New 2.7 owner with a few questions

Hello everyone,
I'm a new member who recently became the second owner of a 2005 2.7 manual 4x4 access cab tacoma with approx. 92k on the odometer. The truck looks to have been well taken care of by the previous owner, save for some areas of rust(Pennsylvania truck) that I'll be attacking come spring. I took the truck into the dealership to have a 90k service performed (didn't know if previous owner performed) and damn near fell over when I saw the prices for service.

The dealer (McGeorge) seems to charge a rate based on vehicle mileage rather than being tailored to the actual vehicle being serviced. Reading the 90k service description immediately set off some alarms as my tacoma doesn't have a cabin filter and they changed the pcv valve which, as far as I can tell is not called for at 90k. I was also getting my state inspection and they wanted to charge me $22 to change out a tag bulb!

I walked out of there for just under $300 with an oil change, new pcv valve, new air filter, tire rotation and state inspection. And they supposedly checked the vehicle over and topped off fluids. The dealership recommended that I change the transfer case and diff oil and wanted $180 for that. I declined, feeling like they had already hosed me good enough for one day. After resolving to not give them another dime for overpriced service, I started reading this forum and decided to do it myself. I went back to the parts dept for the right crush washers and I found out that they didn't have the copper crush washer for the front diff drain! How were they going to properly perform the maintenence without this part? And that's my first question.

Can I flip that crush washer over and reuse or is it a one time use? The guy at the parts counter gave me an extra of the same washer that is used on the rear diff drain, but I seriously doubt that's going to work. Why would toyota go to the trouble of making the front drain washer different if it wasn't needed? So can I flip it, or just wait for it to be ordered?

Second question. Is the Haynes manual for this truck any good? I want to get a service manual and was considering this. I know there are places to get the factory manual for free, but I like having the paper manual handy when I'm working on the truck, so I don't mind spending the $$. So is the Haynes good, or should I look elsewhere?

My next question is more general. I'm wondering what else I should be looking at to establish a good maintenance baseline on this vehicle. While I'm under the vehicle for the diff/transfer, I'm going to grease the driveshafts and check the 65 ft lb torque value on the bolts. I've got some redline mt-90 for a manual trans oil change. I know the spark plugs are supposedly good until 120k and the coolant should be changed at 100k. What else do I need to be looking at?

Thanks for taking the time to read my inquiry and I look forward to being a memeber of this online community.

 

Hmmm.....should I have posted this under the general Gen 2 discussion?

 

Here are the FSM's for our trucks this will help you.

 

i had 15k miles and i re-used my crush washer

 

I changed fluids in both the front and rear differentials, transfer case and manual transmission and re-used all washers without issue.

I'd check the torque values in the FSM's that North provided.


IMO, the dealer took your wallet for a ride..

 

I did mine at 100 and the dealer had the washer in my town. My buddy is the service manager and he said they really didnt have a written mileage from toyota on changing the front/rear/tranfer case& tranny but 90 might be waiting to long im going to do all but tranny at 50 from now on and i put royal purple in the tranny which is supposed to be good for 100. I bought the haynes manual its nice cause it has every thing you could ever need to work on or question in it. The plugs if they are from toyota are only good for 30thousand. Unless someone bought the best plugs from toyota.

 

The v6 needs new plugs every 30k to keep the warranty. The 2.7 4cyl can go 100k before the plugs must be replaced, and it's out of warranty well before then.

 

The spec'd plug for 05+ 2.7's are the iridium denso's that cost 72.00 a set from the dealer.

 

My 03 takes the plugs good for 30k or so says advantage Toyota in barboursville WV and they are dirt cheap less than 20bucks for all four. I bought my truck with 80 thousand on it and changed them at 90 mainly cause I didn't know if they had been done and it was close. My truck had those E3's in it and best I could get setting the cruise on 70 on the interstate on a 52 mile one way commute was 18/19 mpg. I changed back to stock cheapy's and did the deck plate mod and get 21 mpg now ever fill up

 

My "certified preowned" had autolite pieces of shit that were at least 1/4" shorter reach and made the truck race at over 2k on startups. Once I put the plugs in it spec'd for that year and that motor it purred just like new like it should and gas mileage got where it should be. Sux I had to up the coin to do what shoulda been done during the certification process but oh well......which is what I've had to say about several things concerning that weak ass to non-performed & over advertised designation. Still better than the alternatives go as far as other vehicles.

 

Im with you back in 08 my wife traded in her 02 4runner for a 08 certified pre owned with 15 thousand on it. If you read close in the extended warranty if a yota dealer doesnt do the maintence you are subject to the warranty being rendered useless if anything major happens. So on her 4x4 i bend over and take one at the dealer. I noticed i hand them my service book they stamp it check that all the bolts and nuts have been checked and you know they never look at it!! But the day something goes wrong they dont realize my wife is a attorney and we wont be the ones bending over anymore

 

I only have the drivetrain warranty on mine up to 100k or jan 2012 when it turns 7 yrs old. I do my own maintenance but have all the receipts with dates and mileage and use toyota filters and plugs and correct spec'd everything so I will accept no bullshit about it. Nothing on the drivetrain has been or will be modified until warranty has expired due to time and/or mileage. They've already had to replace rr main seal, rr axle seals & brake shoes, front crank seal & tried unsuccessfully 3 times to seal my timing cover so far. I've had to up the coin to have steering rack rebuilt due to leaky seals on one side-that isn't drivetrain. I guess it was a bad day for seals in Freemont the day my truck was built. Because of the work they had to do, I have fresh juice in the gearbox and rr differential and I had to purchase the cabin air filter that should have been in the empty spot for it-something that shoulda been caught during the 162 point inspection specified in the certified paperwork.