What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

Granted a lot of steering/suspension clunks sound alike, I had a similar sounding one that happened after I over tightened the rack guide on the steering rack. But it also made the steering quite stiff. Backed it off a tad and it went away.

 

My guess would be the the rack guide bushing could use a tightening.

120 FCAW should be enough to burn the sliders on.

 

Nice! Is the replacement belt brand new?

 

So, time to vent

For those that don't already know it. SMOG is a fucking scam.




We're still trying to SMOG my son's T4R for change of ownership.

This thing passed in 2019. It has less than 5000 miles on it since it's last smog. We had done a lot of work to the rest of the truck, but did basically nothing to the engine... so everything in there was in basically the same as it was when it passed smog last time.

So it failed it's initial test due to HC PPM reading being too high.

What are the causes of HC PPM being to high?

Faulty ignition componants
Lean/rich fuel mixture
Faulty intake componants or vacuum leaks
Low cylinder compression
Bad Cat convertor

Ok...
So we replaced the spark plugs, the old ones were fouled, and the wrong ones were installed on driver side. We also replaced the spark plug wires.

We ran the fuel out of the tank, (which was over a year old at the time of the initial test) and ran fuel injector cleaner (we did this before we replaced the spark plugs). We then filled the tank with 91 and octane boost.

We also examined the intake system and found a half dozen potential leaks (loose connections etc) we addressed those.

This made absolutely ZERO difference on the 2nd test. Numbers were exactly the same... tell me how that is possible.

Now... the check engine light is not on, and the OB2 does not have any stored faults. The truck runs with a crystal smooth idle, there is absolutely no loss of power, no egg smell, and no rattling in the exhaust system... so I think we can run out loss of compression and cat convertor... but even if these were bad... how did the numbers not change at all, with all of the other stuff that was identified and fixed?

Not to mention, the thing passed with all of the problems we identified... and you don't drop compression or blow a cat converter in 5,000 miles.

 

I would try running a can of that Cat A Clean stuff they sell at the parts stores, I've heard it can actually work if you're failing due to high emissions numbers and not a fault code or the like. Worth a try anyhow

I'm glad they don't do a tail pipe test on my 04, I believe 2000(?) and earlier vehicles have to do the dyno/tail pipe test, I'm sure I'd have trouble with that too if I had to do it. Just a visual and OBDII scan for mine

 

Oil change #2 on the slugs new top end, and picked up the paint for the new wheels.

 

My wife told me to do that... and I didn't listen.

DO NOT TELL HER THAT! lol

Going to try that... Looking at doing the TB and water pump as well.

I gave an appointment with a trusted mechanic on Friday. He's going to hook it up and give it a once over and tell me if I'm missing something.

 

Good to know. Not sure yet whether it is the driver's side iTRE or the rack, The click/clunk is much louder on that side near as I can tell.

For a little background, this started last week when we were in Moab and the Maze. It was certainly stressed on TOTW and Hells Revenge too.

I didn't realize this was a things on the newer design racks. I thought it only applied to the early design only.

 

world's tiniest roof rack on a reg cab...

looks hilarious but surprisingly strong and its funny look is growing on me!

 

I don't think it's normally an issue, unless you're like me and messed with it when it didn't need to be messed with lol. I tried tightening mine in an attempt to tighten up some steering slack. Getting it back to normal was difficult after that because it's such a sensitive component, even slightly over or under tightening it will have noticeable effects.

 

I've tighten mine and I think I have less than 20k on an OEM rack. Like @eon_blue said it is sensitive. Lift the front wheels off the ground and turn, tighten bushing a little check the steering wheel still spins freely and repeat. I went until I felt just the slightest amount of resistance.

 

Did you take it back to the same shop? I have no idea if something pops up on screen alerting to a previous fail but just seems weird to me. I can't even remember the last time a smog shop took exhaust readings while on the treadmill. It's been visual inspect/computer check... ✅.

I'd run the cleaner then take it to a different shop.

 

Is it that large external nut on the rack that is turned? Clockwise to tighten?

 

Yeah it takes a 22mm hex plug to tighten, I just put the 22mm hex in a 22mm socket and turn clockwise to tighten. It's just barely over hand tight for me. Too tight and mine clunked and made the steering wheel not want to return on its own after making a turn.

 

Tim has a good vid on it and yes, its that large nut (steering rack guide cap) you're talking about. Before I replaced the inner and outer ties along with LBJs and finally UCAs, I was going to attempt to "tighten" up some of the slop. Even went out and bought the coupler nut from Home Depot he mentions. Decided to replace those aging components and that did the trick. Never had to mess with it. Here's that vid in case you're interested (advanced to point of messing with the guide cap).

https://youtu.be/r4Hhl225E8A?t=647

 

Yep. You'll need a large adjustable to loosen the locking ring. I typically will paint mark this since I've had it loosen on a reman rack before. I welded two nuts together to make a tool to be able to adjust it.

 

We took it back to the same shop because re-test is almost 50% less than taking it somewhere else for initial test.

Supposedly these shops are Certified etc... but I'm calling bullshit here.

Treadmill is for 1999 and older.

 

Ahhhh. Yep, I wasn't clear what year he had. Hope it works out.

 

Take the boot off and grab the itre and see if it has play?

 

Drain and filled the tranny. The fluid was a little dark and had a bit of a smell. In combination of the tranny cooler and the new fluid, I can’t get it above 200 and it cools off much faster now. I’m very happy with the results. I plan to do another drain and fill at my next oil change as well, might be over kill but figured it can’t hurt.