2nd gen Buyer’s Guide?

The percentage of 05-06 head gasket failure is very small and 100% of the people who have head gasket failure post here on TW.
I have an 2005, rust free, perfect condition because it is well maintained. Even with a $5K head job thrown in, I'm still ahead of a later year with higher mileage. They all can get 250K miles, it's a question of how much it's going to cost.

 

Double check your info. The exact date of the head gasket update seems to be a mystery. Internet info calls it a running change. I have seen posted here on TW that the change was November of 2005 which would have been early in the 2006 model year. Other dates and times have been mentioned.

 

Sounds right to me. Like I said before, while researching to buy a 4Runner they had head gasket issues up to the late 05 models. I think there was a vin number to check or something. 2006 models seemed to be fine.

 

I'd focus on '13, '14, '15.

From the south or west. But still inspect the frame. It may have been a beach runner or lived some in the salt belts.

 

No concrete date but I stand by my statements. 02 through early 06 1ge-fe engines had problematic headgaskets. In my opinion Toyota quietly introduced the updated gasket in early 06 production as the number of failures drastically dropped from 07+ in all 1gr-fe applications, not just tacomas.