This Ain't Your Grandmother's Taco - TacoGranny's Mild Sauce Tacoma

My seat covers showed up last weekend, so I took the opportunity on a sunny Sunday to throw them on. The whole process took maybe 3 hours, which included a lengthy talk with a neighbor who stopped over to BS, debating if I wanted to remove the seats or not and potentially deal with wiring/airbags/etc. (decided to do it with seats in, disconnect your battery beforehand if you decide to remove the seats), and looking up an install video on Youtube to make sense of the straps (the directions were pretty minimal/generic but made more sense after watching a video, link below).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG5hiYK2nrs

The center console took removing 10 screws (6 holding the inner plastic to the lid, which covered the 4 remaining screws to remove the lid at the hinge), made it pretty straightforward. Probably possible to do without removing the cover, but it's a pretty tight fit. I used a magnetic tip screwdriver since the 6 inner plastic screws are tiny.

I flipped the headrest covers completely inside out and lined up the seams while rolling them down, they were tight but that method worked well.

I did the same with the backs, but only flipped them ~1/2 way inside out, lined up the seams, and rolled down, pulling it tight as I went. There are some hooks on elastic ties attaching the OEM back bottom carpet under the seat that had to be released (pay attention to where these hook to, small metal bars), then the straps for the back of the seat cover could be fed through the bottom/backrest crease (the straps ultimately ran under the seat to attach at the bottom/front).

The bottoms get tucked in to the plastic surround on the drivers seat (less plastic on the passenger side to tuck). The plastic on the truck seats is actually surprisingly loose and was fairly easy to tuck the seat covers into. Because the bottom seam is folded over and stitched, it had enough to "catch" inside the plastic after tucked in. There's also a white plastic tab near the seat recline controls on both sides that sit inside the plastic of the seat sides (visible in photo #2 below), presumably for better holding power. This is probably a part that you could spend a lot of time on to make it look as good as you want, tucking everything as nicely as possible into the plastic and tightening as you go.

I wasn't really impressed with the side to side velcro solution, which probably would have worked much better if I had removed the seats, but it was sort of tricky to figure out how/where to strap the velcro (and keep it from sticking to nearby carpet, and connect it to itself along the entire length solidly under the seat). It wasn't a very good "pull tight" method either, I've seen strings used with a tensioner in the middle on some other covers that seemed like it would work way better. Then I connected the 4 straps front to back and tightened over the velcro running side to side, while paying close attention to where the straps and velcro were run and trying to avoid crushing any electronics, which there were plenty of with power seats/air bags. I also did my best to make sure nothing would get caught when moving the seats backwards and forwards.

After that, the rear bottom velcro attaches to the OEM carpeted bottoms and the OEM bottom elastic/plastic hooks could be reattached to a small cross bar underneath.

I didn't spend much time trying to make everything look as smooth as possible. I think the creases are much less noticeable in person than they look in pictures.

From the back, passenger:


Fronts, passenger side:


Fronts, driver side:


From the back, driver:


The backs get covered up by my dog hammock which is in the truck 99% of the time. The map pocket on the driver's seat back was a nice add on (why do the OEM seats not have one?).

I've had them in the truck for a few days, and so far I'm very happy with them. There's a small amount of foam padding on the inside of the covers that add a little more cushion to the seats. The color was slightly darker than I was expecting, which I really like since the rest of my interior is black. As far as I can tell, gravel and brown are the only color options for the precision fit, so it worked out well having a cement truck. I could probably spend a good hour adjusting and tightening to get some more creases out, which might happen soon when I deep clean my interior (especially if I remove the seats then). It sounds like there's a chance you have to have your passenger seat air bags recalibrated at a dealership (with something like 66 lbs of weight) upon removal, which is why I didn't do it in the first place.

They don't recommend machine washing due to the foam padding on the inside, so I'll either give them a light scrub in the truck if they get dirty, or remove them for a deep clean and hand wash them in the future as needed.

Overall I'd give them an 8/10 as far as initial impressions go, especially at 20% off (went from ~$500 to $400 before tax/shipping). I'd easily give them a 9/10 if there was a better solution other than the side to side velcro straps. They've got a bit of a "new Carhartt smell" to them, which I don't mind. My only other minor complaint is the added thickness means the seats rub the center console cover (more than stock) when sliding the seats back and forth, but my seats don't move often, and that's on Toyota, not Covercraft, or any other seat cover manufacturer.

I wouldn't hesitate in the future to buy the matching rear covers as well, but with my dog hammock back there, I'm in no rush. I've had rear (human) passengers in the back maybe 2-3 times since owning the truck, plus the hammock, so the seats back there are in great condition.

 

I started getting a squeaky/creaky/groaning clutch pedal in the last few days, first instance of it happening (currently right around 39,900 miles). Quick pedal pushes were still smooth, but slower movement made it creak enough where I could feel it binding with my foot.

Poking around here, it seems the consensus is to use brake grease as it has long staying power. Fortunately I had some on hand, and went crawling on the floor of my truck for the 2nd time in as many weeks.

Unsure of where exactly to slather the grease, I ended up going for the two white plastic ends that the big return spring sits in. I didn't think to take pictures, so here's a couple courtesy of BLtheP's metal FJ Cruiser clutch pedal swap thread to show where I mean:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...al-for-a-metal-one-from-an-fj-cruiser.814720/







I did my best to work the grease into the plastic retainers while pushing the clutch in and out. It seems to have taken care of the issue for now, so we'll see how long it holds up.

 

Minor updates. The previous post with the clutch greasing lasted for a day or two, I ended up applying more grease in the location below, has kept it quiet for 3 months now.



Also changed my oil and filter (OEM) at 40,763 miles on 6/8/24. I went a bit long on this oil change (last done 12/29/22 at 30,101 miles), I'm thinking I'll switch to 5k intervals for the future. I had the dealer do oil changes at 5k, 10k, and 20k, and now have done my own at 30k and 40k. However, my commute to work is almost exactly 5 miles through town, and it's winter here December-March (at minimum). Per the Warranty and Maintenance Guide, 5k intervals are recommended when driving on "Repeated trips of less than five miles in temperatures below 32°F / 0°C," so for at least part of the year I meet those criteria.

 

Minor maintenance notes:

12/1/24 - Fluid filmed the truck (5th time) and swapped to snow tires, now that the temps are below 45°F daily, ~44,050 miles. I'm pretty sold on fluid film overall, it's filthy but seems to be keeping the rust at bay.

Mileage tracking for tires:
-255/85R16 Mastercrafts: 9,600-36,754, 39,300-44,050 miles.
-235/85R16 Nokians (winter): 36,754-39,300, 44,050-XX,XXX miles.

1/1/25 - Replaced the battery with an Everstart Maxx Group 24F 750 CCA (Walmart), ~44,300 miles. Figured it was time, OEM battery seemed unhappy starting when the temperature dips below freezing, and it was ~4.5 years old, with plenty of corrosion on the positive post. Threw the new battery on my Noco Genius 1 charger that I got for Christmas, according to the Noco the battery was at less than 75% charge, so I let it charge overnight before putting it in the truck. I don't think I've ever checked a battery after purchasing, nor am I sure if it makes a difference or if the alternator would take care of it, but it feels good knowing it's at 100% now before the temps drop further (single digits now). Starts strong again.

 

I decided to splurge on something I've wanted since I bought my truck, a set of OEM TRD Pro tail lights (2020-2023 styling). I figured Memorial Day sales would be a good time to look for a set so I browsed the online deals, and also decided to call my local dealership parts guy, who is a close friend, and he was able to come close in price to the sale prices online, so I ended up ordering them locally.

For the most part, I'm happy with the updates that the 2020 trucks received over the previous 2016-2019's. Android Auto, power seats, actual buttons on my radio, etc. are things that I absolutely love about my truck and would not want to do without. However, the removal of the driver side bed cubby (even though I rarely use my passenger side cubby, but it's the principle!) and going from a mostly red tail light lens to a clear housing with chrome/silver accents inside were things that I was not a fan of. I didn't hate the look per se, it actually went well with the Cement color of my truck, but they looked a little too much like Altezza lights to me, which I've forever associated with knockoffs (I now realize Altezza lights were started by Lexus, referring to a clear tail light lens, but I always think of the cheap ricer knockoffs that followed those regardless). I've always liked the look of solid red tail lights, so I considered grabbing a set of those from the 16-19's, but I slightly prefer the look of the Pro's, so that's what I went with.

Part #'s: 81550-04230, 81560-04230

Old OEM Tail lights, not bad, not great:


New tail lights, still Altezza, but an improvement:


I like how they match my bedside stickers now, and generally I think they fit the truck better overall with all of the other black I have going on (matches better when everything isn't covered in dirt).

Now for the not so fun. The day after I installed the tail lights, I hit a bump on the way to work and my dash lit up like a Christmas tree. Low braking power, VSC error, ABS error, Pre-Collision system malfunction, Cruise control error, etc., several of which advised taking it to the dealer immediately. Shortly after, my tach and speedo went dead, and came back, and went dead, and came back again. Since drivability and braking felt unaffected, I cautiously finished the last mile of the drive to work before parking it and plugging in my OBD-II scanner. Only pulled one code, U0155, which is lost communication between the ECM and the Instrument Panel Cluster, which would explain the tach and speedo going dead. I cleared the code, drove it around my work parking lot a bit to see if the codes came back, they didn't, so I parked it for the day and planned to take the backroads home in case it was something serious, especially if it was brake related. Did some quick searching around on the forums, and surprisingly didn't find much, or if others were having the same code, they had half a dozen other codes at the same time. Checked the brake fluid level on the suggestions of some posts about the low braking power message, all looked good there.

I drove it home without issue and no codes, rechecked my tail lights installation and functionality to make sure I didn't pinch a wire or something goofy (I've heard some weird codes can get thrown if you're reverse lights are out, for example), and then hit a big bump later that night heading to the driving range to hit some balls, and it all lit up again. Hitting bumps and having it happen right afterwards makes me think some wiring is loose somewhere. I opened my hood to look for anything obvious, and on my dirt covered engine bay appeared to be small rodent-like claw marks in the dirt of the intake manifold cover, intake, and some other locations (I could be mistaken, but that's what it looked like to me). My truck had been parked essentially in the woods for Memorial Day weekend while camping, so my mind went straight to godforsaken rodent damage. I checked some of what I thought would be the relevant fuses to no avail, and after crawling around underneath my dash, I decided to give my truck a much needed wash and interior cleaning (leaving the dirty engine bay possible rodent evidence), thinking if this was something that the dash had to come apart for, I'd rather give the dealer a clean truck to work with. The check engine light and other dash warning lights went out on their own at some point. After hitting the local carwash and picking up some groceries, the dash lit up again, same errors, same code, U0155. This time, there was no bump involved, I was easing out of a parking spot when it happened, but being freshly washed, maybe water was now in play? Who knows.

I called my local dealership this morning (Monday now) and booked an appointment ~2.5 weeks out. I've driven the truck a bit more over the weekend, and the dash lights have stayed off since Saturday, so I'll cautiously keep driving it until my appointment if that remains the case. If it happens again, I'll likely park it until my appointment, if something is shorting, I'd rather not put the whole truck at risk. I'll update when I get this resolved, my hope is that my instrument gauge cluster is the culprit, and hopefully not some rodent chewed wiring deep inside the dash of my truck.

Might be time to get my summer car back up in action if the truck may be out of commission for awhile. It needs a battery and possibly a turbo rebuild, but last summer was the first that I didn't drive it at all since I bought it in 2016, so I'd like to make sure I don't make that mistake again.

1989 Nissan Silvia Club K's:


Minor maintenance notes:
~5/1/25 - (I forgot to record the exact date/mileage, approximately 46k miles), swapped back to summer tires.
Mileage tracking for tires:
-255/85R16 Mastercrafts: 9,600-36,754, 39,300-44,050, 46,000-XX,XXX miles.
-235/85R16 Nokians (winter): 36,754-39,300, 44,050-46,000 miles. Looks like I put on only 2-2.5k miles on my winter tires in a given season, hoping they last a long time. The added confidence driving in adverse conditions makes a world of difference for my peace of mind.

 

One of my biggest fears while driving has always been getting rear ended, and with this truck in particular I've been trying to do as much as I can to help avoid that, since I would like to keep it for a long time. Part of the decision to go high clearance for my rear bumper was to remove the stock hitch hanging down low, as I've seen enough of them on here in rear end collisions where the hitch bends downwards and in, buckling the C-channel rear frame. My bumper and hitch is all more directly in line with the frame, and being several inches higher than stock, the hope is if a car rear ended me, it would go under the bumper and not square into the hitch. Who knows how it shakes out with taller vehicles, but I hope I never find out. Also after adding the softopper, not having my 3rd brake light visible was a concern, but me and a buddy solved that problem with our own add on lights that I believe were suggested on here.

I've had the Meso Total Tails Stage 1 on my wish list for some time now since they improve the visibility of the rear tail lights in a few ways, but after waiting months for them to restock, I ended up going with the VLED VTails (Standard) which from what I understand is an improvement anyways. Luckily they recently dropped a 20% sale, so I scooped up a set.



The packaging and quality of everything in the kit seemed really top notch. I would have liked to install these one light at a time in the dark for a good side by side comparison to stock, but I had some free time this morning and was eager to try them out. The stock rear tail lights are not optimal, as the brake light and turn signal are built into half of the red C separately. This kit moves the turn signal into the bottom white section and uses a switchback bulb to flash amber for the turn signal, and white for reverse. It also combines the two brake lights to completely fill the red C area, as well as for the running lights, and improves the brightness over factory for everything. For daytime comparisons to stock, the difference was pretty noticeable.

VTails blinker (left), stock blinker (right):
https://youtu.be/tAdStaKw-EM

Brake lights (for all these, VTails left, stock right):










Both VTails installed (tried to show reverse lights, with brakes on):


Overall I'm really happy with them so far. If they help other drivers see me better (particularly the cell phone using assholes), I'm all for it.

It was nice out today, so I decided to meet some family at our river property to enjoy the warm weather. It's also one of my dog's favorite places to roam, so we packed a few things and headed out of town.





Our family river property is adjacent to a local bridge that is under construction. Bridges on this stretch of river were constructed in the 1930's and 1940's, so a lot of them have been replaced in the last several years as they reach the end of their lifespans. Ours in particular was pretty unique, as it was originally constructed completely out of wood, with wooden piling and abutments (soaked in creosote) and a wooden deck. Many of the other bridges were concrete, which makes me think this bridge was constructed even earlier. The original deck was very narrow, so it was widened at some point with lengths of railway track on top spanning between the abutments, concrete poured between the tracks, and eventually overlayed with asphalt.

My old man was around a few weeks ago when they began demolition work and snapped a few photos and chatted up the workers.





Here are a few of my favorite photos of my dog on the bridge a few years ago:





Best picture I could find showing some of the underside of the bridge construction.



Currently, they have the old bridge removed for the most part, and have the new pier constructed in the middle of the river. It sounds like both abutments will be poured before the 4th of July, so I'll probably grab more pictures then to document the construction since I think it's pretty cool.

Here's how things currently sit.

Temporary walkway for the workers:



Old cranes are from the ~1960's I believe.



Original wooden abutment:





New pier:



As far as the U0155 code and dash malfunctions, they went away on their own eventually as I mentioned in the previous post, and haven't come back since, so I ended up canceling my dealer appointment to save some money just for them to tell me what I already know. If it pops up again, I'll schedule another appointment, but I've been trouble free for a few weeks now. My guesses are something was slightly loose but is now making good contact again for whatever reason, but major bumps that triggered it prior no longer do. My neighbor and I were chatting while I was cleaning my truck a few weeks ago and said to make sure to clean out my windshield cowl vents from pine needles and other debris as he had issues in the past on vehicles with that causing water to go where it shouldn't and causing weird electrical problems. I did that and ever since, the dash/cluster has been fine. Not saying it's related, but I'll chock it up as a win for now.