Portland Gen 1 Mechanic..?

Hey, does anyone have any good experiences or recommendations with/for a good Gen 1 mechanic in the Portland area? ...or bad ones too I guess.

I am moving there (taking my '97 with me), and have to do some "big" stuff soon. I am planning to forever this truck.

Price is always a concern, but quality, knowledge, and service are most important to me.

Appreciate any references! Thanks!

 

This is my go to shop in Portland.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/8u9ZH9UTrhHbew757?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

 

Thanks!

 

Hi Gren!

What kind of 'big stuff soon' is your taco needing?

I had my '97 in a 'reputable' Chicago-based specialty shop a year ago for some 'big stuff'
Got it back and good grief found it all hacked up with things broken that should not have been broken if you were competent
along with many other things not properly reassembled put back together

So if you are vetting the competency of any shops to put their wrench on your taco I may just have a very good one for you to ask them lol

 

Oh man, sorry to hear it. That is the worst!

I may have dodged a bullet on the "big stuff" for the time being at least... When I first bought the truck, I took it to the local Toyota dealer for a used car inspection.

They said I needed a new valve cover gasket, rear main seal, oil pan gasket and a bunch of other stuff that was "suggested"... they literally quoted me a > $12,000.00 (yes, over twelve thousand dollars) estimate for all services and recommendations. Probably needless to say, but that is WELL over the price I even paid for the truck in the first place!

The main things being that the right rear axle bearing was leaking into the brakes, the rear brakes needed new pads/resurfacing, and their reported engine "leaks."

Right after that, I got a recommendation for a local shop, and took it to them. They did their own inspection: turns out that one of the valve cover gaskets was leaking.......... leaking down onto the rear main seal and the oil pan, but those two things weren't leaking at all, just the valve cover gasket! So, I had that shop replace the valve cover gasket, and do my rear brakes. It took a while, but we're back on the road again.

...the "big stuff" was going to be the main seal, but I won't have to do that for a while yet (hoperfully). What's the service interval for those anyways?

 

Dealer techs almost always misdiagnose anything on most older used vehicles.

Same neighbor brought a 90’s B2000 Mazda Ranger to a Mazda dealer 4-5 years ago and they diagnosed a bad fuel pump and $2k to fix. Going off their diag I replaced the fuel pump for $70 in parts only to find out the timing belt was broken in half when it still wouldn’t start.

Last year they brought a 2012 Caravan to a Dodge dealer and spent $2k on spark plug wires and such on a cylinder 3 misfire. Didn’t fix it and then they told him to come back for $4k in injectors. I rented a compression tester for free from a parts store and cylinder had 0 compression.

There’s some really good techs out there at dealers including @Bishop84 but I don’t think they have them inspecting older vehicles that often. Just my experience.

 

Yeah, sounds about right. Maybe I will just do my own work from now on...

 

rear main seal can be easily done whenever you need new clutch parts and it all gets disassembled
is it the original clutch still? the clutch on mine was still functioning 'well' at over 300k
BUT the pilot bearing was a whole different story

 

I tried the grease pressure trick for the pilot bearing and it just pushed out the inner race and the ball bearings. I ended up cutting out the outer race with a dremel and a cutoff wheel.

 

Very good point. No idea on the clutch, but it feels fine [knock on wood]. The pilot bearing is on the list according to the mechanic I just used... they called it the "drive shaft center support bearing." Same thing..?

I will see how bad it looks, then probably just do everything all at once.

 

drive shaft center support bearing i believe is the big bearing that connects the 2 prop shafts between the transfer case and rear diff

looks like this

 

Mostly referred to as a carrier bearing. Although I don’t think think that’s the official part name. There’s a good guide on here to diy. I did mine in my old 1st gen Tacoma. Wasn’t too difficult.

Mine was easy to tell when it went. Got weird shakes at different speeds. Easy to test yourself. Get under there and see if you have a lot of play or noticeable grease leaking.

What shop did you end up at?

 

Thanks, I will keep an eye on it.

I am still in California, so the shop is down here... hopefully they will get everything sorted before I head up to Portland NEXT WEEK!

 

Good luck!

 

An old hunting buddy of mine is the owner of AQ Automotive out on the east side of Portland. Good dude, very reasonable. Not toyota specific but solid work. I've sent a dozen or so others to him (outside of family members as well) who all came back saying good stuff

 

Thanks for the reccomendation, I will check them out too.

I am finally in Portland! Did the trip in two 6-hour-ish runs, stayed overnight just across the border from CA. I am more than happy to report that the Tacoma drove strong the whole way, no issues whatsoever, never got hot, and was happy to see some snow (heh heh).

oh, wait, I lied. There was ONE issue... I stopped at a parts place and grabbed some washer fluid because it was out. Poured it in, and was AMAZED by how the whole giant bottle of fluid went in. ......then heard a weird sound, looked down, and watched all the fluid drain right back out onto the parking lot (because of course I did it in the parking lot).

I still need to see where the leak is, and I haven't searched the forums, but I assume that it will be an easy fix.

Mid trip: