Not so proud of my 2013 Tacoma

Just bought a 2013 Taco through a private deal. Didn't do my due diligence and am now facing a TON of work to get the thing safetied. Main parts are good - body, frame, engine, tranny, 4x4... but the rest has been used and abused during its life.

Starting to wonder if I'm ever going to enjoy a truck for personal use that has been worked so hard in its life. Looks pretty! But underneath is not so much.
Open to hearing stories of anyone who thought they made a bad choice and came to love it!!

Already appreciating all of the topics on here so I can start with the fixin.

Cheers

 

Let’s start with a can of foaming carpet cleaner.

 

im very confused here? the frame is good the motor and trans are good? the body is great and the 4wd is good? then what is the bad? it looks like a good looking truck?

shit you dont want it ill take it for free.99!

 

Welcome to TW, it’s a 12+ year old truck

More examples?? maybe on one hand it’s got problems but if the main items are good as you said, no rust, runs drives and stops one might say it’s a good truck..

 

Well its things like mirrors dont work, windows dont work (all of them), codes must have been cleared before looking because now it has airbag light for a front sensor, and engine light for the sais system malfunction. Shocks are blown out the back, mechanic says engine has probably been swapped at some point, wiring in the engine bay is FULL of electrical tape, truck box has two of the large bolts mounting to the frame that are somehow raised through the box? Pretty much every plastic fastener on the fenders is gone/missing, interior is missing plastic covers, stereo/radio doesnt work, and I'm sure the list will go on.

Truck is at mechanics now so no other pics for a bit.

 

the electrical mirrors and windows is odd but its not something that cant be fixed thou.

the airbag light is interesting thou did you get a carfax of this truck to make sure it wasnt in an accident at some point? (could also be other things to have it show up thou)

the sais here is a link to that. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2012-secondary-air-injection-system-sais-recall.729514/

rear shocks are simple grab a set of oem ones off rock auto for 100 bucks or less or grab a set of Bilstein 5100s. easy and simple to swap out.

the engine being swapped would be very odd? (how many miles?) if he is stating its been swapped because it has electrical tape all over that is interesting? my guess is someone had aftermarket lights and such or speakers? not sure thou.

the large bolts in the box are you talking about the bed bolts? if they are backed out then they are loose (there have been a few things here and there to bolt things down in the bed with those bolts) and if they are towards the tailgate then someone most likely had bed stiffeners and removed them and didnt fully tighten them back again i guess?

im confused on the plastic clips for the fender flares you are talking about? the plastic clips are behind the flares and i dont see anything from your pic that shows they are not connected?

interior plastics thats odd and the radio not working is also odd?

did you buy this from a dealer or a person? not gonna lie it sounds like well any truck on this forum that was modified highly and then returned to stock to either trade in or sell private party.


pics of all the issues would for sure help.

 

Thanks Calamity_taco, not even sure how to tag you yet on here!

It was a private sale, so it's on me to have looked a lot closer at the truck.

Mechanic thought the engine swap because all of the components have the wrecker's yellow numbering on them around the engine. I'll be adding a few more before it's done.

Thanks for the tips. I'll be posting once I run into issues that I cannot find the fix for. I got the truck for 'below market value', but I'm worried its going to be 'above market value' by the time I'm actually happy with it.
Time will tell!

 

Sounds like a harness connection was missed for the window and mirror controls especially if there’s been an engine swap. This could also be a flood damaged truck…

 

no worries to quote someone look below the name on the right hand side and click quote if you are on a pc or just tap it on your phone. if you are wanting to do multiple at once click the multi quote and add them in there will be an option to insert those.

ahh i gotcha did these issues exist when you went to check the truck out?

oh well that is interesting? i wonder if it was a flood vehicle maybe? im not exactly sure thou!

for sure keep us up to date on it!

 

Check fuses and relays, this could be all your mirrors, windows, radio, etc's issue.

Airbag light, never heard of the sensor issue before. You sure it wasn't wrecked?

Shocks are wear parts.

The SAIS system is garbage anyway, as long as both valves don't trip CELs you won't go into Limp Mode. Just get the system deleted with a tuner, or replace the trouble valve.

I do believe the engines should have a VIN plate or be stamped somewhere so if it matches, it wasn't swapped. Though it could've been rebuilt.

The electrical tape is more concerning to me, especially with the amount of electrical issues you mentioned. If the fuses/relays aren't the issue, that's gonna be one fun project to trace.

Post pictures of what you are talking about with the bed bolts.

Fender fasteners are cheap and easy to get, but I don't even run liners anymore. Just keep it all clean.

Pictures of the missing plastics?

All of it is fixable, and depending on what you paid for it, may be worth it still. Really the big expense will be mending any wiring if it is all hacked up, so install of a new wiring loom.

 

i was just wondering that!

 

Welcome to TW! Good luck!

 

Welcome to the forum

As you said, you didn't do your due diligence - don't take it hard, most of us have done it at least once, some folks more than once...

If you didn't pay too much, getting a truck with a solid body & frame is easier to put right than something with road signs zip screwed into the floor and cardboard with undercoating covering the frame.

As you work through and learn you will both make it right and also make it your own.

 

True that, I didn't learn my lesson the first time I didn't look a car over. 2006 Saturn Ion II. It ran for a week before the missing harmonic balancer bolt the previous owner left me as present in the intake embedded itself in the piston.

Then we bought a rebuilt title (red flag) 350z (red flag) from some stoner dude (red flag) and only looked at it once in the dark (just plain stupid on our part). It's been an ongoing nightmare....

 

I appreciate all of the responses. Not feeling alone in it might be 95% of the battle.

 

We have all stepped into water way deeper than expected occasionally, lots of good folks on this forum, just ask.