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

Well i mena ours where those like 3/8'' ones for back packing. Not much of a mattress haha beats the thin foam ones I suppose.

 

Bought one. Driving it home tomorrow.

 

Replaced my Dorman-made cast exhaust manifold with an OE tube manifold. No more ticky exhaust. I think it was a gasket leak, not a crack, but a leak's a leak. We'll see if it fixes my P0420.

While I was in there I peeped into the block. The exhaust port for cylinder 4 is much darker than the others. Valves were in spec (barely) when I checked a few months ago. Anybody think this is cause for concern?

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What’s a ticky exhaust?

 

I had a small exhaust leak that made a sort of ticking noise. It was especially noticeable while driving around 2000-3000 RPM, for example if I was cruising down the road and gave it some gas without downshifting.

Here's a sound check of a similar leak: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYVjkyLdID4

Hear the "before" sound at 4:10 and the "after" at 5:28. It sounds more farty than ticky because he's just revving the engine, but imagine that same sound at a steady RPM.

 

Took 5ish hours working slow and enjoyable. Both doors stripped the old plastic and butyl tape. Put Kilmat inside the door and new plastic/butyl tape. 7mil plastic sheets really easy to cut. New interior door handle too.

Absolutely massive difference in sound with the doors. I’ve done the floor already when the carpet was replaced. Highly recommend doing this if you’re in there.

Also put on a new shifter label thing I found in the junkyard.

 

I've got to stop dragging my feet on doing this to my 99. I bought the supplies already, I have a few boxes of the good stuff, just need to pick a weekend and get it done. I want to do the doors and the rear of the cab, especially where the back speakers are. Looks great btw!

 

Thanks! Yeah I only had 7 sheets left after doing the floor so I had to stretch and make it work. I think you’d need 10 sheets to comfortably do just the doors. Going to order another box to do that back area by the rear speakers as well when I go in and replace the seatbelts. If it’s anything like the impact doing the doors had, it’ll make a huge difference.

 

You just pop the shifter thing off? I have a smudge on mine on the inside that's been driving me nuts for like 5 years

 

Be careful the smudges are naturally occurring from the bonded part underneath unbonding from the clear plastic. It's a common problem on old Toyotas and if you try to wipe it it'll flake off into a million pieces. It's one of those things that I kind of hope the aftermarket will start making. The one on my Land Cruiser just started bubbling and smudging

 

It’s a sticker under it so I doubt it can be cleaned. But yeah, pulled the plastic trim piece off, then the 3 screws on the shifter plastic allowed me to pull it up far enough to release the clips holding that strip in. You’ll need a smaller flathead to maneuver in there.

 

Bought my Tacoma back in December 2023 with 229k miles. So far, I've put Bilstein 4600s on the front and rear, replaced the steering rack bushings (Energy) and UBJs (OEM), replaced the valve cover gasket and tube seals, new oil filter bracket gasket, new Denso spark plugs, and regular 5k mile maintenance. Changed out the rear diff oil as well. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be replacing the LBJs, control arm bushings, and the rear leaf springs. The steering and suspension needed some serious love but once I'm done with this the truck will be in solid, roadworthy condition.

Then I can finally chase down the cause of that stupid CEL. I know it's somewhere in the EVAP system, likely the charcoal canister, so not a huge deal for me as a Floridian.

 

Tackled the transmission mount today along with a drain/fill + some lubeguard. Trans mount was really straightforward ~2hrs going very slow with some beer breaks. Made a big difference in the driving, engine mounts are next but those look like they suck so will probably pay for those to be done.

 

What led you to replace the trans mount? I’m at 310k miles which I’ve owned for the past 100k and have not touched the trans mount.

 

Same here. Just over 300k and haven’t noticed a change in anything since I bought mine at 179k.

 

I noticed the rubber separating while under the truck a while back so figured it was time. I'm also chasing a vibration at idle in and out of gear. Seemed to make a small difference, the old mount has definitely seen better days with how much separation was present I could almost pull it apart by hand.

 

20+ year old rubber. And if you hit trials a lot it's probably past due.

motor mounts too for that matter. I had one totally separate on my 03. Had no idea until I was on a very steep trail in 4lo and the torque twisted the motor so much the fan was hitting the shroud. Not a great time to find out it was busted..

 

What is the CEL? Might just be the fuel cap (gasket).

 

Exactly!

After 27 Phoenix summers and 250,000 miles, the problem with mine were not just that they were separating, but also they were rock hard. The new ones were soft and flexible. I am hoping that washed out roads will be more enjoyable now, because many AZ dirt roads were unbearable with the old mounts. The body mounts were just as bad as the motor and transmission mounts. This isn't from abuse either. I have never done much off roading other than forest service roads.

 

Noticed today when starting it up with the hood open the engine moved what looked like half a foot so yeah I agree, it’s probably time