Can a high mile tacoma drive the grapevine I5? CA

I drove from central Pennsylvania to northern Virginia and back every weekend from November of last year to July 31 of this year in my 02 2.7 double cab prerunner. Other than having to get 4 new tires in April, no problems. It was 4 hours each way. You shouldn’t have any problems.

 

Bump just to update, I changed the title cause it was a bit misleading. I'm positive my taco could drive for a long time, the accent over the i5 is what Im wondering about. I got a 5speed and from what Ive seen in the thread is just to take it slow up the hills and dont push my truck. any more input? remember I got a 2.4 4cyl 2wd, nothing beefy. just want to make sure Im being smart driving hill areas

 

Just keep it out of 5th gear on the steep climbs, don't be afraid to rev that little 4 banger especially. Toyota 4 cylinder engines are built to rev high.

Better to rev it high in 3rd and 4th than to lug it/bog it down in 5th gear.

 

dude you should be chilling. I know some peeps with 300, 400k miles on their 4runners who've done it

 

I just look at alot of these taco builds and I get a bit intimidated I dont got anything special on my truck besides that its a good compact tacoma. What about hill descents? some guy said neutral, but that seems unsafe lel XD

 

Only if you want to eat up your brakes and possibly over heat them lol. That's a bad idea in my opinion. You have a manual trans, take advantage of it and use your transmission to maintain a reasonable descending speed. I always laugh when I see people driving down hills riding their brakes the entire way, good way to greatly shorten your brakes' lifespan

 

Yeah I'm very glad I got a manual trans. nice to have control of the speeds. My truck is a small 2.4 what speed should I be goin? Im gonna be in the right lane most of the time to be safe and not burning my engine xP

 

For sure. And if you put it in neutral, its idling. If you leave it in gear and do engine braking, the computer cuts off fuel and you save fuel. So thats nice too.

 

Go as fast as you feel comfortable doing, both for yourself and for your truck. My setup is pretty different than yours so it's hard to compare, but the manual trans aspect of it is the same. Proper gear selection is key. Don't be afraid to rev it high for ascending and use your lower gears to control your downhill speed to avoid burning up your brakes.

 

I live in the High Desert at the top of the Cajon Pass . My 02 DC Pre Runner 4cyl easily climbs the Cajon pass at 70mph . Going NB the last section of the pass North of hwy 138 is steeper than the Grapevine and my truck handles it with no issues whatsoever

 

How much mileage does your prerunner have? and thanks for your service btw

 

If your talking about freewheeling an auto that is very dangerous and can cause the transmission to explode sending shrapnel into the pass compartment . I've seen many auto transmissions that looked like a grenade went off inside

 

73k original miles

 

nice! still got plenty of life in that truck xP. 0x was talking about manual trans, my truck is a 5speed so engine breaking is ideal from what Im seeing.

 

Agreed, bad idea. I'm pretty sure its bad for a manual too.

 

I don't think its necessarily bad for a manual trans besides the waste of gas and not having control of the speed in neutral, now thats unsafe.

 

Yeah its kind of a fuzzy topic. They tell you not to flat tow vehicles in neutral because they don't get enough lubrication. But I think that really depends on the individual transmission and how they are designed. If the tailshaft is the only thing that is spinning and the front part of the transmission is supposed to be moving the oil around - that could be a problem.

I don't have a need to try it.

 

Been up and down it many times. Not only the steep long grades, but the hot day time temperatures are something to think about. make sure your cooling system is running good and maybe try to do it at night.

 

I'll be going early in the morning and coming back around dusk, that should be fine right? I'm already aware of keeping A/C off if needed cause Ik my truck is of old age.

 

Ah the good ol grapevine. I had to drive the access road one time from castaic to Smokey bear rd one year because of fire on the grapevine. Not to sound negative but there are thousands of people driving that route daily and all times of the night in case something should happen. You’ll be fine just take it easy and stop for a break in Gorman at the McDonald’s to check on any potential glitches you think you may be having.