What Have You Done To Your 2nd Gen Tacoma Today?

I have 50 feet of that at home. I never used it. I'll be using it now

 

swaped white and yellow cubes for all yellow cubes

 

on my list to do today/this weekend: chase down why my battery keeps dying after sitting for 3 days

 

Finished my 7 pin relocation. Hopefully I wired it right.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRcj1fQcWwU

 

Unless that is something different, I think it is referred to as split loom. I have used a ton of it on my truck, and Toyota used something similar although the factory stuff looks more heavy duty than what I got from Amazon. Mine isn't holding up well in areas of movement, or high heat. It is brittle, where it is rubbing on anything it is breaking/cracking and sucks in general.

Then, I found out about split sleeving. Holy crap, game changer.

$16 Alex Tech 25ft - 3/8" Cord Protector Wire Loom Tubing Cable Sleeve Split Sleeving For USB Cable Power Cord Audio Video Cable – Protect Cat From Chewing Cords - Black

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FW4M7Z8?ie=UTF8

This is like 1000% better than split loom, and you can apply it after the fact and do wire breakouts just like split loom, but it it is more flexible, thinner, better with abrasion, cleaner, etc. And it doesn't have to be terminated with heat shrink like the equivalent stuff that doesn't have a split. I'm telling you, once you use split sleeve, you will want to throw away all the split loom you ever used...

 

I used the split plastic stuff on all my lighting mods on my 3rd gen. Somewhat crush resistant. Held up to eastern Virginia weather fine over 4 years before I sold it. May act differently in other climates though. I used that because it is similar to what car manufacturers use for alternators, starters, etc. I am sure there are better options. As long as you use some kind of conduit it is better than not using anything. I already had the wires run and it was easy to cover and zip tie with the split loom.

 

Awesome! Thank you!

 

This is the handiest little trick for debugging electrical issues ever. You need this chart:
https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...03871/Fuse_Voltage_Drop_Chart_-_Maxi_Fuse.pdf

 

Not what I did to my Tacoma but what I did to my kids 2018 Ford Fusion. She called me saying transmission was acting funny. She was close and came by. Gave her something to drive to work while I checked hers. Code P0757. Only 48k miles and a bad transmission solenoid so waiting for Ford to come get it. At least it is under warranty. We are equally split with Fords and Toyotas in my family (and my bastard Buick). Last time I had a bad solenoid it was on a 2000 PreRunner with 155k miles. Then it was only the little 22 gg solenoid wire that broke so a new transmission filter, a few quarts of fluid and a wire nut kept that going to over 230k miles. Toyotas. Can't live without them and can't live without them.

 

Chased down a loud, annoying buzzing sound under the front driver's side pulling away at 1900-2000 rpm. Mostly went away once things warmed up a little and couldn't duplicate with the truck stationary and rev'd up in park or drive. Tweaked all of the various shiny heat shields under the truck with no change. Turned out to be the one surrounding the cat on the left side. It's a clam-shell design with the two halves held together by two crappy sheet metal screws: one of them had almost completely rusted away and let go allowing the buzzing.

Bent it just a little here and there with small needle-nose pliers and the noise went away.

 

Wallet is $1500 lighter, but the A/C issue I had earlier in the summer is resolved. Replaced the compressor and magnetic clutch, leak test, recharge. All because I thought I heard some funny knocking and didn't want to chance it. But the place I took it to is pretty communicative (the mechanic texted me and told me about his third gen and said I had a sweet truck), and honest. So if anyone in central Ohio is looking, Japanese Automotive Service is the place to go.

 

Another lesson learned.... Don't buy cheap parts...
The TRQ inner and outer tie rod ends I used to replace the old OEM parts less than a year ago are already shot.
Let me explain,
Dropped my truck off at Les Shwabe this morning and I got a call stating that the inner and outer tie rod ends have a few inches of play. It's something I've noticed too but I thought it was the steering rack. So, in this instance, I'm finally having somebody else do the work.
The OEM toyota parts would literally cost me the same as Les Shwabe installing the parts and giving me an alignment.
So, great way to spend 550 bucks today...
That would have been my Tune, or my detail.
Rant over.

 

Tough lesson to learn as you end up spending double the money in the end. I learned that with alignment cams and lower control arm bushings the hard way.

 

What happened?

 

https://www.carparts.com/Headlight/Replacement/TY0508CHL?bsft_aaid=e748ae88-c8ab-4fa9-b03d-ced7c4a6fd33&bsft_eid=967862f1-46a4-508a-7228-29455d807cd2&bsft_clkid=aa4d515f-349e-49b3-ad1f-67ffa4a1b14f&bsft_uid=e6f4c54b-c96e-4438-9750-482d8d279b52&bsft_mid=5e39a75a-892d-4d9d-a1ed-2965f7140e36&bsft_txnid=412432e3-4490-4092-8659-57d9751eaf87&bsft_mime_type=html&bsft_ek=2022-09-30T12:34:41Z&bsft_lx=33&bsft_tv=236&cpcoupon=UR2A8M3KVTPG7NE

Ordered new headlights from Carparts.com.





Here is a code for 10% off 100 plus. Good luck.

They sent a link to give recommended people $30. Here it is for what it is worth.
https://share.carparts.com/testers00.welcome

 

Did a couple of interior mods I saw on Tacomaholic's Youtube channel.

First did the vinyl wrap for Temp Controls.



Video Tutorial @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLXss26EAJk
Vinyl @

$29 3M 1080 MX12 Matrix Black 5ft x 1ft (5 sq/ft) Car Wrap Vinyl Film

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0771XJX9L?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Add the Tufskinz raw carbon fiber piece and black matte piece to my center gear shift area.


Video Tutorial @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybQnkHsiKgk
Tufskinz Website for 2nd Gen Tacoma @ https://www.tufskinz.com/collections/2005-2015-toyota-tacoma

 

Try pushing down on your hood. Might have an alignment/ latch adjustment issue. There's adjustable rubber screws on the core support above the headlights. The latch mechanism is also adjustable

 

This wasn't on my Tacoma but on a 1st Gen Sequoia I used to have, I used SPC alignment cams/bolts and Daystar LCA bushings. While neither of those companies are bad, that particular combo of parts did not work well together and I ended up chasing alignment issues for several months. Took a while to figure out that the Daystar bushings were smaller than the stock Toyota ones and when combined with the SPC cams (they did not tighten down as much as the stock ones due to the plastic sleeve used) they allowed just enough slop for the LCA to move within the LCA brackets.