Purchasing 2006 Taco, Anything Wrong?

Hello all.

After years of wanting a taco I might have finally scored one. I won this Ebay auction.. and I know it is on the high side of price, but with how minimal rust seems, one owner, and no accidents I thought it was worth it.

Before I send payment I was wondering if there is anything major I overlooked on this listing?

here is the listing URL: https://www.ebay.com/itm/326597123800

It seems the main concern was frame rust with this year, and from the pics it seems okay to me? But I dont know the exact areas to look at. Let me know if you see anything concerning please

 

Looking inside the engine bay (looks super clean even without a detail) There is minimal or non existant rust in spots mine has and I keep mine cleaned and coated often. Also no valve cover leak in the common passenger side front. Afa the under carriage, i dont see much crud build up around the rack and pinion. I cant tell if it has been treated and coated with something along the frame to either cover up or prevent rust from spreading because it looks really clean other than it being washed. If thats the case it was done up right and looks really good.

 

awesome thanks for sharing. yeah it seems to me like someone sprayed something black on undercarrage.. not sure if thats black fluid film or another rust spray, but i would guess there is some rust as I can see a bit of bubbles here and there, but not bad and nothign it seems to worry about, but jsut not sure if I am looking in the areas these were known to rust out in

 

Some "rust sprays" dont last very long and is a very short quick fix up just for appearances and won't actually stop rust from spreading. Seeing the whole thing is coated it would be harder to tell. Sanding down all rust then spraying it is more permanent.

 

I see overspray and rust bubbling all over. Rear axle is visibly rusty under that paint. Exhaust is even sprayed all over.

Also the 2005 and early 2006 (before June) have a failure prone head gasket. If it hasn’t been fixed, they “usually go around 110k miles” or something. If it’s already blown, the engine is using coolant and may have overheated or worse having warped/cracked heads.

Have you had the vehicle inspected?

 

These are two spots that can get pretty bad, easily noticeable with time. At least thats what mine started to have problems with but I sanded and coated it with minimal spreading to other areas.

 

I scanned eBay for several months looking for a replacement for my 15'. Caught on real quick on that seller,every Tacoma they sell has been spray bombed underneath. I would never buy anything from them sight unseen.

 

I would not buy it (or any Tacoma) sight unseen. I see what looks like rippling along the bottoms of the frame rails which indicates there is delamination. The overall sloppy paint/coating is most definitely.hiding SOMETHING and I would not chance that it is serious.

 

thanks for this info. The carfax says it was manufactured 05/15/2006 so I am assuming it could be a problem since it was before June then.

is the average cost $3000 to ge the head gasket fixed?


No working on getting it inspected now. Would a shop be able to tell if the head gasket was done.. or just if there are issues?

 

where do you see the rippling/delam? I think i see what youre talking about but it looks like just sloppy spray to me?

 

Hard to explain, but for those of us that have seen it unpainted can spot it covered by paint.

 

This general area. Look at the wavy inside bottom edge.

You need to be able to look at it from underneath and inside, at the inside bottom edge of the C-channel, to be sure. There are a lot of frame photos here and none of them show the actual problem areas. That, combined with the shitty cover up job, kinda smells to me like the seller knows what they are doing, if you know what I mean.

 

Thanks everyone! Looking up this seller on google revealed they cover up lots of issues and people saying they are scammers, etc

I think I’m going to walk away from this deal unless they agree I can have inspected etc which I’m sure they won’t want

it went to auction after getting an unlisted service done so I would say there is a good chance the head gasket is bad and like said above I’m guessing there is trouble with the frame/etc they are covering up

 

Smart choice, patience will pay off...

 

Good call I think.