1st gen Tacoma concerns

cruisedon66 · Sep 25, 2017

Glad to be of help!

rzgkane · Sep 25, 2017

02Tokoolforu[OP] initial post: ↑

I have 02 Tacoma IRP ext. cab prerunner v6 sr5 that I bought two and half years ago. Previous owner said he did timing belt around 170k I believe Got it 3 days before Halloween of 2014 with 175k on it had to get a new battery a week later and currently have 204,245k miles on it now. Since I got the truck I babied it and I changed the coolant (flushed engine block and radiator) in Jan of 2015 and it was nasty orange weird looking glad I changed it to Prestone green. Then after that had new alternator put in and nothing else but fluid changes (oil,atf,psf,rear diff) but now concerned about other wear items such as:

• ball joints/u-joints
• carrier bearing
• Timing belt/water pump/thermostat
• 3 drive belts
• starter
• tie rods, alignments
• brake pads and fluid

It always had been a good truck to me with no problems but want to do some preventive maintenance for peace of mind.
• 10/28/2014 Bought truck
• 11/3/2014 Had to buy new battery the other one was a everstart junk cause I left the radio on in the acc position (like to listen to music) got a better one (autocraft battery)
* mid November 2014 Had dealership change oil and filter
• 11/13/2014 Battery was getting weak and it still started and drove with little power was misfiring and eventually stalled out also had to run to the gas station with a battery booster connected to the battery to drive home
• 12/13/2014 Changed rear diff fluid
* 12/14/2014 Opened up gauge cluster and dash to switch to leds
• 1/12/2015 Got alternator replaced and ran without issues ever since
* 1/14/2015 Got rear passenger tire plugged at discount tire and bought locking lug nuts
* 1/23/2015 Flushed engine block and radiator
* 4/13/2015 Had dealership change oil & filter
* 8/13/2015 Dealership change oil & filter
* Sometime December 2015 had dealership change oil & filter
* 1/20/2016 Had to fill overflow tank with coolant and water every couple weeks because of crack in top of radiator near the top radiator hose
* 3/5/2016 Drained ATF through transmission drain plug and filled with new ATF at home in hopes of getting better mpg
* 4/28/2016 Dealership change oil & filter also did complementary check of fluids and condition of vehicle they also rotated tires but didn't check brake pad thickness
* 6/26/2016 Got new fuel filter and changed fuel filter myself did remove gas cap and fuel pump relay before working to relieve pressure (almost died cause I was trying to remove the fuel lines from filter and fuel sprayed from the lines when I tried moving it away from filter body with a hot muffler) in hopes of getting better mpg as well
* 9/10/2016 Ordered eBay radiator and swapped it in before I did I flushed the radiator of contaminants before installing in truck also did myself wasn't too hard to do
8/28/2016 Had dealership change oil & filter and I found out that they almost stripped my front passenger side skid plate bolt (I always inspect vehicle after the dealer works on it) so after that I started to change oil myself
12/10/2016 Drained ATF again and filled with new ATF in dipstick tube
12/16/2016 Went to dealer to get new oil filter and drain plug washer and changed the oil myself at home ~ 1.25 gallon 5qt jug and had to get 1 quart oil and filled with half of that quart bottle of 5w-30 Castrol gtx oil from Walmart~ Brakes have been lightly squealing for a while never got to it
* 1/12/2017 - 2/21/2017 Went on vacation overseas for 5 weeks so truck sat in driveway the whole time
* 2/23/2017 Return from trip and passenger front tire lost some air went to gas station to get air
* 3/4/2017 Took tire off to inspect front brake pads and they were getting thin
* 3/7/2017 Went to Lowe's to get 5/16 clear tubing to flush heater core
* beginning of April 2017 worried about life of truck to this day

Last month I have taken the front wheels off to inspect pads which still have a bit of meat left (maybe a little more than an 1/8") but have been squealing) grinding noise to, and rear brake squeak when letting off the brakes

Also get a clunk when in motion to a stop stand still and taking off from a stop. If I go over 75mph I get vibrations in driveline or steering wheel.

Click to expand...

What was with the dash disassembly?

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1st gen Tacoma concerns

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cruisedon66 Well-Known Member

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#21 cruisedon66 Well-Known Member

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cruisedon66 Well-Known Member

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