Checking in. New owner.

Just checking in. Finally pulled the trigger on a 2011 access cab today.

I'm mostly a VAG or BMW guy. I am, well was, ASE for a while. Gave up that path because IT pays way more money. Never owned a truck, never owned an auto, never owned a toyota. I usually vet out specifically what kind of car (well truck now) I want. Landed on getting a 2nd gen tacoma after my research. Tricky beasts to find in my area apparently, but I found the unicorn I was looking for. In general I was looking for a single cab, full bed, 4 wheel drive, and the least amount of cylinders, while having a track record that I don't have to worry about putting 200k on something.

I found a 2011 4 wheel drive 4 banger tacoma for a decent price. 96k on the clock when I got her, truck is super clean. I vetted this one for a bit, was a fleet vehicle that was dumped before it hit 100k, and went to auction. I tracked down the service records before I bought it, found the shop it was serviced at through for its first owners. I gave the shop a call, and asked if it was a problem child or if the owner took good care of it. The guy who responded remembered the truck, and said the owner was always on time for all maintenance, and they never had any real issues other than a blower motor going out. Seems like there's a lot of TSBs for heater/blower issues and melting headlights on these things from what I found.

I semi-inherited an exploder that's been my DD the last few months while my TDI is down for the winter. That one is a unicorn for a different reason, 215k and somehow the trans still works like a champ.

I've already read through a lot on this forum. The only real gripe I have with this truck, and I wasn't able to find a clear answer through searching the forum, is the seats are so.... so... bad. I'm 6'3" 200lbs, and man.... I had to drive almost 2 hours to pick this truck up. My lower back was killing me by the time I got home. I have the base of base model, lumbar is maxed out and it's still not enough. I've read about people putting spacers in to raise the seat, if anything I would want it lower. I was wondering if anyone knew if the gen 3 TRD seats bolted right on in? Or not. I only saw anecdotal posts on the subject.

Well, on to the pic... sorry I can do better when it's light out. I didn't get back from the dealer until it was dark.

https://i.imgur.com/VEyv900.jpg

Can anyone tell me what wheels these are? I'm assuming they are not factory. The TPMS is inop on the truck right now. I'm assuming someone either took out or busted the sensor(s) while putting the tires on. They are new enough they can't have more than 100 miles on them.

I think the 2011 kinda misses the general common problems of previous and after years. No new smog on this, and it's post the frame issue. Anything I should look for specifically on this? All I've come up with on my check list is: I'm missing FOB(s) I just got keys, so I ordered up a set of FOBs. The headlights need some TLC for plastics, but it looks like the ambers melted the lenses a bit. TPMS looks dead, but I honestly just don't care about that one. The aux input apparently doesn't like apple devices, but I already ordered up a fiio btr3 adapter for a pre-amp and double bonus as bluetooth, so I should be set there. I think that just leaves me with the uncomfortable as all hell seats.

This looks like a cool forum. Looking forward to having fun with my tacoma.

 

None of the years of the Tacoma really avoid the rusty frame issue. If yours is still good do yourself a favor and stay ahead of it by applying fluid film, especially if you are from an area that uses road salt in the winter. Those wheels do not look stock to me. The amber DRLs should have been replaced by the dealership under a tsb long ago so its odd that you have a melted one. Check with a dealer and see if they will still replace them with tsb lights, you might get lucky. Be careful of aftermarket headlights if you decide to replace the aging foggy lenses. The ebay lights leak but you may find some forum posts on how to deal with this issue. FOBs are easily purchased so no problem there. Unfortunately i cant help with the seats as mine are pretty comfortable so i never researched it. Welcome to TacomaWorld. Stick around because the combined knowledge of this forum surpasses any mechanic out there.

 

Good to know, the frame looks super clean. I did see a post about liquid film, I will get that in the works shortly here. I am in MN so there's a lot of salt. The truck was from MA.

I'll check with the dealer, I did run the vin through the NHTSA site nothing popped up for a TSB that wasn't done to it. I'm guessing though that they are mostly just looking at safety recalls not so much issues like the headlights.

 

Time to supercharge it.

 

Welcome to TW!!

 

Congratulations! Good luck with your new build

 

First tank of gas down. 18mpg. Hey, better than the exploder I was using haha.

 

My build is smaller than yours and I like my 2nd gen seats (better than my 1st gen), but I remember this guy replacing his seats with... FR-S's...?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neGUEcuWveI

 

Congratulations! !!

She looks good!!

 

Congrats on the new to you truck. Perhaps this will help you in the future
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ared-to-2020-tacoma-power-bucket-seat.649418/

 

That looks cool, but it looks like with the adapter it's really ramped up the height on the seat. Maybe those seats just in general are lower, so it evens out, I don't know. I think I will just be patient for a set of TRDs to come up for sale locally.

 

Oh that looks awesome, but looks like it's gonna get expensive quick. I'll watch the thread to see the progress.

 

I wonder if an 03-04 4runner seat would be a pretty close fit. My brother had an 04 4runner and I recall liking those seats. I just went on ebay to look at pics to see what the frame was like. Probably can find a decent set locally for not too much damage on the wallet.

 

I've been wondering a similar thing but expanded my wondering to FJ's and Lexus'.

 

The first style shouldn't be bad at all (cost). I'm shooting for less than $100 to do the front and the rear of one seat. The less expensive the better as long as strength isn't compromised, IMO.