eBay Garage Vehicle Set-up Page for My 2000 Tacoma

When I add my Tacoma to the eBay garage, I get confused on whether to claim:

BASE STANDARD CAB PICKUP 2-DOOR
or
DLX STANDARD CAB PICKUP 2-DOOR

Those are the options that eBay allows. Which do I pick?

VIN: 4TANL42N8YZ656298

When I decoded my VIN years ago, I wrote everything down on the back of the front cover of its Haynes manual. Here is what confuses me. I never see the word BASE, and where I do see the word DELUXE it is immediately negated because it only applies to the time frame 2001-2005. I am guessing that REGULAR means BASE, because there is nothing about the truck that makes it seem special, but does it really?:

4 -- USA

T -- Toyota

A -- Truck Tacoma

N -- Tacoma Regular Cab RWD 1996-2005 also Tacoma Regular Cab (Pre-Runner) RWD 1990-2000. [Body and Drive Type; I have never thought it was a Pre-Runner]

L -- Engine = 2.4L 4-cyl (2RZ) 1996-2004

4 -- Series = Tacoma Regular Cab 1996-2005

2 -- Grade = Delux Tacoma 2001-2005 (Position 7), Grade Rest(raint) System Deluxe Tacoma 2 Air Bag 1998-2000

N -- Line = Tacoma 1996-2005

8 -- a check digit

Y -- Model year 2000 [and I also wrote 5 2005?]

Z -- Assembly plant: Freemont, CA

I also was able to determine, somehow, from the VIN, RZN140L-TRMDKAB.

That was my manual VIN translation done many years ago. During my current project, I have visited websites that let me enter my VIN and that links to the set of parts break-down drawings I need to select parts I want to buy. One is PartSuq.com. They read the VIN differently, and fed back:

RZN140, 150, 19#, VZNI50, 195 8N1 [US] 18 Gallon Tank
01.1995-09.2004 FF10
Product RCBA
Cab T1
Deck W
Transmission Model W59
Destination: USA

Sorry I have to be so detailed about this, but eBay verifies the fit of any product that I might buy from them to be put onto this Tacoma, and whether I answer BASE or DELUXE effects whether or not eBay guarantees the fit of a product they are selling. So it is important to me.

 

Man totally depends on what you’re buying
I.E.
transmission Y, be wary
Fuel press regulator, u will be fine

 

According to toyodiy you've got a DLX: https://www.toyodiy.com/parts/q?vin=4TANL42N8YZ656298

 

Appreciate your answer @6P4. I had forgotten about the toyodiy.com website. Their decoding of my VIN leads to the Vehicle Characteristics where it does say Grade: DLX: DLX Type, so maybe it is a Deluxe Standard Cab for eBay purposes.

When I had done the VIN decode years ago, I wrote down two statements related to the 2 (Character Position 7 of VIN): "Grade = Deluxe Tacoma 2001-2005" , and the statement "Grade/Rest(raint?) System: Deluxe Tacoma 2 Air Bags 1998-2000." It is a 2000 Tacoma; the dates in the two statements indicate that it is only the second statement that would apply, and it does have two air bags, which further indicates that the truck is a Grade DLX.

Interestingly, regarding the VIN decoding, below the Vehicle Characteristics is found

Search Results

RZN140L-TRMDKAB 06/1997 - 08/2000 RZN140 DLX NAP USA RCB T1 2RZFE EFI MTM 5F CBU W

Click here to continue

RZN140L-TRMDKAB is the Model Code, which links to the set of parts groups (organized in four categories) that apply directly to my Tacoma. It is structured like all of the dealerships here in the USA, where the actual diagrams/drawings are hidden. A better way to do this (IMO) is to use PartSuq.com, where you input your VIN and it leads you to the exploded parts diagrams (again in four categories) for your Tacoma. Those diagrams show you the same information shown by toyodiy.com, plus how all the parts go together. The two systems are different, but they describe the same set of parts that go into a particular Model Tacoma

NOTE: I Googled information about toyodiy.com and learned that at least at some point in it's life it had the actual diagrams/drawings, but it seems no longer.

I still wonder what eBay means by BASE Standard Cab versus the DELUXE Standard Cab (eBay's terminology), since there is nothing about my Tacoma that I can see that speaks of DELUXE anything. Like, there is no tachometer, for example. The VIN decode says my truck's FRAME is RZN140. Clicking on that number brings up a listing of all possible FRAMES, as if you were using the second method of entering your VIN (without entering one), stepping through questions to enter the model of your truck and get to the parts lists. The list of possible FRAMES comes up:

Select your vehicle frame code:

RZN140
RZN150
RZN161
RZN171
RZN191
RZN196
VZN150
VZN170
VZN195
Don't know

Normally, given a list like that, I would think that the first FRAME in the list is the most basic, no frills, cheapest FRAME they sell.

Remember, I only brought this up because I thought eBay said that a part that I selected would not fit my truck, when I thought otherwise. Yet, I admit, there is absolutely nothing in any of the materials regarding the decoding of the VIN has the word BASE in it. They call the cab "Regular," CABIN: RCB: Regular Cab.

 

My Tacoma was built in 2000, making it roughly 24 years old. I have generally been able to find most replacement parts that I have needed, however lately more and more parts have been labeled DISCONTINUED. Or, the deeper that I have worked down into the guts of the truck, the harder the parts are to fine. Or, something. But it does seem like parts sources are drying up for this vehicle.

Along with that problem, I have been having confusion with Toyota SUBSTITUTION parts. Sometimes a site will state that a different Toyota part can be substituted for the one I am looking for, indicated as a SUBSTITUTION or SUB. Or, then, I might run into a list of SUBS, sometimes several different Toyota numbers will be listed as replacements for a single part number, so I might go off looking for each of those, to see if they are available.

Does anyone know if there is an official (take that as loosely as you want) Toyota (or non-Toyota) site where all Toyota parts are listed, along with their legitimate SUBSTITUTION part(s)?

Is there a place where I can see clear photos of parts I am looking for, so I might be able to rule a part out of consideration, for whatever reason that I could see?

 

I'd expect https://autoparts.toyota.com/, or any dealer's parts site, to be accurate with regards to subs.

I often end up using a mix of toyodiy, dealer sites, and more recently partsouq to learn about parts. It's rare to find "wrong" information on any of those sites in my experience, but they do occasionally include or omit different levels of detail.

 

Over the past 6 months, I must say that the way you put that is pretty much the same as my experience. Thanks to you, I will now use toyodiy.com as well. Can't believe I had forgotten them. I have purchased parts from PartSuq.com (Dubai), satisfactorily, and have found their prices, including shipping, better than I can find here (they even gave my money back when an aftermarket aluminum casting -- Timing Cover would not permit the engine to be turned over, and then I bought their last Toyota cover in stock) and I use their parts diagrams all the time to see how parts are inter-related and where gaskets and the such are needed. I have also found Amayama.com (Japan; higher priced) and IMPEX.com (Japan; haven't yet used them) to give access to similar parts diagrams (they link you to Toyota Catalogs). Sadly, my low-cost American OEM parts supplier, McGeorgeToyota got bought out (probably because they were the low-cost leader) and are no longer available. Their new owner, OrismanToyotaofRichmond.com, though lower than many others, is not as low as McGeorge used to be.

PartSuq.com does have SUBSTITUTE Toyota parts listed, and sometimes they add in recommended aftermarket parts as additional SUBSTITUTES, along with the Toyota parts. I suspect (without proof) their recommendations are theirs alone, but have recognized some of the brands and part numbers they list as looking like legitimate aftermarket replacements. I say that because another main parts site I use is RockAuto, where, for example, there are 13 aftermarket Clutch Kits listed as fitting my Tacoma. By now, most of those have become familiar to me and, if push came to shove, I believe I would not be afraid to buy one of the better kits from them.

RockAuto seems to be able to determine equivalent part numbers (OEM / Interchange numbers) for many of their parts. I don't know how much faith to put into those numbers because on a site named Newparts.com I just located a Valero 52365204 clutch kit I had seen on RA and the Interchange number RA offered was another Valero #52365214. Newparts.com said that the first number fit my Tacoma, but the second one did not. Then, while following that distraction, I found a long listing of Interchange parts for that original Valero part:

INTERCHANGE: FOR valeo 52365204. . . those in red are in the RockAuto listing of available clutches for my Tacoma

• Centric Parts: 200.44040
• LUK: 16-018
• LUK: 16-071
• AMS: 16085
• Daikin: 16085
• Fenco: NU31062A
• Autozone: 444252
• Centric Parts: 200.44029
• Fenco: NU31312
• Beck/Arnley: 619138
• Quality Automotive: 5879370
• AMS: 16076
• ACDelco: 381303
• Beck/Arnley: 619192
• Sachs: K7006201
• ACDelco: 383560
• Perfection Clutch: MU476071B
• LUK: 16-086
• Quality Automotive: 5879540
• LUK: 16-085
• Centric Parts: 200.44033

 

FWIW toyodiy gets a lot of my information incorrect. It gives me the wrong year, paint code, and calls mine a DLX.
However, on www.Toyota.com/owners all my build information is correct and my Grade is listed as Standard, which I assume would be the same as Base.

 

Grateful you chimed in @time623. I went to that site and plugged in my VIN:

Year: 2000 Model: TACOMA Trim Level: Standard Regular Cab Driveline: 2WD 2.4L L4 5MT

Right! It does not come out saying the truck is DELUXE!!! I see the same as you do BASE. In that hierarchy of FRAMES, and RNZ140 being the lowest number, I think you have convinced me that my Tacoma is a BASE LEVEL truck.

That catches the essense of my 2000 Tacoma. It could have added that the engine is 2RZ-FE, but saying 2.4L is kind of equivalent.

Having not been completely comfortable considering it DELUXE, I had gone back to eBay to try and find someone to ask how they got their questions of whether it was BASE or DELUXE and ended up chatting with the stupidest robot I have ever had the opportunity to chat with, bar none. It got me so pissed off that I told it I would never be coming back. . . as if a robot would GAS. Took a half hour to calm down. Could not otherwise find a human being to talk with, and even if I had, I am not sure how I could have discovered the magic ingredient in their brew. Shopping for replacement clutch parts for my Tacoma has been one very long PITA.

Anyway, my hat is off to you, James, for taking the time to correct my understanding, which moves me one step closer to being able to shop with a little confidence. Now I can set up my vehicle in eBay's garage, so they can verify the fit of items I am looking at. That will feel so much better.