KeithB's SWB '09 Tacoma DCSB V6 4.0 TRD Sport 4x4

This weekend I finally tackled my Fox coilover install mistake from back in March. The adjustment collar on the driver side was delivered to me with the set screw/bolt facing inward. I didn't notice until after install when I went to adjust the collar. So I believe stock height in front was 20.5" hub to fender and 22" in the rear. I was at 21.5" in front with coilovers as delivered with 1.25" of thread showing above the collar. Now I'm at 1.5" of thread above the collar which gives me 22" hub to fender in front. Still only 1.5" lift but with the CMC I had done it's enough to clear my 285/70R17's. Back end is at 24" hub to fender but I have Firestone riderite air bags so that's easily adjustable with a compressor. The 1/4" adjustment of the collar was 3 turns of the collar on the passenger side and 3.5 turns on the driver side (the extra half turn to get the set screw facing outward).

Also added new fender well shielding made out of black 5 gallon pail lids.

Also wire brushed sections of the frame for my bi-annual frame clean up. Finished it off with some fresh rattle can paint. 11 New England winters and still looks great. Just take it to the car wash every week or two in the winter. No frame replacement for me. I can just imagine all the gremlins I'd have to deal with after that.

Pics coming later.

 

OK, here's some pictures of my home made fender well shrouds for the backside of the front fender well where I had trimmed to make room for 285's. Had a slab of rubber there for years but this is much cleaner looking.


And here's the coilovers after adjustment:

 

And now for my frame. 11 winters in New England, 192,000 miles, never fluid filmed, just washing regularly and spring and fall wire brush clean up and some paint.

 

Looks like your taking good care of your truck.

 

Thanks - I try! It's tough with these NE winters though. Just don't want to ever have to deal with Toyota's frame replacement deal. Truck has been real good to me.

 

Alright, so now my tire pressure light is on/off at random. Sometimes it's off when I start the truck and comes on miles down the road and other times it comes on right away and sometimes not at all. Started happening right when the weather got cold so I thought it was actually low but checked and all good. Tried to reset but to no avail. Guessing it's a bad sensor or dead battery. Now to find out what's the cheapest way to diagnose or maybe just disable the light. I drove for 20+ years before these stupid things were ever invented and did just fine without them. Now it's an annoyance and an expense that I never needed or wanted.

With all the new electronannies in the newer vehicles, really dreading the day I have to trade this one in.

 

Linking this here for TPMS dummy light disable so I can find it when I'm ready to do it.

Option 1:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2012-tpms-light-disabled.284690/

or maybe this route:

Option 2:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/complete-tpms-disable-guide.161292/

 

Damned TPMS light is still on.

 

Replaced burned out headlight bulb and got new floor mats. Also cleaned up an oil spill in the bed. Need to find some better cleaning material. Dawn dishwashing soap didn't take care of the odor.

 

Love the headlights and seat covers. I have the same TPMS sensor issue, very annoying. Maybe i'll see you driving around CT sometime!

 

You may very well see me. I'm all over the state on a regular basis. Plus I'm pretty easy to spot. The SWB taco is not an incognito vehicle. One son that I take to New Haven for track club practice 2x per week, another son at CCSU and another at Uconn. Work in Rocky Hill, live in Cheshire, lake house in Winsted, in-laws in Pawcatuck.

Not sure I've seen you in the CT thread. Pop in and say hello to the other Connecticutians: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/hey-connecticut.309240/page-673#post-22231655

 

That why my kids love it. When we go to the grocer store, it's very easy to find in the sea of black, grey and white cars.

 

I should probably do this sometime. 195k and never been done:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2009-2nd-gen-maf-cleaning.530945/

 

Ok, finally did the TPMS dash light disable mod. Went with option 1 (TPMS module behind the climate controls) from earlier post 107. Wanted to do option 2 (kick panel wire harness mod) but the wires behind the drivers side kick panel did not match the pics provided in the tutorial post. I had different color wires and some of the pins that were empty in the pics were not empty on my truck. So I did not feel comfortable cutting and splicing what may not have been the correct wire. Probably would have been fine. I probably have options the tutorial poster did not have.

For option 1, there was no visibility for that plug behind the climate controls but I could feel it. Once disconnected from the TPMS module using my finger tips, it was easier to work with since I was able to pull it out and untape some of the loom. Ended up popping a couple switches below the climate controls for finger access to help get the plug reinserted. 25 miles so far and no light or adverse effects.

 

Tread life review of Falken Wildpeak AT3/W: 22 months and 33,000 mile update on P285/75R17's used for a DD. New:13.6/32 tread depth. Current: 8/32 tread depth. So that's about 1/32 inch per 6,000 miles. Extrapolating out another 18,000 miles to 51,000 a year from now should be at 5/32 at which point I think they should be replaced. These are rotated every 5,000 miles (front to rear and rears crisscrossed to the front. Excellent tire for the money and will be purchasing again. Quiet with great traction on pavement in rain and snow. No offroad experience with these. Expect to replace before next winter.

 

Still good after 2000 miles

 

So I did something I've been wanting to do for a while now. I covered my seats with Clazzio a few years ago and never liked the fact that the hard rear seat backs were covered. So I removed the hard seat back and moved it outside the seat cover. Required a couple slits in the clazzios but then I was able to just attach it over the seat cover. Also did not like that my tools and storage items behind the seats were exposed when the seats were down. Items would fall out of the storage area when braking. So I made some secondary hatches to keep closed when the seats were folded down. Still need to cover them with black bunk board carpet. Tried just using stick on velcro to keep them closed. Velcro was stronger than the sticky side so that didn't work. Switched to magnets.

SimplehHatches made from 1/4" MDF board:


Two bolts under plastic caps to remove seat back:

Cover reinstalled after removing hard back. Slits cut to attach backing.

This is what the back side of the seat back looks like and why I needed to cut the slits in the cover:

Working on it in my living room:

Reinstalling (just poked a hole in the seat cover where the bolt needed to go through):

Driver side seat back done vs before pic of the passenger side:

Storage hatch door open:

Bunk carpet installed on hatch doors:

Magnets from home depot did not work because the magnetic disc had to be glued to the hatch and the hot melt glue did not hold. Magnets stronger than glue. So I have ordered magnetic discs with a hold in the middle so they can be screwed to the hatch door. Then I should be done.

 

Tacomabeast headlights been getting some condensation lately. Only 1.5 yrs old. I ran a bead of clear silicone around them before install to try to avoid this situation. Used to be just the passenger side after a hard rain or carwash but it would always clear itself up after a day in the sun. Now both sides and it's quite a bit of moisture which is not going away by itself. Pulled the blinker bulbs and dropped in a desiccant pouch tied to a string overnight to try to soak up the moisture. Drivers side cleared up but passenger needed another couple days with fresh desiccant pouches.

Also started having hyper flash on the driver side blinker a few weeks back. Was intermittent. Now that I've messed with the socket/bulbs because of the desiccant pouches, it's happening more often and my DTRL (dim setting of the blinker) has a bad connection. My truck did not come with DTRL so I had tapped into the corner markers and plugged that into the third unused port of the blinker socket so I'd get low filament of the bulk illuminated when parking lights or headlights were on. Guessing the wire taps for the resistor on the LED blinker have a bad connection causing the hyperflash. And the third wire in the unsued port keeps falling out. So I've ordered new blinker sockets so I can redo the wiring to make some new solid connections. Also going to re-silicone the headlights. Hope it works cause it's a real annoyance.

Also, today - 198,000 miles. Already have my 200,000+ sticker ready for the back window next month.

 

These are the plugs I ordered for the blinkers:

$13 beler 3 Way 3 Pin Turn Light Signal Harness Cable Connector Fit For Toyota Scion Lexus Acura Honda Nissan Infiniti

Blinker wire harness

Had to return these OE ones cause the don't come with wires. OE wires would have been $8 each.

$9 Genuine Toyota 90980-11020 Wiring And Clamp Connector F Housing

OE Plug connector

$11 Genuine Toyota Parts - Terminal, Repair W/W (82998-12440)

OE wire terminal

Also replaced the bulb sockets while I was at it.

$14 Genuine Toyota 90075-60060 Socket Plug

Bulb socket

 

Update: So lets see, a couple of weeks ago, 3/7/20, truck would not start. Tried to turn over but wouldn't. After a few tries, it stopped trying to turn. Got it jump started with the wife's car. Not sure what happened. Did a few errands worried it wouldn't start again but it was fine. When I got back home, put it on the charger and it only took about 10 minutes until the charger said it was fully charged. Then it was fine all week until 3/13 leaving work, it almost didn't start again but finally turned over and has been good ever since. Ultraguage reads 13-2-13.9 volts. Multimeter on the terminals reads 12.65 volts. Went up to the lake house on Sun 3/22 and was worried I'd be stranded without a jumper vehicle so I brought the boat battery with me. Guess I will keep it in the bed until it goes back in the boat in a couple months.

Now this morning, some HVAC dash lights are out. Fan speed control and the A/C button are dark. Wonder if it's a wire or a bulb. Guessing it's a wire. What are the chances 2 bulbs go at exactly the same time?

Also, very rarely but still getting hyperflash on the driverside LED blinker every few days. Maybe the resistor is going bad. Is that even possible? And had to desiccant some water out of the passenger side headlight again after heavy rain on 3/13. Both are much improved from before but still not 100%.

Oh yeah, android auto is getting more and more unreliable. The connection to the HU keeps blipping out. Sometimes it will re-establish connection after a few seconds and other times it just won't connect again. Like this morning it connected and then almost immediately blipped out like 5 times. Going to try a firmware update but hopes are not too high that will fix it. Sometimes a HU reboot works and sometimes a phone reboot works. Only problem with HU reboot is that there is no power button so you have to re-start the engine. Next HU without a power button is going to get a switch wired into the power supply and hidden under the dash somewhere for just such an occasion especially since it's not just AA but also sometimes the XM radio gets no volume but the other sources are fine. Stupid electronic aftermarket crap.