What is it?

Ok: I have had my truck since June, got under it to drain the oil and check things out but still no clue as to what this is. It looks like a lot of time and planning went into it for it to just be some whim of the engineers. It's too dark so see up in there and I'm not taking down the pan. ("If it ain't broke..."). Thanks!

 

Looks like the bottle jack (tire change) lift point.

 

It's a nipple

 

Its in the Owner's Manual.

That is the lift point under the engine. The rear lift point is the differential. There are also lift points on the frame.

 

Using that jack point will result in both front wheels off the ground at the same time.
You don’t have to move the jack but one time this way. Plus, it gives you plenty of room for jack stands on the frame. I use that location almost exclusively when doing front end work.

USE JACK STANDS WHEN USING THIS LOCATION. NEVER ALLOW THE JACK TO BE “THE STAND”.

 

I think you should be exploring the rust under your truck.

Assuming things are safely solid, clean up and treatment before this years round of salted roads would be good

 

Thanks guys! I admit it: Never occurred to me that it would be in the Owners manual.

I'll try and make the next one harder or at least Non "Ahhhhh: DUH" level

(Glad I didn't remove the pan)

 

No worries about the "Non "Ahhhhh: DUH" level. There have been many questions with a much higher factor.

FWIW, spend some time poking thru the Owner's Manual. You may surprised with the information about the operation of your truck.

 

Frame is solid. I had the CRC frame inspection, the power wash, plug(s) installed and compound application done and it was declared good by the inspecting Toyota dealer. I'm supplementing Toyota treatment with a combination of Satin Rustoleum (diffs, rear axle welds, pumpkin(s) control arms, etc) and Fluid Film. 99% of the rust that's seen on the frame is along the frame welds with a few very minor spots along the misc. frame seams (overlaps) they treated with the CRC. I'm doing it a little at a time and it should be all done before the snow flies. If I ever figure out what they used and find a source, I think I'd treat the entire frame with it. It's not really too bad for a vehicle with six New England Winters under it's belt. Thanks for the replies everyone.

 

Hah! Thanks for that Knute! I'm working my way through it....Honest! But my eyes could be better, the print is small and it's 800+ pages
between the main manual and the "radio" manual and I fall asleep after work in the chair reading it. lol (There's lots of typos in it: Ya: THOSE I spot) Too funny.

Re: Rust: I'm more worried about all of the various brackets along the frame holding things down and under the hood. (brake lines, electrical and parking brake cables, fuel lines and vents, etc) Most of them are a rusty mess already. With the exception of the fluid lines, to avoid making a big mess I'm coating all the ones I can reach with Fluid Film, sprayed in a plastic cover/cap and applied with a small brush. I'll see if it holds up and slows down the rust, and if not I'll dab wheel-bearing grease on them. The fluid lines (brackets) get a coating of the satin Rustoleum, so as not to mask any future leak.

 

Yeah. OMs are a bit of a pain to read.

They are worse pain to write. Need to use 4th grade language, comply with Engineering, Legal, Safety, Finance and Marketing requirements. Then you have the graphics people trying stylize the pict-o-grams......

I really don't miss writing OMs for power tools...... Tremendous appetite for consuming time to end up in a heated discussion between departments, then do it again. Eventually, the printing deadline arrives and it gets printed. Hopefully, the company has covered any potential exposure and only typos exist.

I can't imagine the gnashing of teeth writing a manual for a vehicle.

 

Try POR ("Paint Over Rust") with two coats on cleaned metal per directions. Stuff has been good for me.

 

Thank you: I always do, but it never hurts to repeat that caution. I have a late 50's Buick (Shipping weight:4,500 lbs) and I lift it with my 3-ton floor jack and settle her down on 3-ton jack stands when I'm under her, keeping a little pressure on the frame with the floor jack. Haven't had an excuse to lift the Tacoma yet, but that front point will be perfect for the floor jack. I would have never used it for that purpose if not for this forum: I would have just painted it and left it alone and mysterious. Thanks again.

 

I have used POR in the past on things and it did a good job. I'll use it on a some of the frame welds and compare it over time to the Rustoleum. I used it (Rustoleum) with a foam brush on the engine pan and it came out really nice. It had very light surface rust and the satin covered it real nice with no brush strokes showing. Looked like a nice facotry spray. I did the cross-piece under the bumper end-to-end, which was pretty rusty, and it's amazing the difference it made. It's the first thing you see when you walk up to them in a dealer lot and it doesn't make a good impression. Same results with the hitch.

After all this time and the problems they have had to deal, it's hard to understand why Toyota can't resolve this with better coatings. Same thing with the cheap sheet-steel brackets they use for everything on the frame and in the engine bay.

 

Project Farm to the rescue - POR performs very well compared to the competition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag46YUovPUc

 

Time for another "What is it?". I think (hope) I know what the first one is and hoping it's a temperature sensor >for an inside rearview mirror<. My truck doesn't have one, even though it is listed in the 2014 Tacoma brochure as part of the SR5 package. (I just assumed it got lifted either before or after the trade-in.) My truck does have the harness for a dimming mirror above the roof console.

Hint: the wires on this sensor are white, and white w/red or pink stripe.

The second gizmo sits right in front of the battery and it gets very warm while the truck is running.

 

You have a girl!!! Congrats !!!

 

The second one is the fuel pump resistor.
It controls the speed of the fuel pump.

 

The first one is, just as you guessed, the outside air temp sensor.

 

Thanks!! But I'm getting the feeling that this particular outside air temp sensor is the exclusive lofty servant of the engine management system, and that it doesn't/wont talk to some lame, lowly outside temp reporting mirror.... lol....