What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

what I did twice haha

 

Getting the timing belt and water pump replaced today. Might be some other issues that come up when they are in there, as well. My new-to-me 2003 Tacoma SR5 4WD V-6 has 246,000 miles on it and has no record of the timing belt being replaced by the previous owner, who had it for 11 years. There is a bit of oil on the engine so hopefully the timing belt will take care of that. If they find something cracked, then I'll just need to take a deep breath and go with it!

 

I do find it annoying that 1st gen Tacos are pulling more $$ than my 2004 ram can on Craigslist. I love the Ram, I've had it about 12 years and have done a ton of shit to it. It drives super nice on the highway, it's extremely comfortable for long drives, has zero mechanical issues, even at 216k miles. And it's the Hemi engine with some basic mods done (tuner, headers and some other things) that make it even better all around. And I have about 90% of the parts needed for a good engine refresh. But I know that I'll be lucky if I can sell it for $5k, even with all that stuff. Not enough to buy another 1st gen so I might also have to sell my track bike. But I haven't ridden that in a year anyhow.

 

Eh there are 1st gens around me for 5k all the time. They are getting cheaper and cheaper. Especially as 2nd gens get older and older.

And shoulda bought a cummins

 

September 24, 2019.

...That last hour had been a rough one. And it's repercussions would be immediate and long lasting. They'd start the next morning as we started trying to clean up the mess and figure out what we were going to do next.

Read the whole story in Redhead Down #9: The Last Hour








catch up on the whole story
[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6] [part 7] [part 8] [part 9]
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Had no need of the cummins at the time. But yeah, it would have retained it's value much better.

 

Wat.

 

As someone who got a beat up Tacoma, I'd recommend starting to plan for a LS swap now. If I had a garage and time, I would have rebuilt my engine myself. But I did not, so I paid someone build up a 5VZ from a core and swapped it in and had a 2 year warranty against any leaks or problems. Now I wish I had just paid someone to drop an LS with a turbo in it with a 5 speed auto.

The right time to get a 2nd taco is when you still have a functioning one. That way you can get one of these cheap broken ones and build it up right.

 

I've used zip ties instead of that clamp and have had no issue with contaminants getting in.

 

LS is going to be a lot more time consuming and likely more expensive with needing a new axle.

Just slap a turbo on the 3.4 and enjoy it being able to breathe at elevation.

 

The beck and arnley boots actually came with heavy duty zip ties instead of clamps but I wanted to be difficult.

 

I can't turbo in a CO smog county, can I?

In the sense that the stock ECU is not flashable (...yet, maybe never), so I'd have to run a piggyback or a replacement ECU.

 

Took it for a drive

 

Idk, haven't lived in a place where I need to deal with any of that.

 

I thought so!!

 

Put a covert winch on it.

 

i’ve been lookin out for 5lugs as a possible daily. See them pop up at or below 5k fairly often. Would love to have a little regular cab 5spd as a daily

 

I wouldn't be too concerned with a bit of oil seep on the motor at 246,000 miles. Mine was leaking pretty good from the valve cover gaskets at about that mileage. Having the valve covers done wont fix that, but if whoever is doing the water pump/timing belt is any good they'll be in there far enough to be able to tell you where the oil is most likely coming from. The only things that are you get to, during the timing belt/water pump replace, that would effect oil would be the cam seals and the front crank seal and if those are leaking, you wouldn't even be able to see it because it's behind the front plastic cover.

 

I would recommend doing the cam seals at a minimum. It's only a few extra bolts for a boat load of security. Many of the kits come with the seals too. Would hate to do the job and have the seals leak a few months later.

 

Totally agree... and I would also recommend doing the crank seal as well.

The point I was making is if you can see oil, it's not from anything that will be fixed or replaced as part of doing the timing belt/water pump.