I need electrical help.

Thank you. I knew things would be worn out, but it was so well maintained, I thought, or hoped, I could keep it running by keeping up on it. By 180k miles, Carfax reported the timing belt had been replaced 3 times. Knowing how important that is on these trucks, that was a major selling point. I immediately replaced most of the front suspension, but a "mechanic" buddy told me the lowers were fine, so I didn't change those. Upper ball joints, tie rods, bushings, and much more I forget now, were replaced within a week of buying it. But things like door handles breaking, or rather the little plastic pieces that hold the rods, I never thought of that. So of course those ended up needing replaced after a month. I also changed the plugs and coils, and replaced the tranny fluid. Then I notice my leaf springs are flat, they're so worn. Literally fix one thing, another pops up quickly.

Also, the interior looks like it's only a couple of years old. Except for the "burn" on the carpet in front of the driver's seat, that once I had it on a rack, turned out to be a bullet hole through the floor.

 

Having an old vehicle is like that sometimes.
Don't get discouraged, as long as you aren't replacing the same parts you are making progress.
Once you have caught up on the service items like the ball joints they last a long time.

I see you are in Arizona so fortunately you shouldn't have rust problems, as long as the body and frame are in solid condition most of the time it is cheaper to repair an older vehicle than replace it.

The clamp on terminal ends always cause trouble just like this.
Moving forward you might want to replace the battery wires with ones with molded on ends. An auto electric shop can build you new ones for a reasonable amount or you can buy OEM ones.

 

No I do have a check engine light, a month before it's due for emissions. I used my little scan tool, from Bluedriver, which I love. It told me what was wrong, and how to fix it.

 

@Aircates, awesome job.

 

What was the code?

 

I will definitely add that to the list.
And no, no rust on it anywhere.

 

Thanks, just trying to help.

 

One interesting thing I found though, I was spraying it off with a pressure washer, and some of the paint on my bed flaked off, showing green paint underneath, that still had freaking clear coat on it. No wrecks reported, and I practically grew up in a body shop, and I see no evidence of a collision.

 

And when I was still at the dealership before I paid for it, I ended up getting a discount, because I was looking at the black fender flares, and I said what the hell is that. Well I started scratching it a little bit with my fingernails, and the slick bastards had used Plasti dip to paint the fender flares.

 

But since I started peeling it off right in front of the salesman, I got a pretty nice discount.

 

P1135

 

At least when the key is on you can get the ignition switch out. I usually just use a screwdriver for the next 150K miles.

 

Bluedriver. I really like it.

 

Yeah, that’s not unusual. Rockauto is the place to get them. Denso is who builds them for us.

 

Yea with a used vehicle especially one of that age you gotta look everything over really good before buying. Carfax is ok but not everything gets reported on there.
We had a really clean looking low mileage Mercury Grand Marques come in for a parasitic draw, the customer just bought it with a clean Carfax and I found pretty quick that it was an obvious flood car. There was rust and corrosion on everything under the dash and seats, the parasitic draw ended up being corrosion in both seat lumbar switches and an issue with the lighting control module.

 

Yep Denso is what I'm ordering. I mean, I could get one of the 30 dollar ones, but no f'ing way would I do that to my truck. Rock Auto, 119 dollars for Denso.

 

Absolutely. I used my scan tool on it, crawled around underneath looking for frame rust and fluid leaks, and went over the motor thoroughly, to the point the salesman didn't like me too much. But it was so clean, and the Carfax listed so much maintenance, all done at dealerships. So I felt pretty confident. Haven't had any major problems. Just little things that are to be expected.

 

And my lower ball joints, a buddy bought them for me, because I helped him a lot with his car, so I ordered from CamelBack Toyota in Phoenix. 140 dollars each. Lol. Told him that was a great price.

 

The first gen Tacoma are good trucks. They have their quirks but nothing too strange or expensive. Provided they are taken care of…

 

Just FYI on the door handles breaking or clips. That is normally caused by a binding door latch. Keep them lubricated (silicon spray) and you’ll find that your latches last much longer.. Same goes for the tailgate handle..