My $6000 Mistake - Never Drive Overheated

Welcome and sorry to hear!

 

you could prob get a diesel installed for 6k

 

I think you goign have to shell out that money. Look on the bright side, with rebuild motor you will probably put another 160k miles on the truck and get your money back that way.

 

That's really sad to hear. $6K sure is a lot of money to put in it, but at least you'll know everything's very 'new'. I hope you get a good warranty with it too.

Incidentally...I've heard this is something the V6 block is prone to because of it's open deck design; it's just not tolerant to overheating. That surely suggests it could be just the block, but at least you know you have a good warranted motor now!

Best of luck...

 

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Yep, dealers charge expensive labor hours at about $100.00 (and up) an hour here (plus parts markup too).

FWIW ... a buddy of mine spent over $6,000.00 to put a new engine in his 2000 Corolla at a local Toyota dealer.

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I thought it would be fun to revive this long dormant post with an update. I finally sold my '05 a few weeks ago. The CEL has been off and on for the past 2-1/2 years throwing the P0430 code. I was able to pass the California Smog test back in 2019 but since the Code will no longer clear and since nothing short of a new Cat will fix it (and it needs new tires) it was time to go. Someone I know just retired and is moving to Nevada where he doesn't need a smog test and needed a truck so it was a no brainer sale. Anyway - the truck still runs good AND has 437,000 on it so I figured it was better to sell it than to make any major repairs or put another $800 into new tires. That 2005 was one tough truck - except for the engine swap in 2011 all of the major components are still original. That replacement motor probably has somewhere around 300K on it and it runs great. The tranny has all 437K on it and still shifts great. AC blows cold and the heater blows hot.
Although I will miss the '05 the pain is lessened somewhat by the 2003 Xtra Cab PreRunner that I bought to replace it. Still a Taco man for sure!

 

Wow!!!! Thanks for the update. I was reading this and was wondering how things turned out and who revived an 11 year old post

Glad to hear that it all turned out so well.

11 additional years out of your Tacoma proves you made the right choice by choosing option #3

Hope the 03 treats you well

 

Thanks for the update, I wish more OP's would do the same on threads they start.

 

Ouch! Tough break

 

$2200 head gasket, water pump, serpentine belt, front breaks, ac refill, spark plugs and some other svc 150k miles 2005 head gasket issue was given. after major svc was done truck runs good as new or even better from what i recall. got rid of knocking noise from engine.