Looking for guidance from someone on Oahu. Truck issues.

Hey everyone!

My name is Jesse, I'm a full time student at UH Manoa and a full time resident here too and I've been living here for a little over a year and a half. I brought my 2001 Tacoma with me from the mainland. I'm looking for a little bit of guidance or mentorship to care for my truck since I know very little but I feel I need to learn how to do more myself.

At the beginning of the year there was a little damage done to my truck that my insurance would not cover (see pictures). I've been to a mechanic and he told me that the truck is running sound and everything so I guess it's cosmetic damage at this point but I feel like it definitely needs to be fixed and sometimes when I turn my tire will rub a little bit on the bumper.

So essentially I'm looking for someone to help point me in the right direction to get the damage repaired when I save up the money but also to help me look over my truck to see what other types of maintenance needs to be done and how to do simple things myself without having to worry if a mechanic is trying to rip me off. I want to learn more about my truck and keep it running strong as long as I possibly can because love this truck.

So if anyone wants to help just reply or shoot me a pm, I'm located in the Nuuanu area.

Mahalo!

 

Pm sent

 

Why wouldn’t insurance cover the damage to your vehicle?

 

if he only has basic, they don't cover really anything

 

Yea it was all a rather frustrating ordeal that I would rather not get into, that was not really the purpose of my post

 

Bummer.

BTW @jessecaps20 , luka is known to work magic. But don’t know what his availability is to coach/teach/mentor.

 

I go back to days after this week...so my afternoons are sorta opening up

 

Hard to see how bad the damage is from the pics but the rubbing could just be your fender or bumper, they're seperated from the other panels pretty good.

If you're on a budget, it's probably worth it to search for some junkyard panels, bumper, headlight, etc. I bet you can get a lot of that replaced on the cheap and paited fairly cheap as well. Best place in the states for toyota parts.

 

Other than physical damage, it sounds like you're eager to learn about the truck. There are some good guys in here that will be happy to help you out and show you the ropes, as long as you're not an a-hole and willing to learn.

 

That sounds like a great suggestion! do you know any good junk yards I should look around at? But Yes, I want to learn to do very basic things myself such as my next oil change I want to start doing that myself and other things on the more simple end of the spectrum. Other than that I'm just looking more for an experienced set of eyes to guide me. I'm not looking for any type of free labor or anything, I'm looking for someone who can help me look at my truck and be like "you might need new shock absorbers, brakes, etc..." without having to worry about a someone just trying to take my money because I don't have any extensive car knowledge to dispute them. Mostly just someone willing to give me a couple hours every month or so to point me in the right direction. I have youtube to figure things out on my own

 

Do you have your own hand tools? If you want to start r own maintenance, start investing in some tools. Most just start with a basic craftsman set. Make sure you get the metric one.

 

Start with a good set of hand tools. Oil changes, belts, and basic things like alternators, PS pumps belts, timing, spark plugs, wires and the like can be swapped with simple hand tools. Anybody can wrench, diagnosing is what you need to learn