What can go wrong with my truck - or RysiuM build

US warranty is valid only in US, Canada and Mexico (I'm not sure about the last one). So US truck will be here out of warranty and all repair will be on your dime unless you drive or ship it to US for repair

Toyota dealer in Poland can get any OEM parts you want however you can expect to wait up to 2 months for them. Unless it is something common (like for example oil filter) that is shared among other Toyota vehicles. There are three levels of parts sourcing by Toyota dealer:
Warsaw warehouse - delivery time 1 day
Belgium warehouse - delivery time 3 days
Manufacturer - delivery time up to 2 months.

Pricewise parts are not more expensive than in USA even including the fact that they are taxed 23% VAT. Toyota dealer will not get you aftermarket parts or used OEM parts. They deal only OEM and only new.

I pay Wlway more than I would like. Insurance in Poland is crazy business.

First they will need appraisal, as your truck value is not know in Poland. Appraiser will downgrade the value to probably 50-70% what it will cost you to replace it here. If he does not do that, the insurance company will do that when it comes to payout and may claim that you tried to do a fraud.

Then if you don't have insurance history in Poland you will pay 100% rate. Sometimes documented US insurance history will work but Polish Insurance companies want to have documentation on scope of your insurance, claims history and make it really difficult for you to not get 100% rates. If you had a claim even not your fault or even if it was a glass, theft anything, it goes against you and actually makes your rates go over 100%.

Finally the best insurance you can get here is still worse (in terms and conditions) than average insurance in US. But it costs about 2 - 4 times more (in US dollars). I managed to get 60% rate and my top of the line (VIP package) insurance cost is about 2 times what I paid in US with much better terms. And took me about month working with agent to get it.

My Tacoma being vehicle more than 10 years old can't be insured for comprehensive. Only liability.

The bottom line is, the insurance here sucks, and rules are much different than in USA.

As for the repair all depends on the insurance package. In my VIP I had only OEM parts (new) and repair made by Toyota service. The insurance pay directly to service for the repair done - can't take the money and not fix it or use it for upgrades. Other packages, where you can take the money, they will give you money for aftermarket parts and by cost "aged" part, meaning very little. Obviously if my Tacoma I gets hit by someone, it will be very interesting how much I will get for repairs.

There are customs rules (read it as they are very strict and very important) that let you bring a car with you as your property when you "immigrate to Poland". You have to be documented resident in US for at least 1 year and have your truck "yours" for at least 6 months. There re other rules, so read them carefully. I recommend get an agent who will take care of all paperwork. If you bring your truck as a "immigration property" you can't let it drive by anyone but you for a year. Of course you can't sell it for a year. If someone got caught driving your truck customs will go after you to pay all duties like if you brought your truck as an import.

There is a Customs fee, excise tax and VAT. All that is about 50% of the actual value of the car (in USA) and shipping cost. For example if truck's value is let say 40k USD and shipping was 4k USD you pay about 22k USD in all customs fees. But guess what, when you do insurance appraisal they will calculate replacement value probably 30k or less.

There not difficult and all depends how "nice" you want to do it. There are companies who "hack cars" for required changes, when I saw what they do, I said "thank you" I can do better myself. In short:

Headlights need to be "cut-off" with right side raised. If you have projectors, that is very easy fix. If not, you may get away with just good cut-off.

Front markers must be white. Orange is not acceptable at all, you will pay a ticket on every police check. Some cars have the same bulb for blinker (orange) and front marker or all combined in one lamp. In that case marker power must be removed from this bulb and routed to separate white lamp fixture. If lamp housing is ont orange but just orange bulb you may replace the bulb with switchback LED. It will be avcepted. I did that to my Nissan Versa Note.
In my 2012 4Runner I had orange insert in the headlamp assembly. I used shop specializing in HID conversion to open the lamp, remove the orange insert and seal the lamp back together. No electrical change.

You must have rear fog light. It must be at least 20cm above the ground but not higher than 100cm above the ground. It has to be at least 10cm from rear red marker and stop light (no sharing bulbs). It must be able to turn it on/off separately from front fog light and position lights. But when position lights are off, rear fog light must go off too. If your backup light is meets distance criteria for rear fog lights you can replace left bulb with 20W red and rewire it to act as a rear fog light. You are allowed to have only one backup light on the right side. This is what I have with my Tacoma now.

Rear blinkers must be orange. Red doesn't fly here. I was pissed when I saw 2015 Honda Fit with read blinkers at the dealer in USA. So I bought Nissan Versa Note instead.

And finally USA legal DRL are not legal to use in Poland. DRL must be certified for Europe. If you have DRL you have to replace them, disconnect or never use (it is also easy ticket to get). I replaced fog lamps in 4Runner with Osram E-certified LED Fog/DRL lamps. For Tacoma I bought LED DRL Osram E-certified lamps here (they are cheaper than in US). Of course you can turn DRL off but you have to drive with low beam on all the time (day and night).

If you have towing package, forget it. Trailer connector is different. It will probably require rewiring the truck for it. Traliler brakes are separate from trailer blinkers. And also have rear fog light.

I hope I answered your questions. One more thing, 2017 taco is a bit bigger than my 4Runner. Parking in a city will be no fun. All parking spaces including paid multi-level garages are god for Smart or Mini. When I park, my tires are line to line and the ass is always sticking at least 3 feet out.

 

Thanks a lot for your comments !!! They are very helpful..... so the decision is clear, I will not bring my Taco to Poland

 

You can buy brand new Hilux for that value here and it will be way easier. I know Hilux is not Tacoma but still not bad.

I had no such choice with 4Runner. The only equivalent I could buy here is LC but that is much more money (60k USD or more). Both trucks are beyond warranty so that was no issue for me. Now I need to figure out how to get a free recall repair (airbag).

 

Looking at some rusted Tacoma pictures I realized I was so focused on protecting the frame that I forgot about other metal parts. The one that got my attention was fuel tank skid plate (a factory one). It was "dry" and looked like it had some surface rust.



I have never removed it from the truck so I figured out it will be interesting one. Thank you @Tacoma2015 for tips. Four M8 bolts let go easy (you have to love California climate for metal protection). After cleaning the skid from dried mud and dust I was surprised to see the top surface of the skid in pristine shape, like it came from the factory 22 years ago.



I figured out a bit of fluid film will not hurt, so I run a thin layer on it



The bottom side is different story. Looks like road debris kicked out by tired did some damage to the paint exposing bare metal to the environment. After cleaning it I could see multiple spots with some surface rust





To not get a messy install I did fluid film the bottom surface of the skid after it was installed. But before that I checked the fuel tank. I don't know if tank is plastic or metal, but it look very clean. Just in case it is metal I sprayed it with fluid film too (You have to I love the fresh smell of fluid film in the morning ).



While having the skid off I did spray other metal parts, like fuel tank bracket, various bolts and nuts and brake lines.

After four months since the fluid film application the frame is still a bit slimy and fluid film did not dry out nor got washed. I really like this thing.

 

Here is the problem. I come to the truck, turn on the radio. It takes about 5-7 seconds for the radio to reboot and show the backup camera screen so I plugging the phone and now I ready to roll. I'm starting the engine and guess what - radio is rebooting. Wait few seconds ready to roll back, mess up with clutch and truck is stalling. Cranking it but now backup camera is gone again and screen is not showing the image while the head unit is rebooting for the next 5-7 seconds. Pisses me off.

This was discussed in thread Radio unit rebooting on cranking

The solution was per @mechanicjon diagram to power the radio also from IGN circuit and separating both ACC and IGN circuits using diodes.




So this is what I did (but read it to the end for the outcome).

Here is the radio unit I am talking about installed in my truck.




First I disconnected the negative power from the battery. I don't need my 22 years old airbag to explode. Then i removed the radio to have access to all connections.

A bit history here: The radio I installed came with standard wire harness, which of course did not match Toyota harness. So I bought another harness that on one end plugs into Toyota vehicle harness and on the other end to standard harness. So stupid or not, I had two harnesses connected in series. The good thing was there is a lot of room between the radio and airbag sensor unit just behind the lighter and ash tray, so all wires are in there.

The other thing that made my life easier. Factory radio has dimming feature, meaning it will dim when you turn on the lights in the truck. My new deck doesn't have dimmer connection so original green-brown wire was not used. When I installed the radio I just cut the wire of the factory harness plug (I used this wire to power something else) so I had a pigtail sticking out of factory plug.



There was a matching orange wire in universal harness, which I did not connect to anything then.



Now I can use all that. So first I had to connect some wire to pigtail. I have a rule: I do not do soldering in my cars. In my experience soldering connections are getting rusted and breaking off. So I do only crimping connections. So this is what I did



Now the green wire will be my alternate power source, and will be connected straight to the 4WD fuse pigtail I left, when I was installing DRL (4WD fuse in my truck poweres only my custom DRL and all 4x4 stuff in my truck is manual). Here is the green wire now installed in the factory radio connector (black heat shrink tube is over the crimped pigtail connector)




I already had additional loom going from the radio compartment to the left side kick panel with some wired I did to make my truck legal in Poland (rear fog light) so one more wire will not make difference.




That loom is going along other factory wires under the steering wheel behind the kick panel. You can see the green wire hanging down on the left side - not connected yet. Yes, my truck has few more wires under the dash and I am not finished yet .



That green wire will be connected to the red pigtail I left that is powering my DRL which is behind 4WD fuse.




Now some work on universal wire harness. On the picture below you can see the radio wire harness with two black connectors on the left and universal wire harness on the right. The connection between these two was done with crimped wire connectors (all these red and blue tubes). I have already cut red wire to red wire (the radio ACC power) and the orange wire (my new backup power) is still with crimped on connector. These are the diodes I am using: 10A/1000V (measured voltage drop is 0.55V). The short peek power these diodes can stand is way over 100A - more than fuses can handle. Of course I will use only two diodes, I bought 5 just in case.




Now in the picture below diodes are connected (crimped). Power comes from the left and it is going to the radio to the right.




Now exposed wires are wrapped in tape and the new modified harness is ready to be installed in the truck.




No need to show installation pictures, basically all went back in place. Now the fun part: does it work?

First I connected the negative battery hoping my truck will not start releasing a blue smoke and airbag will stay inside the steering wheel. OK so far so good.

Then I tested everything making sure all items I might touch still work as it should, making sure I did not screwed up. OK, so far so good.

Next power test. I put a key into ACC position and waited for the radio to boot up. After that I turned the key to Start position but because I did not press the clutch the starter did not turn, but radio stayed on. Good, my alternate power works. So far so good.

Final test: I pressed the clutch and started the engine. The "word" slipped out of my mouth when I watched the radio going dark and started to boot up. Not good. It confirmed what @DrZ wrote:

It is confirmed, the voltage drop during cranking is below the threshold radio requires to run. So I need better solution. But all it is not wasted. All work I did is good. What I need is just alternate power source instead of using car battery when cranking.

What I'm thinking is small PiFePO4 battery pack that would power the "green wire". Of course the battery pack would require some charging circuit and allow to discharge only when my 4WD power is on (In my case allow to discharge only when charging at the same time). All that now can be done under the kick panel without removing the radio as I would need only green wire and 4WD power.

 

Measure the amperage draw on that wire. I'll figure a capacitor size that might work.

 

I did not measure but I would think it is probably around 1 or 2 A. For cranking time maybe 1-2 seconds I would need let's say about 4 joules. In order to have it at reasonable voltage I may need at least 10F or more. It is just only capacitors in that range (and able to deliver few Amps) are for 3V, so I would have to get at least 6 in series. This actually could work with charging circuit way easier than with batteries. Is this what you are thinking about?




The only thing is that such capacitors are still quite big and bulky (2 to 3 times of the size of the battery). The best solution would be just plug it into dual battery setup.

 

Still thinking about installing "backup battery" for my radio, but in the meantime inspired by Tim's video and long conversation with him about Tacoma's rear brakes I decided to check my rear brake pads. I have never even opened the brake drums in this 22 years old truck so I was wondering if I'm runing metal-on-metal there.

So beautiful morning, sun and minimal morning dew, 60F outside. This is the first time ever I was taking drums off this truck but after watching Tim's video it was like doing it every day. The drum was stuck to the hub and pounding did not do much to it. But I learned two tricks from the video: loosen up adjuster and using two M8 bolts to push the drum off the hub. The adjuster was a small PITA as the ratchet wheel is not symmetrical and has to be turned "against the spokes".

Anyway thanks to California weather (truck spend all it's life in California) and Toyota quality everything worked smooth nothing like you would expect in 22 years old car. Pushing by M8 screws and pounding with rubber mallet did the trick and I got the drum off. Oh-My-God. What a mess - everything was cover by 22 years of accumulation of brake dust.



Everything was covered with dust - like after volcanic eruption:





It took the whole can of brake pads cleaner to clean it so I can actually inspect the guts:



Straight from that picture it's obvious, that my brakes are not worn much. Maybe half life on the front pad and the rear is almost like new. The drum is also like new.

I measured pad's thickness with caliper - the thinnest part (center front pad) is 3.79mm, the thickest (bottom of the rear pad) is 6.26mm.



These are still factory originally mounted NBK LN508 pads.



So I know at least one answer to the question "'What can go wrong with my truck": for sure not the rear brakes.

 

Today the UPS truck stopped by to drop me a package




This time I did not get spray cans. I figured out it is too expensive. For the half of that price I got a can of the same liquid in 3-litter can




to be applied by a spray gun




The cost of the spray gun returns after two applications so it is much more cost effective. I decided to use spray cans for ad'hoc applications and spray gun for general maintenance. Now I need to get few days of nice weather to coat both trucks before the winter starts for good.

 

Jeez, there are some smart peeps on this board. I've learned quite a bit of new stuff on this thread Rysiu.

 

Another milestone achieved. My Tacoma just passed the annual inspection. I can't believe it's been almost a year since I moved my truck to Poland.

Last fall they changed inspection rules so I had a chance to look what is inspected now. Pretty much everything what they should in order to drive safely on the road, and no stupid "green stuff":

- braking force of main brake (each wheel),
- braking force from e-brake (rear wheels),
- response from shocks (each wheel),
- entire suspension for loose, wear or rotten rubber (front and rear),
- steering for possible loose,
- condition of tires (excluding the spare one)
- all exterior lights (including low beam aiming and pattern)
- horn - damn it was loud (my dual horn was the loudest among all cars inspected while I was waiting in the line)
- Vin numbers on the door jam, through windshield, on the body under the hood and on the frame (all must match the registration papers)
- odometer (not many cars in Poland have it in miles)
- visual inspection for rust, leaks or loose and missing parts (under the hood, body and under).

The inspector was astonished by the truck's condition. Not only mechanical (almost 319k miles with still original LBJ .), but not seeing any rust on 23 years old truck - he thought the frame was new (you have to love the California for that). He was also surprised by e-code headlight pattern as he was expecting to see typical "American" flat cut-off like I have in my other cars.

My "Taliban Truck" passed the inspection with flying colors.

 

Decided to replace coolant in my Tacoma. The last time I did it was 7 years ago.

What brought my attention to coolant is the engine temperature gauge showing a bit lower temperature than it used to. For the last 20 years (since I own it) the temperature gauge needle was always exactly horizontal, now it is slightly lower. I don't know what it is, as thermostat seems to work (the engine temp goes from 32F to the needle showing above "C" in 2-3 minutes). Maybe it is the sensor. It just bugs me the way it looks. This is the comparison before (how it used to show) and now (how it showed before coolant flush).



I verified, that the thermostat is working (engine warms up very fast and the coolant starts flowing through radiator). I noticed, that the bottom of the radiator is stone cold while engine is running. It is not that cold outside (about 38F) and the coolant is for sure flowing through radiator (otherwise the engine would overheat very fast). The fan clutch is a bit sticky but still easy to stop with a piece of cardboard when cold. So all is working, but the temperature gauge is lower that it used to be.

Anyway, I went to local Toyota dealer and got 5l (that is about 1.3gal) of condensed red coolant for about 35 dollars (including tax). I also gathered 6 containers of distilled water 5 qt each - total 30qts. I did not have fancy "burping" funnel so I adopted a soda bottle for it and started the long flush process.



The coolant overflow hose was plugged with round head bolt. Welcome to "ghetto garage"




I did not want to mess with the engine block drain plug again (I remember it was a PITA to get into it, and then it drips fluid all over the place - that is 2.7l 95 model). So I was curious how much I will be able to drain through the radiator tap. The whole system is 8.3l (8.8qt), and I got out 4.7l (5qt). That is exactly one distilled water container. I figured out if I flush it 5 times I will get 98-99% of old fluid out. Efficient, just time consuming: Warm up the engine till thermostat opens, shut down the engine, drain from the radiator tap, close the tap, fill with 5 quarts of distilled water and start the engine, burp the system while warming up. This 5 times. In the meantime I was checking the quality of liquid drained each time.

The original coolant looked actually pretty good. Clear red with very little contamination







It took me 5 hours to do the job (including taking out skid plates and do all calculations). I have also drained and cleaned overflow container. I was worried a bit, how 23 years old plastic held up. No problem, all like new.

After the last draining the fluid look like a bit dirty water, not drinkable, but quite clear.



I verified, that the last drain was also 5qt. That left 3.8qt of water in the system. So I added 3.8qt condensed Toyota red, and I topped off with Toyota Red diluted to 50%. Then run the engine for the last time waiting for burps to stop. I don't know if I was hallucinating or it is not related, but the temperature needle went horizontal before I shut down the engine.

Thank you @Timmah! for your video - very educating. And for answers to my questions. I'm good for next 7 years

 

Maybe I was hallucinating, because this morning the temp gauge went to the same point as before the coolant flush - slightly below half. @Timmah! reminded me that I have a scan tool - Cent-tech CAN&ODB II Professional Scan Tool from HF (60694 was on sale and I had a coupon 25%). Because I never had a problem with my trucks, I forgot that I even had it. I used it once on my neighbor's Mercedes 320ML that was throwing codes but it was 3 years ago.

Anyway I connected this scanner to read live data. ECT (stands for Engine Coolant Temperature) was displaying so I started the truck cold and was wathing the data. Some cool stuff. For reference the Intake Air Temperature was 4C (39F).

After startng the engine ECT showed 4C (39F), the idle rpm was just below 1100, temp gauge dead. The temperature started to rise immediately.
At 60C (140F) the idle dropped to 900, the temp gauge was still dead.
At 70C (158F) the temperature gauge started moving up (still below the scale). The idle rpm was still at 900rpm.
At 80C (176F) the temperature gauge showed exactly Min (the bottom of the scale). The idle rpm dropped to 700rpm.
The temperature established at 85 C (185F) with gauge showing just below the horizontal (like on the picture "Now"). The idle rpm fluctuated between 680 and 690rpm.

This made me a less worried about the engine temperature. There are some conclusions I take:
1. My RPM gauge is a bit off from the scanner. When the gauge shows 750rpm (3/4 of 1000rpm) the scanner showed 680rpm. The cold idle 1100rpm was showing on the gauge around 1250rpm.
2. The temperature gauge is very sensitive. I mean from the bottom of the scale to the center is something like 7C (13F).
3. My thermostat is working, engine operating temperature is normal (FSM says 80C is "fail-safe" temperature).
4. My fan clutch is a bit sticky even when cold. I still can stop it with cardboard but at idle it blows good amount of air through radiator. However fan rpm does not increase with the engine, so it is not stuck. I guess the fan is very efficient as the bottom of radiator is stone cold while the top is very hot .

Anyway, I should not be worried unless gauge drops bellow Min or goes above the level. I love 3RZ-FE. So simple and reliable.

 

The winter is officially over. I gave my truck a nice batch focusing mostly on the frame. I wash it so well, that I'm afraid all Fluid Film I applied last year is gone now. But the frame is still all shiny new.









I'm not sure if it was my enthusiastic approach with pressure washer or the material got old, but the bottom line is my tailgate TOYOTA logo suffered a bit. I'm afraid I will need to get new letters for it.



I saw some letters on ebay for 24 USD (plus shipping) but I don't know if there is something better (OEM?) available.

 

Frame treatment day two. Applied fluid film (generously )







I used my new spray gun and 2/3 of 3 litter can of Fluid Film NAS (the same stuff that is in spray cans just 2 times cheapper). Actually with the wand provided with the gun the spraying is much easier than with the spray can. I just need to fine tune the air pressure and mixture adjuster, so I don't create such heavy blobs.

Now I need to do the same with my 2012 4Runner (Bismarck), so I bought one more 3-litter can of FF NAS. I still use spray cans for some touch-ups when I find untreated spots, but for general spraying I'm going to use only NAS.

 

I hope my Tacoma will not be angry with me for putting non-Toyota parts on it . Following the thread Windshield Sprayer Upgrade during my last trip to USA I bought and now installed Windshield Sprayer Odyssey nozzles. Took 10 minutes including checking all my sprayer lines. This is big difference indeed. I'm not saying that the factory nozzles were crap (they served me well for over 20 years) just Odyssey nozzles are more modern.

I have also bought a check valve as I had problem with fluid withdrawing, but I have not installed it yet. I don't know if this is coincidence or something got fixed on its own, but now I do not have the fluid withdrawing problem. The spray is right on. Strange.

While in USA I have also bought polarity switching LED for my marker lights. Now waiting for some connectors from China (ebay) so I can install plug-in relays for white marker / orange blinkers functionality in my corners. If it works as I'm expecting I will put the same setup to my Bismarck (4Runner).

Finally I have replaced rheostat with electronic dimmer. I had some electronic circuit that was using the rheostat and working with all LED dash lights, but I never liked that solution. Replacing the stock rheostat with original Toyota electronic dimmer is much cleaner solution. All that is written here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/dimming-led-dash-lights.546723/

 

Still following your thread, though I took most of the year off from the Forum. Looks like your rig is doing well overseas!

 

Thanks. Yes this truck is awesome. But like for other people this forum is an inspiration for modifications, for me is the list of things I can be waried about. Currently on my list is LBJ replacement, valve clearance check and lately the age of AC compressor. On the other hand both don't show any signs of going bad and that is even more frustrating.

From the things to modify I still need to do the polarity switchback corner lights, but lately I've been busy with my family. And it's time for another oil change again.

 

I wonder if anyone noticed the white tape I have under the "TACOMA" on the tail gate.



It is not for decoration or masking some rust but it really has a paint protection purpose. You may already noticed a black horizontal line/mark on that tape. It came from my registration plate. This is because Polish plates are quite bigger than USA, so they don't fit well on step-on bumper



There are two sizes allowed in Poland: either the same height as US plates but about 50% longer or the same width as in USA but about 50% higher. Neither will fit into my stock bumper. So I decided to use "square" plate on the back of my Tacoma. For legal driving all letters must be visible so I'm driving with the plate sticking up like on the picture above. Of course it is way to tall to open the tailgate.

So how do I open the tailgate, you may ask. Notice that the license plate is mounted with two bolts, but instead of the round hole in the plate, there is a long slot for each bolt allowing the license plate to slide down through the slot behind the bumper.



In the position shown on the picture above I can safely open the tailgate. I just need to make sure that after closing the tailgate I will push the license plate all the way up before I drive (Yes, I did forget few times, but was lucky to not get pulled over before realizing it and fixing my plate on the next traffic stop).

And of course sometimes I'm to lazy to push the license plate down before opening the gate, so the gate is pushing the plate down. So here is the tape protecting the paint of the tailgate from being scraped by the top of license plate when it happens. And as you can see from the marks on the tape, it did happen many times already.

Really the only good solution to license plate problem is either replacing the bumper with something I can bolt the "long" version of license plate to, or wait till authorities will make the USA-size legal in Poland. USA-size is legal in few EU countries already, so maybe they will make it legal in Poland too. I don't want to throw away perfectly good bumper (zero rust, and no dings), so for now I'm keeping my "sliding license plate" solution.

At some point when my bumper will go bad (either from someone rear-ending me or giving life to rust) I will put an "off-road" plate type bumper to discourage happy drivers from running into my ass, and also to put some backup lights I have in the box (they are a bit to big for the bumper I have now). Some day...

 

After installing BFG KO2 30x9.5R15 (from Michelin M/S 235x75R15) my mileage dropped 1-2 mpg. Some contribution to that is the bigger tire diameter so the truck makes more miles per what the odometer shows than before the change. But still not that much. I'm thinking maybe I need to inflate them a bit more. Calculated pressure was 30 psi in front and 33 psi rear. But these tires are so soft and tall, that they look quite flat. I decided to increase the pressure a little bit to 30psi on all tires. So this is how it sits now:



The ride comfort did not change (these KO2 are so soft), and maybe it is a just me, but while coasting I feel like there is much less road resistance. The next fueling will tell the truth.