Found bolt and spring under my Tacoma

Hello people. My 2006, 4 cylinder, 5 speed manual has been acting a little strange lately. It shudders and shakes while coming to a stop like it wants to stall out, but never does. It takes off and drives fine when I resume driving but repeats on every stop. Well today I found a bolt and spring under it in the driveway that is probably the cause of this. It's too damn hot to pull it up on the ramps today but I thought that someone here might give me a head start as to where I should be looking when I do get under it. Bottle cap is for size reference. Thanks for reading guys..

 

Check the exhaust pipe.

 

Kinda looks like it's from a *rear* brake drum

 

Yep, that's the spring bolt for where the header meets the midpipe

 

second for exhaust

 

This is likely because there is a big exhaust leak before the primary o2/AFR sensor so it's throwing off the readings. Primary o2 is in the midpipe right after the joint where those spring bolts seal

 

OK. That makes sense. Thank you so much. You guys are awesome!

 

You dont have CEL?

 

Looks like a brake spring to me (look at the backing plates as they may have rusted out), but could possible be part of the exhaust where it bolts to the manifold. Good luck.

 

Good luck getting this sorted. I would make sure and replace the gasket and use some antiseize on the new bolts. Also, you may need to clean the old holes out with a thread tap, mine were rusted, and the new bolts were actually too big for the old holes

 

No.

 

For what it’s worth, I had a bad exhaust leak for over 6 months and never got a single CEL or code. My truck would ping under high load and I narrowed it down to this joint after adding an AFR gauge

 

That bolt looks like it was unearthed from the Roman Empire era, jesus

 

Well all ya have to do is look under truck, if both springs are there. Well then. Rear brakes it is
Have a wonderful day

 

In ontario it's almost normal to drag your muffler on the ground all the way to work.

Freaking rust!

 

It's an exhaust flange spring bolt

They rust apart so often I stock them in the cabinet at work

Way too big to be a brake spring and there's no bolts like that inside the drum

 

All the auto stores sell a bolt and spring kit for that cat to mid pipe connection for under $10. The donut gasket they sell is not an exact fit as I got 2 different ones and had to fall back on the beat up old one to get a seal FYI. Also had to add a few washers to get a better tighter connection with the springs.

 

This.


OP you may want to inspect your frame while you’re under there.

 

Definitely exhaust