TACO leads small pickup sales AGAIN in August 2017

When Nissan updates the frontier (if they do with an MT), *IF* the ranger raptor comes out with an MT (highly unlikely since no ford truck has a manual), and when the jeep wrangler truck comes out, Ill probably retire the tacoma. By then, it might be getting a mid cycle refresh while the other 3 are brand new trucks, in the same sense that its currently the brand new truck and everything else (with exception of the GM twins and they dont have the MT 6 cyl) is old.

 

Google Tacoma transmission issues. Lol

 

Are we talking about the "howling" diff?

The leaking diff?

Or people who don't like the way the tranny shifts?

Or are we talking about a car company that has a long track record of not being able to offer up a reliable transmission across their entire model line up?

The point was that Ford cannot engineer a decent transmission....and has not been able to do so for a long, long time.

Toyota has. Whether the differential on the third gen Tacoma is inherently a bad design or whether there have been assembly issues has not been determined yet - has it?

It does not change the fact that you cannot buy a Ford model that does not run a high risk of having the transmission completely prematurely fail.

...or the fact the Ford has not put a reliable Diesel engine in their vehicles since the last 7.3 in early 2003.

 

It has been decided that it's garbage. A 220k diff recall not to mention the OR models that have the same symptoms but aren't yet included in the recall.

And over 50% howl down the highway.

And whether or not this transmission is "reliable" has yet to be seen, but it certainly sucks donkey dicks for a lot of people.

 

F150s shift the same way and they blow up too.

 

Pardon my ignorance....what are the differences between the latter model second generation diffs and the current ones? New manufacturer?

 

If all the f150s drove off a bridge would you?

 

Let's try this again....anyone reading this, please clear your head of the notion that I'm a third gen fanboy. I'm as attached to this truck at this point as I am to a pair of socks. It either serves me well or it will get sold. My ego and my how well I sleep at night are not tied in any way to this truck. With that in mind, will someone please help me out with a couple of things.

It apparently has been decided that the rear diffs in the new third gens are crap. I'm not going to question how that conclusion was arrived at, all I ask if that someone explain it. A recall does not mean that the design is bad, nor does the fact that a poll on a forum indicates 50% of people hear some sort of howling or whirring noise. Issues can have several root causes. The main causes being assembly and design issues. One is of minor concern because it can ultimately be corrected. Another is a major concern because it most likely can't.

From what I've read, there are several issues. Some may be related, some not. Correct me if I've missed one here...

1. The rear diff howls under acceleration, or feathering of the throttle at certain speeds.
2. The rear diff howls at deceleration.
3. The rear diff locks up.
4. The rear diff is underfilled from the factory.
5. The rear diff has another assembly issue - incorrect torque on bolts, etc.,

Now I'm probably nowhere near as smart as the experts who've already concluded that the design of this diff is inherently bad, but to me these issues are indicative of incorrect assembly.

Item #1: Howling under acceleration at certain speeds is a good indication of wearing. That would be related to Item No. 4 which its also related to Item Nos. 3 and 5.
Item #2: Howling under deceleration usually means that the pinion bearing preload is too loose or has loosened. On a truck with low miles, that's indicative of, you guessed it, faulty assembly.

Since I have not heard the noise, all of the above is a shot in the dark. I have heard various differential noises over the years. But the issues that have been described on these forums seem to be happening on new cars and getting worse over time.

There are other potential causes, but the type of noises described here are generally attributed to pinion and carrier bearings. The fact that they are happening almost right out of the womb would indicate an assembly issue - not a design one.

If that's the case, assembly issues can be corrected - as can the damage that they've caused. A crappy design, however, is forever.

So getting back to my first question: it has been decided by the collective brain trust that the third gen differentials are crap. Therefore this is not an assembly issue, but a design issue. So someone please help me understand what fundamental design changes occurred between the Gen 2 and Gen 3 Tacomas. At that point, maybe we can all have an intelligent discussion as to what about the new design may be an issue.

Thanks in advance.

 

I doubt very seriously that there is anyone reading this that would truly know the answer to your question or could even speak intelligently about the issue. To do so would require drawings, material specifications, design criteria and pretty much an open door into the engineering department at Toyota. What you will get is a bunch of ill informed speculation and conjecture. Nothing else.

BTW, the differentials seem to be functioning with very few failures. Sure, a few have noises. A few were underfilled. You have to realize that Toyota sold 16K Tacomas last MONTH. There are only 19K THREADS in the whole third gen forum just to give that amount some context. This forum only has a fraction of the actual total ownership, and as enthusiasts, like to complain about everything. So what you read here is not even close to what is happening in the real world.

I read, from Toyota proper, that even though there were 228K included in the diff recall, Toyota was expecting less than 2% to actually have any problems. I spoke to my local dealer and sure enough, they have actually found less than 1% of the Tacomas they sold had any rear diff problems. They sell about 35 Tacomas a month. They have zero on the lot waiting for repair or held "hostage." But, if you take what you read here, every Tacoma is failing diffs as fast as they are made.

 

good TW, i have found out my Rear Diff is bad, my transmission sucks, doors are crap, battery sucks, oh and even though I am not on any recall list, my truck will blow up.

Shit is RE DICK YOU LESS...

Thanks for trying

Thanks for saving me the argument.

 

Obviously you did not get the memo - the consensus is in: they are crap.

Obviously there was some earth-shattering design change between Gen 2 and Gen 3. Toyota has a history of these expensive, ground breaking design changes across their product line - right?

I just "heard" today that the HPFPs are also crap. Add that to your list of parts that will fall off your truck. I boldly predict that 3rd Gen resale values plummet to Hyundai levels by the end of the month.

Years ago I had a 2006 Evo 9. On the Evo forums, everyone was bitching that the clutch sounded like a coffee can full of marbles when is was engaged.

People were freaking out....the trannies were bad...it was a bad design. The resale value and collectibility would take a hit. Mitsubishi had - on purpose - screwed us over. Our throwout bearing assemblies were made of tissue paper. It was clutch chatter! No! Gear chatter! No! Failed bearings!

A well known aftermarket tranny expert and WRC mechanic chimed in and illustrated how - on the stock MR clutch which had an Exedy WAD (wide angle damper) design - that the torsional vibrations that caused gear noise were completely normal...and were a byproduct and a tradeoff for having a high strung 4 cylinder turbo and a relatively light flywheel/clutch rather than a super heavy assembly (less responsive) which would have helped to completely dampen the noise out.

This guy's credentials were impeccable. He did not work for Mitsubishi, he had a long resume as a mechanic for a factory WRC team - I could go on. In the end, there were people still convinced that their trannies were going to disintegrate.

FWIW, I had that noise from day one on my MR and I raced it religiously - Thunderhill, NASA events, I beat the piss out of that car and the tranny held up just fine.

 

They said "modest expectations". In 2006 they had their best year at 50,000 units. That's just over 4,000 per month. They would be crazy to expect anything more than 30-40,000 per year and they know it. This is a very niche product. It also looks like they can't produce much more than they are currently since that plant is making Odysseys and Pilots/MDX CUVs. I know there is a big wait for Pilots around here. They did announce a big expansion in Alabama this year so that may change things soon.

This isn't any different than 1/2 ton market. F-150 sells 7x that of Tundra. Does that mean F-150 is 7x the truck? Or how Corolla is best selling compact in USA?

http://wardsauto.com/technology/honda-looks-meet-maintain-ridgeline-sales-record

 

Note: this took some digging, but I have confirmed member "69others" works for Toyota's marketing department.

 

We've been infiltrated!