggest rockauto.com bc theyve been great to me. Ive saved literally half compared to autozone.

 

Check out Timmy the Toolman.
He and his peanut gallery have some awesome detailed videos and he's a member on TW (Timmah!) in case you have any questions.


https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9EMiD9KPy61kJ6hdXcbjxA

 

All that on the list is easy, but I would ask the main question here: what is the reason for replacing water pump, thermostat, radiator hoses, shocks and spark plug wires? These are not the items in "scheduled maintenance". Not on 2.4 (water pump is the the scheduled maintenance item on V6, not on I4). Unless they are leaking, cracking falling apart or not working. Also what is that 6 pieces of water pump (16100-79445-83) for 4.11 each?

In any case you can get all OEM parts on-line for about 20% cheaper, and 1000 dollars for labor on all that is plain rip off. All that can be done with just basic tools. Same with changing front brakes. If you can change tires, you can replace pads and rotors. All can be done on driveway.

Welcome to TW

 

Not sure why you need 6 spark plugs on a 2.4L, LOL.

All that stuff is pretty easy other than assembling the front struts. I'd get all the parts from RockAuto and have it done for probably under $200.

 

i did not catch that

 

The match is simple - it is 2.4 engine. 2 + 4 is 6

Actually replacing all 4 shocks (I got compression tool borrowed from Autozone) was my first job I did on my Tacoma. The only issue I encountered was a nut on old shock did not want to turn and at first I did not want to destroy it (in case I need to put it back), but then I said f###k it, and used brute force. Crushing a coil spring was not that difficult as I thought in the first place. And actually replacing shocks in 2WD looks even easier (no need to crush spring)

 

All the parts at RockAuto, using OEM brands (Aisin, Denso) and KYB Gas-A-Just struts comes out to $221.05. Need coolant and hose clamps, and have to borrow a spring compressor. Not a whole lot else needed as far as tools, just a metric socket and wrench set.