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

Yeah it's back to black now. Had to take it back to the body shop because there were swirl marks that were missed by them. Only reason I didn't see them when I picked it up was because it was pretty dark out.

 

What happened? How many KM's? What shop did you use and were they good. I live in the lowewrmainland too.

 

Caliraised LED fog light upgrade

 

I've been eyeing these lately. Have you had a chance to test them?

 

Yes they do a great job… they definitely outperform the low beams!

 

Ummm. But do they out perform the OEM fog lights?

 

It's an aftermarket grille, but I modified my stock grille to fit the insert of the aftermarket one.

Just scroll all the way down
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/new-2nd-gen-grille.575046/page-36

 

Yes by at least 3-4 times

 

So you have had a chance to test them in heavy fog?

 

Those are not SAE fog lights, please don't run them on the street.

 

Good to know. I'll keep looking.

 

the contenders are laid out here
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-led-sae-j583-fog-pod-fog-light-review.554813/

 

Unfortunately low KMS (270,000) not sure what happened as my wife was driving it on the Coquihalla without me (died just 20km to Kamloops) it was fully loaded with all camping, biking, and kayak gear (3 large kayaks on the canopy roof, 3 mtb bikes on the back) they think the Rad Cap failed and it lost fluid and pressure under extreme load and burned the motor out but they are not sure, it was meticulously serviced at Granville Toyota so we are all a bit stumped. Temp gauge was normal according to wife.

Long story short we had it towed to Vernon Toyota as she had family in Vernon who lent her a car as she had time commitments to be in eastern BC to take care of her Dad who is ill. We had the swap done there (200,000 ish kms on a used engine) and Vernon Toyota was very good to us but it wasn’t cheap - lower Mainland had an Engine with about 40,000 less kms on it but the price went up by $2500 plus I would have had to ship the truck back to Van) - if I’d had the option to sit on it and look for other options I would but as it was 500km away fully loaded with all our gear I just bit the bullet and Paid the price. A new engine from Toyota was $27,000 plus install might as well get a new truck at that price or do a diesel hilux engine!

 

Not yet

 

Wow! Yikes, thanks for the details. Do you think you would have noticed an issue sooner if it was you driving rather than your wife? I’m very sensitive to the vehicles I drive. Anything remotely out of the ordinary I stop and check everything. Even if there are no warning lights. Now, I know my wife may not be as sensitive and may only react if there was a warning light or some other obvious sign. Then it’s too late.

I also heard somewhere it’s good to change the rad cap out every 10 years whether you need to or not.

Did the dealer do a good job overall? On these bigger repairs it’s not too uncommon to find tools, shop supplies or loose parts. I’d go over it thoroughly if you can.

Hopefully you have no more issues.

 

Sent me from 6 to midnight

 

It's possible I might have noticed sooner than my wife although no fault of hers as she doesn't drive it nearly as often. She will occasionally mention issues with her RAV4 but when I drive it I don't notice them at all as I rarely drive that so it is possible. Install looks very clean and the mechanic who did it had 25yrs working at Toyota and was one of their top most experienced mechanics, it's then road tested by the mechanic and a second mechanic does another road test and full inspection as safety check. The service department was very good to deal with and it came with a 3mo warranty. Drove it back yesterday fully loaded over the 97c connecter and then down the Coquihalla so a fairly rigorous test everything seemed to run smooth (in fact seemed to run smoother than the old engine) - it's booked in at Granville Toyota Monday for to re-torque the wheels and they said they will do a courtesy inspection if the engine and install. Overall dealing with Toyota has been fairly good. My wife literarily dropped it in front of their service bay on the long weekend while they were closed, put the keys in the drop box and left a note saying - engine light on, truck stopped and won't start, please check out and call us, and then went one her way, so they came to work on Tuesday with a truck that won't start blocking their service bay (was literally the only spot the tow truck driver could place it) Fingers crossed it gives me another 15yrs of trouble free driving or I win the Lotto and buy a new loaded Tundra TRD off road!

 

Got my truck back from the shop for the final buff and got the old school tailgate decal added

 

Big time wiring project completed. Working on a full writeup but happy to be done.

Aux relay panel w/ independent feed for a modified Headlight Services harness, lights, and other TBD accessories.