After 4 months my thoughts on tacoma

I just upgraded from a 1999 single cab w/4cylinder and while the 6cylinder takes a bit longer to warm up than I expected, it's nothing like the old one. I had a 20 minute drive to work and my cab was just starting to feel warm as I pulled into the parking lot. It's usually around 0-10F outside on a cold morning around here. I put a lower radiator hose heater in the old one but it didn't seem to help very much. I got a 900w space heater and ran a cord out to my front bumper and put it on a timer so it would start up about an hour before I left for work. That did the trick, it usually warmed the cab up by 30 or 40 degrees. It couldn't melt more than a dusting of snow off the windshield but it scraped off real easy. Frost wasn't a problem at all if it had been running. I haven't installed it in the new truck yet because I'm not sure if it's even worth the hassle. 900 watts probably won't get me very far in a double cab.

$217 Zerostart 2600900 Interior Car Warmer Compact Plug-in Electric Portable Heater, 3000 BTU | 120 Volts | 900 Watts

http://www.amazon.com/Zerostart-260-0900-Little-Interior-Warmer/dp/B000NM73ZA

edit:
Just read the Amazon reviews and it looks like it takes a couple hrs to get the full effect, so I could just start it 2 hours earlier and it would probably heat the new cab just fine.

 

I don't have many complaints... probably the biggest one is the overall cost of these trucks! My Gen 1 4x4 was 10 grand less than my '13. I do wish there were more lighted switches in the cab (door locks, 4x4 dial). Oh, I almost forgot... the damn mudflaps. Make them less rigid or mount them more durable! I've broken 2 of them off.

 

x2

 

Mine has 13 (including the doors) 3.25 per person I'll swap 11 for heated seats. Takes mine about 2 miles driving to get heat I can live with that even at -15.

 

The 4.0 is easy to mod for fast warmup in the winter. Block the upper grill with coroplast (on the inside is ok) and pull the intake tube going to the fender. Makes a big difference. If you have a scangauge/ultragauge you can watch the water temp in realtime and even set a max alarm to not have to worry about it overheating. Generally you don't have to worry; the cooling system is pretty stout. I ran the total upper grill block in the summer for a while on my 4.0 and never passed 200F.

It's not quite as effective on the four cylinder because the air filter box goes right into the fender, it's stuck with cold air unless you cut a new hole, but the grill block does help a little. When it was -14F on Monday I let it warm up to 70F (about two minutes) and had decent heat after about five minutes of gentle driving.

Another trick is to turn the heat down when the engine is cold. It may not seem so, but the cabin fan while just a Delphi POS is still highly effective at removing engine heat. After all, if your engine ever starts overheating, max heat is the #1 step to cool it off.

 

What is this sarcasm you speak of.

 

Genius

 

That was funny!

 

I know a joke when I see one guess you don't.

 

Haven't scene this mentioned yet about the outside/inside switch... If you have the inside switch on, and turn the directional knob to front defrost, the inside switch turns off. Not sure why, but I did notice that...

 

1. been here in ND since 1988 coming from GA (USAF forced transplant)
2. been thru worse winters than this past year (temp wise)
3. never had issues with a toyota warming up in the winters here
4. the warden has a compustar remote start, warms up just fine in 10-15 mins
5. warms up faster if you use recirc and keep the fan lower than full blast and dont use defrost setting
6. 4runner warms up just fine, but then again dont have remote start on it and have seat heaters.

engine gets to a 1/4 temp gauge by the time i drive off base (this applies to the tacoma when i use to drive it on heavy snow days before i got the 4runner, had a sedan before)

only on the 2nd toyota (free) oil change since 2012, since she only puts about 6k a year on it
tacoma/4runner are in a unheated garage
have a freezer and regualr fridge in the garage, its gets so cold in the garage, drinks freeze in the regular fridge.

 

There's no doubt in my experience that my '81 and '98 seemed to be better vehicles than my '08. I do like the extra room but the creature comforts have not changed much oh wait I can tell the direction I'm going and the temp outside. Up side for the '08 the frame hasn't rusted through . . . yet, although Toyota stepped up to the plate for the '98. If someone can suggest a perfect truck I'd be interested in hearing about it other wise I'll keep taking my chances with Toyota. I can tell you on no uncertain terms my experience with Ford products was much worse (Ranger, Bronco, Mountaineer) money pits. I was shamed into them by union members, phuck that!!!

 

hi I am new here, just signed up yesterday. been wheeling a 85 fj60 land cruiser for 15 years but just sold it and bought a 2006 taco about the same time as the OP here. just thought you might like some insight from a newbie: my only question about my taco is HOW COME I DIDNT BUY THIS 10 YEARS AGO!!! man I love it, V6 seems almost as powerful as the darn Chevy 383 I put in the LC and certainly way more smooth than the dinosaur I got away from...19 mpg seems like a real gift after years of 8 - 10 mpg.

my only complaint is that the rear end sags a bit with the camper shell and it looks like its down on its overload spring in the rear. looking for a more robust set of rear springs and I need some Bilstein 5100 adjustable height shocks for the front and new shocks on the rear. the springs I have been contemplating for the rear are a 3" lift though and I don't think it needs that for the mostly desert crawling I do, so am considering some OMEs or something else.

I know this probably isn't the thread to do it in but I wouldn't mind some seasoned advice on lifting the truck slightly and recommendations for tires...it still has the P rated tires it came with though they must have been changed at some point as the truck has slightly less than 100k miles.

anyway glad to find this place and I look forward to lots of good fun with the taco and here on this site

one love
jb

 

thank you Bevis, reviewed that thread and now reading others...

I actually misspoke in my original post...tires I have on there now are actually LT not P, what I meant was they are basically original size and not bigger at this point.

I am thinking OME which is what I had all around on my LC...but they made a terrible racket in the front when supposedly the spring packs flexed and it sounded like my front end was coming apart on me. but I was advised by knowledgeable people that it was normal and everything was cool. I didn't have noise coming from the back which is where they would be on the Taco, obviously.

thanks again!

one love
jb

 

got the same #3 problem on my brand new 2013 dclb. I tried holding down the button but did not get any good results. Only seems to shut off when traveling on the highway. going to talk to my dealer.

 

Probably a software thing somewhere because they're figuring if you have it on defrost, you're interested in keeping fog off your windshield, and that generally works better with outside air. But I hear where you're coming from - on my old gen 1 Tacoma I noticed the A/C always came on when I had the defrost on, that bugged me a lot. I think they work well enough without it and would like the option to decide for myself. I'm pretty sure the new one does that too but it hasn't been warm enough for me to tell yet.

 

Yeah on my '14 I notice I can turn the AC on but not recuirculate when on the defroster. If I'm on upper vents and/or lower vents I can turn on the recirculate.

Which to me is moderately irksome, sometimes I want to recirculate when the windshield blower/defroster is on.

That and the non-adjustable seat height for manual trans' are really the only major complaints about the truck though. Not too bad.

 

An update on my complaints.

Went back to Toyota. There was a problem with the steering column and it has been repaired. I now have a better view of the dash.

Heater was checked again, within spec. But temps are now in the 20's and the truck warms up within 3 miles. It just seems like at 15 or below it doesn't want to warm up.

By holding the recirc button for a few secs it will now stay on.

 

The reason you need the fresh air is because it matches the humidity in the car, which is what takes away the 'frost'.

 

*OZ-T